Journal ofSound and Vibration (1990) 143(2), 351-355

RE-INVESTIGATION OF LARGE-AMPLITUDE FREE VIBRATIONS OF

BEAMS USING FINITE ELEMENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

The geometrically non-linear or large-amplitude vibrations of beams have been investi-

gated by numerous researchers, using approximate analytical methods and numerical
methods such as finite difference and finite element methods. Woinowsky-Krieger [l],
Evensen [2], Srinivasan [3], and Ray and Bert [4] studied the large-amplitude free
vibrations of uniform beams using elliptic integral, perturbation and Ritz-Galerkin
methods, respectively. Finite element solutions to the problem have been presented by
Rao er al. [5,6] and Chuh-Mei [7-91. More recently, the non-linear vibrations of composite
beams have been studied by Kapania and Raciti [lo]. They reduced the dynamic finite
element matrix equations to a scalar equation by using linear mode shapes obtained on
the assumption of harmonic oscillations. The scalar equation obtained was solved by a
perturbation method to obtain the frequency ratios. The axial displacement variation was
obtained by using the linear mode shape having only an out-of-plane displacement
variation. This axial displacement variation along with the out-of-plane variation obtained
from the linear solution was substituted in the out-of-plane matrix equations to reduce
them to a scalar equation by pre-multiplying the transpose of the out-of-plane displacement
variation vector. In this formulation the out of plane equations are not exactly satisfied.
In the investigation to be reported in what follows here, the dynamic finite element
equations were solved, with the harmonic oscillations assumption, by using an iterative
scheme so that the equations corresponding to the axial and out-of-plane directions are
exactly satisfied, and then the converged shape is used for reducing the matrix equations
to a scalar equation. This scalar equation is solved by using the Direct NumericalIntegration
Method [ll]. It is to be noted that after thus iteratively obtaining the converged shapes
of the axial and out-of-plane deformations, the harmonic oscillations assumption is not
used in the further analysis. It is shown that the present scheme yields very accurate
predictions of the non-linear frequencies.

2. FORMULATION

The strain-displacement relations for a uniform beam undergoing large-amplitude

vibrations (von Karman type) are

&x = u,, +%x9 Kx = - w,,, (1,2)

where F, and K, are the mid-plane strain and curvature, and u and w are the axial and
transverse displacements. A subscript comma denotes differentiation and x is the axial
co-ordinate.
The strain energy and kinetic energy of a uniform beam of length I can be written as
r
(u~~+u,,w~,+$w:,)dx+F w&dx, T=; ti* dx, (394)
I0
where E, A,, I, and m are the Youngs modulus, the area of cross-section, the area moment
of inertia and the mass per unit length respectively, ( ) denotes differentiation with respect
to time.
351
0022-460X/90/230351+05$03.00/0 @ 1990 Academic Press Limited
352 LE7TERS TO THE EDITOR

The beam is divided into a number of finite elements each having two nodes and four
degrees of freedom per node: namely, u, u,,, w and w.,. The distributions of u and w
are assumed to be of the forms
u = N,u,+ Nzuz+ N3u3+ N.+,, w = N,w,+ Nzw2+ N3w3+ N4wq, (5)
where Ni (i = 1,2,3,4) are the standard cubic shape functions.
Substituting equation (5) into the strain energy equation (3) and kinetic energy equation
(4) and applying Hamiltons principle gives the following dynamic finite element
equations:

+i [: 2J;l+[:xi1 =[:I (6)

The submatrices K,, and K,, are independent of the displacement, x,, and K,,,, are
linearly dependent on it and EWWis quadratically dependent on it. These submatrices are
computed as follows:

h h
[%vl= EA
I0
W,x[N,xlTIN,xldx,
h
[&I = 2EA,
I
0

h
~,x[N,xlTIN,xldx,

[ ff,,] = @A, Wfx[N.xlTIN,xldx, [M]=m [ NilT[ Ni] dx.

I 0 I 0

Here h is the beam length.

On the assumption of harmonic oscillations (Gi = -OWi), equation (6) can be solved
iteratively to obtain the linear and non-linear frequencies and mode shapes. It can be
seen that the axial and out-of-plane equations are exactly satisfied, with the harmonic
oscillations assumption, whereas in the case of reference [lo] the out-of-plane equations
with the linear frequency and axial displacement computed by using the linear mode
shape are not exactly satisfied. Furthermore, the maximum u displacement in the conver-
ged vector is exactly -7~wL,,/81, where w,,, is the maximum deflection in the transverse
direction, for a uniform simply supported beam (immovable edges), which is the con-
tinuum solution.
The out-of-plane equations are now pre-multiplied by the transpose of the converged
normalized out-of-plane displacement vector to obtain the scalar equation
A+crA+~A3=0, (7)
where
hvlTlM-~~wwl[4wl,
@=
P = hvlwlmvwl -~~,1~~~1-~~~1)[4w3,
t
with [u] = [ KU,]-[ I?,,,][ w] and [w] = [q,,,]A( ), where [q,,,] is the normalized converged
vector and A(t) is the maximum displacement at any instant of time.
The scalar equation (7) is solved by using the Direct Numerical Integration Method
[ll]: that is, multiplying equation (7) by A and integrating with respect to time leads to
the energy balance equation
A+ aA + (@/2)A4 = H = constant. (8)
 LEITERS TO THE EDITOR 353

The constant H is computed by using the initial conditions: that is, at t = 0, A = A,,,
and A = 0. This gives H = (YA& +(/3/2A~,,) and substituting in equation (8) leads to

dt = dA/&(A;,, -A*) + (/3/2)(A;a, - A4). (9)

Integrating the right side of equation (9) from 0 to A,,, gives one fourth of the time
period: that is,
A
TNL = ?I? = 4 ma*
dA
(10)
0 I0 J a(A;,, - A*) + (P/2)(A4,,, - A4)
After writing A = A,,, sin 8 and suitably changing the integration limits form 0 to 7r/2
equation (IO) becomes
r/* de
TNL 2%&J
w I 0
J (~[1+(@/2~~)(1+sin~ 8)]A2,ax
(11)

This integral has been evaluated by using the five-point Gaussian quadrature formula.
The linear time period (frequency) can be obtained by substituting p = 0 in equation (11):
TL=27r/wo=2rr/&. (12)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The large-amplitude vibration behaviour of uniform beams with immovable edges for
hinged-hinged, fixed-hinged and fixed-fixed boundary conditions has been investi-
gated by using the procedure described in the previous section. The results are presented
here in the form of tables.
The convergence of the linear and non-linear frequencies for an amplitude ratio of
one, for a uniform beam under three types of boundary conditions, is shown in Table 1.
The results are provided in the form of non-dimensional frequency parameters. It may
be seen that a satisfactorily converged solution is obtained with eight elements.
In Table 2 are shown the frequency ratios at various amplitudes for hinged-hinged,
fixed-hinged and fixed-fixed boundary conditions with and without inclusion of the axial
displacement in the formulation for a uniform beam. It may be observed from this table
that for hinged-hinged beams (axial displacement included) the frequency ratios obtained
by using the present method match very well with those of Woinowsky-Krieger [I].

TABLE 1

Convergence of linear and non-linear frequency parameters at amplitude ratio one

Boundary conditions
T
Hinged-hinged, Fixed-hinged, Fixed-fixed,
elements ( ) elements ( ) elements ( )
Frequency f \ r
parameter (2) (4) (8) (2) (4) (8) (2) (4) (8)

AL 98.17 97-45 97.41 242.12 238.01 237.73 516.89 501.87 500.62

h NLI 124.80 123.88 123.83 266.08 271.78 272.86 549.75 533.78 53245
AN,, 116.46 115.61 115.56 265.46 260.96 260.65 539.99 524.30 522.99

A,, linear frequency parameter ( mw$4/EI).

AhfLI, non-linear frequency parameter with u not included.
hNL2, non-linear frequency parameter with u included.
354 LEITERS TO THE EDITOR

TABLE 2
Frequency ratios at various amplitude ratios for a uniform beam (5 = radius of gyration)

Hinged-hinged Fixed-hinged Fixed-fixed

A \
A max With Without With Without With Without

5 U U Reference [l] U U U U
-
0.2 1.0037 1.0055 1.0038 1.0019 1.0029 1.0009 1.0013
0.4 1.0148 1.0216 1.0150 1.0077 1.0118 1.0036 1*0051
0.6 1.0331 1.0479 1.0380 1.0172 1.0263 1*0080 1.0114
0.8 1.0581 1.0836 1.0580 1.0304 1.0463 1.0142 1.0202
1.0 1.0892 1.1275 l-0890 1.0471 1.0713 1.0221 1.0313
2.0 1.3178 1.4392 1.3160 1.1758 1.2590 1.0854 1.1193
3.0 1.6257 1.8412 1.6260 1.3615 1.5183 1.1825 1.2509
4.0 1.9761 2.2868 1.9760 1.5838 1.8184 1.3055 1.4136
5.0 2.3502 2.7551 2.3500 1.8293 2.1426 1.4474 1.5975

Further, the rise in frequency due to geometrical non-linearity increases by 50% at an

amplitude ratio of one, if axial displacement is not included in the formulation.
The effect of the harmonic oscillations assumption on the non-linear frequency ratio
at an amplitude ratio of unity is shown in Table 3. It may be seen that the rise in frequency
due to geometrical non-linearity with the harmonic oscillations assumption is approxi-
mately 1.33 times higher for all three boundary conditions.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The dynamic finite element matrix equations have been reduced to a scalar second
order ordinary non-linear differential equation by using a converged mode shape, and
this equation has been solved by using the Direct Integration Method. The formulation
is general and hence the large amplitude free vibration behaviour of a beam with any
type of boundary conditions can be evaluated. The non-linear frequencies obtained from
a formulation in which axial displacements are neglected are higher than the exact ones:
hence axial displacements cannot be nelected in large-amplitude vibration analysis.

TABLE 3
Eflect of harmonic oscillations assumption on non-linear frequency

Hinged-hinged Fixed-hinged Fixed-fixed

I \ , I 7
&,,I5 Harmonic Exact Harmonic Exact Harmonic Exact

1.0 1.1183 1.0892 1.0611 1.0471 1.0295 1.0221

(1.0890)1

t From reference [l].

 LETI-ERS To THE EDITOR 355
Furthermore, the harmonic oscillations assumption also leads to higher non-linear
frequencies.

Structural Design and Analysis Division, G. SINGH

Structural Engineering Group, G. VENKATESWARA RAO
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,
Trivandnrm, 695 022, India

Department of Aerospace Engineering, N. G. R. IYENGAR

Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur, 208 016, India

(Received 13 February 1990)

REFERENCES

1. S. WOINOWSKY-KRIEGER 1950 Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

72, 35-36. The effects of an axial force on the vibration of hinged bars.
2. D. A. EVENSEN 1968 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal 6, 370-372.
Nonlinear vibrations of beams with various boundary conditions.
3. A. V. SRINAVASAN 1965 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal 3, 1951-
1953. Large amplitude free oscillations of beams and plates.
4. J. D. RAY and C. W. BERT 1969 Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
Journal of Engineering for Industry 91, 997-1004. Nonlinear vibrations of a beam with pinned
ends.
5. G. VENKATESWARA RAO,K.KANAKA RAJU and I.S.RAJU 1974 ComputersandStructures
6, 169-172. Finite element formulation for the large amplitude free vibrations of slender beams
and orthotropic circular plates.
6. G. VENKATESWARA RAO 1979 Journal of Structural Engineering 6(4), 243-246. A comparative
study of consistent and lumped mass approach for the large amplitude free vibrations of slender
beams.
7. C. MEI 1972 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal 10,355-357. Nonlinear
vibrations of beams by matrix displacement method.
8. C. MEI 1973 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal 11, 115-l 17. Finite
element analysis of nonlinear vibrations of beam columns.
9. C. MEI 1973 Computers and Structures 3, 163-174. Finite element displacement method for
large amplitude free flexural vibrations.
10. R. K. KAPANIA and S. RACITI 1989 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal
27(2), 201-210. Nonlinear vibrations of unsymmetrically laminated beams.
11. GAJBIRSINGH,K.KANAKARAJU,G.VENKATESWARA R~oand N.G.R.IYENGAR 1990
Journal of Sound and Vibration 142, 213-226. Non-linear vibrations of simply supported
rectangular cross-ply plates.