A unified vibration modeling of open cylindrical shell-rectangular plate coupling structures based on the dynamic stiffness method

Abstract

This paper presents a unified vibration modeling for free and forced vibration analysis of coupled open cylindrical shell-plate structures (COSPS). In the model, the coupled structure is first split into several open cylindrical shells and rectangular plates, and then based on Kirchoff's thin plate theory and Flügge's thin shell theory, the dynamic stiffness (DS) matrix of each substructure is separately established by applying the generalized superposition method and the projection method. Subsequently, according to the continuity and equilibrium conditions of the coupled boundary, the coordinate transformation matrix of each substructure is derived. After obtaining fundamental DS matrices and their coordinate transformation matrices, global DS matrices of various COSPS are assembled using a strategy similar to the finite element method (FEM) without repeating the theoretical derivation. To verify the convergence and reliability of the current formulation, free vibration and forced vibration analysis of three types of coupled structures are carried out, and the results are compared with those from published works and FEM solutions. In addition, an experimental model of a coupled structure is established and an experimental test is performed. The comparison results show that the proposed model is reliable and effective, and its modeling process is more direct and convenient. This work not only greatly expands the application scope of the DSM but also provides a new idea for the vibration analysis of COSPS.