Free Vibration Analysis of Circular Cylindrical Shells with Arbitrary Boundary Conditions by the Method of Reverberation-Ray Matrix

An analytical procedure for free vibration analysis of circular cylindrical shells with arbitrary boundary conditions is developed with the employment of the method of reverberation-ray matrix. Based on the Flugge thin shell theory, the equations of motion are solved and exact solutions of the traveling wave form along the axial direction and the standing wave form along the circumferential direction are obtained. With such a unidirectional traveling wave form solution, the method of reverberation-ray matrix is introduced to derive a unified and compact form of equation for natural frequencies of circular cylindrical shells with arbitrary boundary conditions. The exact frequency parameters obtained in this paper are validated by comparing with those given by other researchers. The effects of the elastic restraints on the frequency parameters are examined in detail and some novel and useful conclusions are achieved.