Free vibration of curved-plate assemblies with diaphragm ends

Abstract The finite strip method is applied to the prediction of the natural frequencies of vibration of longitudinally invariant, rigidly connected assemblages of circularly curved and flat (zero curvature) strips having diaphragm end supports. Two related types of refined, transversely curved finite strip are described. Both are based on quintic polynomial interpolation across the strip of the radial and tangential components of displacement, whilst the axial component is interpolated in cubic fashion for one type of strip and in quintic fashion for the other. Results are presented for a limited range of problems, including the circular cylinder, and these demonstrate the high accuracy that can be achieved with the use of very few strips.