International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics

Vol. 15, No. 1 (2015) 1450040 (9 pages)

#.c World Scientic Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0219455414500400

Vibration of Beam with Elastically Restrained Ends

and Rotational Spring-Lumped Rotary Inertia System
at Mid-Span
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Seyed Mojtaba Hozhabrossadati*,, Ahmad Aftabi Sani*,

and Masood Mod,
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*Department of Civil Engineering

Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

Department of Civil Engineering
Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

[email protected]
[email protected]

[email protected]

Received 11 March 2014

Accepted 2 June 2014
Published 1 July 2014

This technical note addresses the free vibration problem of an elastically restrained Euler
Bernoulli beam with rotational spring-lumped rotary inertia system at its mid-span hinge. The
governing dierential equations and the boundary conditions of the beam are presented. Special
attention is directed toward the conditions of the intermediate spring-mass system which plays
a key role in the solution. Sample frequency parameters of the beam system are solved and
tabulated. Mode shapes of the beam are also plotted for some spring stinesses.

Keywords: Lumped rotary inertia; intermediate rotational springs; generally supported Euler
Bernoulli beams; internal hinge.

1. Introduction
The problem of free vibration of beams carrying concentrated masses is of great
engineering importance due to their wide applications in civil and mechanical engi-
neering. Thus, numerous interesting studies have been carried out in order to analyze
such systems. For instance, Laura et al.1 dealt with exact solution of the transverse
vibration of a beam elastically restrained at one end and with a mass and spring at
the other subjected to an axial force. Maurizi and Belles2 presented a comparison
study between EulerBernoulli and Timoshenko theories been applied for the de-
termination of fundamental frequencies of a simply supported beam with a concen-
trated mass attached to it. Furthermore, Register3 studied the free vibration of an

Corresponding author.

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 S. M. Hozhabrossadati, A. Aftabi Sani & M. Mod

elastically restrained EulerBernoulli beam with a mass at each end. Gurgoze et al.4
found eigenfrequencies of a cantilever EulerBernoulli beam with a tip mass and an
in-span support. De Rosa et al.5 presented frequencies of a generally restrained Euler
Bernoulli beam carrying a concentrated mass at an arbitrary abscissa. Gurgoze6
derived the eigenfrequencies of a cantilever EulerBernoulli beam carrying a tip mass
to which a spring-mass was attached. Chang et al.7 determined the natural fre-
quencies of a simply supported EulerBernoulli beam carrying arbitrarily located
point masses, translational springs and viscous dampers. Naguleswaran8 presented
an analytical solution based on the classical beam eigenvalue technique for the
vibrations of a beam carrying two particles. Extending this work, Naguleswaran9
considered the free vibration problem of an EulerBernoulli beam with several
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particles. Furthermore, De Rosa et al.10 dealt with the free vibration of a generally
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restrained beam with a concentrated mass and a dashpot at an arbitrary position

along the beam span. Miaz et al.11 investigated a vibrating beam carrying point
masses with translational and rotary inertia. De Rosa et al.12 studied the free vi-
bration problem of a tapered EulerBernoulli beam with a tip mass, a single dashpot
at an arbitrary position and elastically restrained at the other end. Darabi et al.13 an-
alyzed the free vibrations of a beam-mass-spring system with dierent boundary con-
ditions both analytically and numerically. Banerjee14 solved the problem of free
vibration of beams carrying spring-mass systems by using the dynamic stiness method.
There are a few papers published on the free vibration analysis of beams with an
internal hinge. Wang and Wang15 studied the fundamental frequency of clamped
clamped and clampedsimply supported beams with a free internal hinge. The eects
of an axial force and the location of the hinge on the fundamental frequency were
investigated. Lee et al.16 dealt with the free vibration problem of Timoshenko beams
with an internal hinge. Exact vibration frequencies for axially loaded, clamped
clamped beams and clampedsimply supported beams were determined. Seyyedian17
obtained exact analytical solution for the free vibration of a combined dynamic
system with an internal hinge.
In this paper, we present an exact solution for the problem of free vibration of an
elastically restrained EulerBernoulli beam with a mid-span internal hinge carrying
an additional concentrated system. This system consists of a lumped rotary inertia
and two rotational springs. The dierential equations governing the dynamic be-
havior of the beam and the boundary conditions of the problem (particularly the
conditions of the attached system) are presented. Upon solving the eigenvalue
problem, the frequency parameters of the beam are tabulated for the rst ve modes.
The sensitivity analysis is also carried out based on the mechanical parameters of the
system. Finally, some mode shapes are plotted for dierent values of support stiness.

2. Problem Formulation and Solution

Consider an elastically restrained beam with a spring-lumped rotary inertia system
at its mid span hinge as shown in Fig. 1. By treating the beam of span 2L as two

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 Vibration of Beam with Elastically Restrained Ends

Fig. 1. Elastically restrained beam with rotational spring-mass system at this mid-span.

segmental beams (each segment of length L) connected by two rotational springs and
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a lumped mass system, the dierential equations governing the free vibration of the
beam may be expressed as18:
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v 0000
1

v1 0;
4
1a
v 0000
2

v2 0;
4
1b

where v1 x and v2 x are the functions of the transverse displacement of the left and
right segments of the beam, respectively, a prime denotes dierentiation with respect
to x and
4 ! 2 A/EI is the frequency parameter.
The solutions to the dierential Eqs. (1) are given by

v1 x C1 sin
x C2 cos
x C3 sinh
x C4 cosh
x; 2a

v2 x C5 sin
x C6 cos
x C7 sinh
x C8 cosh
x; 2b

in which C1 to C8 are unknown coecients which should be found by applying the

pertinent boundary conditions of the problem.
The boundary conditions at the two ends are given by:

k1 k2 0
v 0 v 000
1 0 0; v 0
v 001 0 0; 3a
L3 1 L 1
k3 k4 0
v 0 v 000
2 0 0; v 0
v 002 0 0; 3b
L3 2 L 2

where ki with i 1; 2; 3; 4 denotes the stiness of the end springs and L denotes the
length of each beam segment. The remaining conditions correspond to the inter-
mediate spring-mass system.
The two boundary conditions that express the continuity of the deection and
shearing force at this point are:
v1 L
v2 L 0; 4a
v 000 000
1 L v 2 L 0: 4b

In order to nd the two remaining boundary conditions, the equilibrium of the

bending moment in two innitesimal elements just to the left and to the right of the

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 S. M. Hozhabrossadati, A. Aftabi Sani & M. Mod

mass-spring system is considered. Therefore, one obtains the following equation:

v 001 L ML 0; 5a
v 002 L
MR 0; 5b
in which
L 0
ML v L
; 6a
L 1

MR
R v 02 L ; 6b
L
where L and R are the stiness of the intermediate rotational springs and  is the
angular displacement of the mass. By applying Newton's second law of motion, one
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obtains
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MR ML
J! 2 : 7
By substituting Eq. (6) and the value of J AL 3 into Eq. (7), one obtains
L v 01 L
R v 02 L
 ; 8
L R

L 4
in which  is the ratio of the rotary inertia to the mass of each beam segment.
Next, we shall determine the frequency parameters of the system. By applying the
four boundary conditions of the end supports, one obtains
C2 C4 k1

3 C3
C1 0;
L3
C1 C3 k2


2 C2
C4 0;
L
9
C6 C8 k3

C7
C5 0;
3
L3
C5 C7 k4


2 C6
C8 0:
L
The continuity conditions of the deection and shearing force at the position of the
internal hinge yields
C1
C5 sin
L C2
C6 cos
L C3
C7 sinh
L
C4
C8 cosh
L 0
10

C1 C5 cos
L C2 C6 sin
L C3 C7 cosh
L
C4 C8 cosh
L 0:
Finally, the conditions expressing the equilibrium of bending moments at the posi-
tion of the internal hinge are given by

C1 L
C2
L cos
L C3 L
C4
L cosh
L

C2 L
C1
L sin
L C4 L C3
L sinh
L
L  0;
11

C5 R
C6
L cos
L C7 R C8
L cosh
L

C6 R C5
L sin
L C8 R C7
L sinh
L R  0;

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 Vibration of Beam with Elastically Restrained Ends

in which

C1 L
C5 R cos
L C3 L
C7 R cosh
L

C2 L
C6 R sin
L C4 L C8 R sinh
L
 : 12
L R

L 4

The foregoing eight equations form a set of eight homogeneous algebraic equations
with C1 to C8 as unknowns. For a nontrivial solution, the determinant of the co-
ecient matrix is set to zero to nd the frequency equation of the beam. It is
interesting to point out the roots of the frequency equation
are also the eigenvalues
of the problem.
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3. Numerical Results
In this section, the frequency parameters and mode shapes are presented. In order to
verify the solution, we consider a limiting case that was analyzed in Refs. 19 and 20.
In Ref. 19, the natural frequencies of a clampedclamped beam with an intermediate
internal hinge were presented. In Ref. 20, a clampedclamped beam with an internal
rotational spring at a mid-span hinge is analyzed but when the rotational spring
stiness is set to zero, we obtain a hinge. To simulate a clampedclamped beam
with a mid-span hinge, the values of the stiness of the end springs are assumed to
be innity and the values of the intermediate rotational springs as well as the
rotary inertia are set equal to zero. Mathematically, we set k1 ; k2 ; k3 ; k4 ! 1 and
L ; R ;  ! 0. The frequency parameters
L for the rst ve modes are 1.8751,
3.9265, 4.6940, 7.0682 and 7.8543, respectively. These results are exactly the same as
those given in Refs. 19 and 20; thereby verifying the formulation and solution.
Note that the results given in Refs. 19 and 20 are twice our results, since the length
of the present beam is 2L whereas the length of beam in the aforementioned refer-
ences is L.
The nondimensional frequency parameters
L for dierent values of the system
parameters ; L ; R ; T and R are presented in Tables 15. In calculating these
values, symmetric spring conditions, i.e., k1 k3 T and k2 k4 R have been
used.

Table 1. Frequency parameters
L for rst ve

modes for L 10; R 10; T 10; R 10 and
various values of .

Mode  0:5 1 2 3
1 1.6003 1.3719 1.1644 1.0553
2 1.6358 1.6358 1.6358 1.6358
3 2.6787 2.6309 2.6084 2.6011
4 3.1140 3.1140 3.1140 3.1140
5 5.0420 5.0362 5.0334 5.0324

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 S. M. Hozhabrossadati, A. Aftabi Sani & M. Mod

Table 2. Frequency parameters
L for rst ve

modes for L 100; R 10; T 10; R 10 and
various values of .

Mode  0:5 1 2 3
1 1.6199 1.3988 1.1896 1.0788
2 1.6486 1.6423 1.6420 1.6420
3 2.7414 2.6863 2.6599 2.6513
4 3.1731 3.1714 3.1707 3.1705
5 5.1512 5.1432 5.1393 5.1380

Table 3. Frequency parameters
L for rst ve

modes for L 100; R 100; T 10; R 10
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and various values of .

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Mode  0:5 1 2 3
1 1.6475 1.4268 1.2156 1.1032
2 1.6525 1.6475 1.6475 1.6475
3 2.8276 2.7613 2.7291 2.7186
4 3.2116 3.2116 3.2116 3.2116
5 5.3105 5.2989 5.2931 5.2912

Table 4. Frequency parameters
L for rst ve

modes for L 100; R 100; T 100; R 10
and various values of .

Mode  0:5 1 2 3
1 1.8856 1.5977 1.3485 1.2200
2 2.0934 2.0934 2.0934 2.0934
3 3.8104 3.7882 3.7773 3.7737
4 4.2073 4.2073 4.2073 4.2073
5 5.7297 5.7224 5.7187 5.7175

Table 5. Frequency parameters
L for rst ve

modes for L 100; R 100; T 100; R 100
and various values of .

Mode  0:5 1 2 3
1 1.9115 1.6184 1.3655 1.2352
2 2.2192 2.2192 2.2192 2.2192
3 3.8581 3.8386 3.8292 3.8260
4 4.2205 4.2205 4.2205 4.2205
5 5.7838 5.7761 5.7723 5.7711

Based on the tabulated results, two points are of interest:

(a) Increasing the value of the stiness of each spring will result in an increase in
L.
For instance,
L of the rst mode increases from 1.6475 to 1.8856 when T
increases from 10 to 100 as shown in Tables 3 and 4 for the case of a beam with
 0:5, L 100, R 100 and R 10:

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 Vibration of Beam with Elastically Restrained Ends

(a) rst mode (b) second mode

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(c) third mode (d) fourth mode

(e) fth mode

Fig. 2. First ve mode shapes for  0:5,  10,  10, T 10 and R 10: (a) rst mode
L 1:6003,
(b) second mode
L 1:6358, (c) third mode
L 2:6787, (d) fourth mode
L 3:1140 and (e) fth
mode
L 5:0420.

(b) Increasing the value of the rotary inertia will result in a decrease in
L. For
instance, as shown in Table 3,
L of the rst mode decreases from 1.6475 to
1.1032 when  decreases from 0.5 to 3 for the case of a beam with L 100,
R 100, T 10 and R 10.

The rst ve mode shapes of the beam for  0:5, L 10, R 10, T 10 and
R 10 are presented in Fig. 2. Owing to the symmetry of the restrained beam
considered, no discontinuity of the slope at the internal hinge can be observed. Note
that the small gap at the mid-span of the mode shapes in Fig. 2 shows the position of
the internal hinge.
Figure 3 presents the rst ve modes for  3 and nonsymmetric spring
stinesses L 10, R 1, k1 10, k2 1, k3 100 and k4 20. The frequency
parameters for the rst ve modes are 0.9586, 1.6749, 2.7731, 3.6044 and 4.9770,
respectively. As expected, the slope at the position of the internal hinge is not
continuous due to the nonsymmetric restraining rotational springs at the
mid-span.

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 S. M. Hozhabrossadati, A. Aftabi Sani & M. Mod

(a) rst mode (b) second mode

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(c) third mode (d) fourth mode

(e) fth mode

Fig. 3. First ve mode shapes for  3,  10,  1, k1 10, k2 1, k3 100 and k4 20: (a) rst
mode
L 0:9586, (b) second mode
L 1:6749, (c) third mode
L 2:7731, (d) fourth mode
L
3:6044 and (e) fth mode
L 4:9770.

4. Concluding Remarks
Presented herein are the formulation and sample vibration results of an elastically
restrained EulerBernoulli beam with a rotational spring-mass system at its mid-span.
The spring-mass system consists of a lumped rotary inertia and two rotational springs.
The equations of motion were introduced, which in conjunction with the eight
boundary conditions, form the eigenvalue problem at hand. The frequency parameters
of the beam are found by imposing the pertinent boundary conditions of the problem
on the solution of the equations. These frequency parameters are tabulated for some
modes of vibration. It is shown that the frequency parameters increase with respect to
increasing stiness of each spring. On the contrary, the increase in the rotary inertia
leads to a decrease in the natural frequencies of the beam. These two facts could be
clearly concluded from the tabulated results. Thus, one can have the optimum fre-
quency of such a system by adjusting these mechanical parameters.

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1450040-8
 Vibration of Beam with Elastically Restrained Ends

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