Free Vibration of a Circular Cylindrical Shell Elastically Restrained by Axially Spaced Springs

An analysis is presented for the free vibration of a circular cylindrical shell restrained by axially spaced elastic springs. The governing equations of vibration of a circular cylindrical shell are written as a coupled set of first-order differential equations by using the transfer matrix of the shell. Once the matrix has been determined, the entire structure matrix is obtained by the product of the transfer matrices and the point matrices at the springs, and the frequency equation is derived with terms of the elements of the structure matrix under the boundary conditions. The method is applied to circular cylindrical shells supported by axially equispaced springs of the same stiffness, and the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of vibration are calculated numerically.