Abstract: | Dynamic analysis of sandwich beams is performed. The external layers are modeled as beams on the basis of the Timoshenko model, and the internal layer possesses the characteristics of Winkler's viscoelastic one-directional base. The free vibrations are described by a homogeneous system of conjugate partial differential equations. After separation of variables in the system of differential equations, the boundary problem is solved and four complex sequences—a frequency sequence and a sequence of free-vibration modes—are obtained. The orthogonality of the complex modes of the free vibration is demonstrated. The free-vibration problem is solved under arbitrary initial conditions. The results of computations conducted for different sandwich beams with different parameters are presented. Pedagogical University, Bydgoszcz, Poland. Published in Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 122–130, May, 2000. |