Dynamic stiffness – based free vibration study of open circular cylindrical shells

Abstract

In this paper, the dynamic stiffness method has been applied in the free vibration analysis of open circular cylindrical shells based on Flügge thin shell theory. The dynamic stiffness matrix for a completely free open cylindrical shell element has been derived and coded in MATLAB to compute the natural frequencies and mode shapes. The results of the numerical study have been compared with the results from the finite element analysis, as well as with the results from the literature. After a detailed convergence study, considering the number of terms in the proposed solution, applied boundary conditions and geometry, limitations and recommendations for application of the proposed method have been given.