Longitudinal vibration of multi-step non-uniform structures with lumped masses and spring supports

The governing equation for longitudinal free vibration of a one-step non-uniform bar is reduced to an analytically solvable equation by selecting suitable expressions, such as power functions and exponential functions, for the area variation. The analytical solutions of one-step non-uniform bars are derived and used to obtain the mode shape functions of a multi-step bar with or without lumped masses and spring supports. The eigenvalue equation of such a multi-step bar can be easily established using the fundamental solutions developed in this paper. The new exact approach is presented which combines the recurrence formula and closed form solutions of one step bars. A numerical example demonstrates that the calculated natural frequencies and mode shapes of a high-rise structure are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data, verifying the accuracy of the proposed method. This numerical example also shows that one of the advantages of the present method is that the total number of the elements required in the proposed method could be much less than that normally used in conventional finite element methods.