Free vibrations of circular curved beams

The study of free vibrations of curved beams has relevance in engineering applications like modeling turbo machinery blades, propellers, arch design, etc. Vibration characteristics of structures are generally evaluated using the Finite Element Method. The governing equations for the curved beam using the inextensional theory are available in the literature. These equations are solved analytically for two different boundary conditions, namely (a) simplysupported, (b) cantilever. The results obtained for all the cases are compared against the FEM simulation results. It is found that the present solutions are in agreement with the FEM solutions up to an opening angle of 40°.