Damped vibration analysis of an elastically connected complex double-string system

The main purpose of the present paper is to consider theoretically damped transverse vibrations of an elastically connected double-string system. This system is treated as two viscoelastic strings with a Kelvin–Voigt viscoelastic layer between them. A theoretical analysis has been made for a simplified model of the system, in which assumed physical parameters make it possible to decouple the governing equations of motion by introducing the principal co-ordinates. Applying the method of separation of variables and the modal expansion method, exact analytical solutions for damped free and forced responses of the system subjected to arbitrarily distributed transverse continuous loads are determined in the case of arbitrary magnitude of linear viscous damping. It is important to note that the solutions obtained are explicitly expressed in terms of parameters characterizing the physical properties of the system under discussion. For the sake of completeness of the analysis, solutions for undamped free and forced vibrations are also formulated.