DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF GENERALLY SUPPORTED BEAMS USING FOURIER SERIES

The applicability of Fourier series to the dynamic analysis of beams having arbitrary boundary conditions is explored. For the simplicity of presenting the analysis procedure, beams having zero end displacement are used in the discussion. Numerical results for free vibration and dynamic response based on the present analysis procedure are compared with existing results for natural frequencies and dynamic behavior obtained by the conventional modal analysis. These results indicate that the present analysis is accurate, and provides a unified and systematic procedure which is seemingly simpler and more straightforward than the conventional modal analysis.