Under some usual hypothesis, the equation to be solved for the displacement of the

beam y(x,t) is:

4 y 2 y

0
x 4 EI t 2

(1)

Where is the lineal density, E Youngs modulus and I the momento of inertia of the section of
the beam. The general solution to (1) is:

n
n
n
n
y ( x, t ) A cos
x B sin
x C cosh
x D sinh
x sin( nt )
c
c
c
c

(2)

Where c2 = EI/ ; and n is the n-th natural angular frequency. The boundary conditions for a
simply supported beam are no torque nor displacement at both ends:

2 y
(0, t ) 0
x 2
2 y
( L, t ) 0
x 2

y (0, t ) 0
y ( L, t ) 0

(3)

Applying these conditions (3) to the solution (2) you will get the resonant angular frequencies
n. You have:
y (0, t ) 0 A C sin( n t )

(4)

A C

2 y

(0, t ) 0 n A C sin( n t )
2
x
c

(5)

AC

Therefore: A = C = 0
And from the conditions in x = L:

n
n
L D sinh
L0
B sin
c
c

B sin
n
n
L D sinh
L0

c
c

(6)

Thishomogeneoussystemhasnonzerosolutiononlyifitsdeterminantiszero,whichmeans,
afterafewoperations:

0 sin

Lsinh

n
c

Thechiefresonantfrequencyisforn=1,so:

f1

EI
2

2L

[ Hz ]

n 2 2
c , n
L2