Coupled out of plane vibrations of spiral beams

Abstract

An analytical method is proposed to calculate the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shape functions of an Archimedean spiral beam. The deflection of the beam is due to both bending and torsion, which makes the problem coupled in nature. The governing partial differential equation and the boundary conditions are derived using Hamilton's principle. The vibration problem of a constant radius curved beam is solved using a general exponential solution with complex coefficients. Two factors make the vibrations of spirals different from oscillations of constant radius arcs. The first is the presence of terms with derivatives of the radius in the governing equations of spirals and the second is the fact that variations of radius of the beam causes the coefficients of the differential equations to be variable. It is demonstrated, using perturbation techniques that the R′ terms have negligible effect on the structure's dynamics. The spiral is then approximated with many merging constant-radius curved sections joint together to consider the slow change of radius along the spiral. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of two spiral structures have been calculated for illustration.