Dynamic stiffness method for free vibrations analysis of partial fluid-filled orthotropic circular cylindrical shells

Abstract

Free vibrations of partial fluid-filled orthotropic circular cylindrical shells are investigated using the Dynamic Stiffness Method (DSM) or Continuous Element Method (CEM) based on the First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) and non-viscous incompressible fluid equations. Numerical examples are given for analyzing natural frequencies and harmonic responses of cylindrical shells partially and completely filled with fluid under various boundary conditions. The vibration frequencies for different filling ratios of cylindrical shells are obtained and compared with existing experimental and theoretical results which indicate that the fluid filling can reduce significantly the natural frequencies of studied cylindrical shells. Detailed parametric analysis is carried out to show the effects of some geometrical and material parameters on the natural frequencies of orthotropic cylindrical shells. The advantages of this current solution consist in fast convergence, low computational cost and high precision validating for all frequency ranges.