DAMPING OF BEAM VIBRATIONS BY MEANS OF A THIN CONSTRAINED VISCOELASTIC LAYER - EVALUATION OF A NEW THEORY

In this paper, a new one-dimensional theory of beams damped by means of a thin viscoelastic film is presented. Based upon a prescribed piecewise linear longitudinal displacement field, and a shear stress field satisfying continuity conditions at the interfaces, the beam formulation of the proposed theory is derived. In order to demonstrate the accuracy of this beam model, numerical tests were carried out by using the finite element method. The present results are compared with well-known analytical, finite element (with the MSC/NASTRAN computer program), and experimental solutions under various (material, temperature and boundary) conditions. It is found that the proposed theory is very simple and efficient in predicting the dynamic response of beams that are damped by means of a thin viscoelastic film. © 1994 Academic Press Limited.