Free Vibration of Helicoidal Beams of Arbitrary Shape and Variable Cross Section

In this study, the dynamic stiffness method is employed for the free vibration analysis of helical springs. This work gives the exact solutions for the natural frequencies of helical beams having arbitrary shapes, such as conical, hyperboloidal, and barrel. Both the cross-section dimensions and the shape of the beam can vary along the axis of the curved member as polynomial expressions. The problem is described by six differential equations. These are second order equations with variable coefficients, with six unknown displacements, three translations, and three rotations at every point along the member. The proposed solution is based on a new finite-element method for deriving the exact dynamic stiffness matrix for the member, including the effects of the axial and the shear deformations and the rotational inertia effects for any desired precision. The natural frequencies are found as the frequencies that cause the determinant of the dynamic stiffness matrix to become zero. Then the mode shape for every natural frequency is found. Examples are given for beams and helical springs with different shape, which can vary along the axis of the member. It is shown that the present numerical results agree well with previously published numerical and experimental results.