EULER

BENDING
VIBRATION
mode 1 mode 2 mode 3 mode 4
a1  22.4 a2  61.7 a3  121 a4  200

an I
fn  c
2L2 A
E
where c 


Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk

 Free vibration of a beam mass per unit length m
y flexural rigidity EI, length L
z

4 y 2 y
Equation of motion: EI 4  m 2  0
z t
For vibration, assume
d 4Y mw 2
y(x,t)=Y(x)cos(wt), so 4
  Y  0 , with  
4 4

dz EI

This has general solution

Y ( z )  A cos z  B sin z  C cosh z  D sinh z

Boundary condition for a fee end at z=0:

d 2Y d 3Y
2
 0 and 0
dz z 0 dz 3 z 0

Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk

 so  AC  0 and BD0

i.e. C=A and D=B

Boundary condition for a free end at z=L:

d 2Y d 3Y
 0 and 0
dz 2 zL
dz 3 zL

so  A cos L  B sin L  A cosh L  B sinh L  0

and Asin L  B cos L  Asinh L  B cosh L  0

or, in matrix form,

 cos L  cosh L  sin L  sinh L   A
 sin L  sinh L  cos L  cosh L B   0
  
Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk
 For a non-trivial solution, the determinant must be zero, so

 cos L  cosh L  sin L  sinh L

0
sin L  sinh L  cos L  cosh L

 (cos L  cosh L) 2  (sin L  sinh L)(sin L  sinh L)  0

1
2  2 cosL cosh L  0  cos L 
coshL

 3 5 7 9
0
2 2 2 2 2 L
Exact solutions for L: 4.730 7.853 10.996 14.137

Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk

 mw 2
From aL the frequencies of free vibration are found using  4 
EI
EI
w j2  a j 4 aj= 22.37, 61.67, 120.90, 199.86, ...
mL
or aj  2
 ,   ,   ,   , ...
3 2 5 2
2
7 2
2
9 2
2

The corresponding mode shapes are obtained by substituting j into

the matrix equation to find the ratio between A and B
(cos L  cosh L) A  (sin L  sinh L) B  0

so that Y ( z )  (sin  j L  sinh  j L)(cos  j z  cosh  j z )

 (cos  j L  cosh  j L)(sin  j z  sinh  j z )

The location of nodal points is then found by looking for where Y(z)=0

Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk

 The location of the nodal points needs to be computed
numerically, and the values are:

Position of nodal points for a beam of L=1000mm

(measured in mm from one end)

mode 1: 224 776

mode 2: 132 500 868
mode 3: 94 356 644 906
mode 4: 73 277 500 723 927
mode 5: 60 226 409 591 774 940
mode 6: 51 192 346 500 654 808 949
mode 7: 44 166 300 433 567 700 834 956
mode 8: 39 147 265 382 500 618 735 853 961

Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge www.hughhunt.co.uk