Beam on Viscoelastic Foundation and Layered Beam

Abstract

The studies of the free vibration, dynamic response, and static buckling of a layered beam are presented. This layered beam is composed of two identical parallel beams with a viscoelastic-material layer in between. The boundary conditions of these two parallel beams (called the upper and lower beams in the present paper) can be different. The dynamic shape functions and the dynamic-stiffness matrix of such a layered beam are established directly based on the theory of an axially loaded damped Timoshenko beam on a viscoelastic foundation by superposition scheme. The dynamic interactions between these two parallel beams and the viscoelastic layer of a layered beam are emphasized. A simple layered-beam example is included for demonstrations and discussions.