Spectral strip-element method for beams treated with active constrained layer damping

For vibration analysis of beams fully treated with active constrained layer damping (ACLD), a new approach called spectral strip-element method (SSEM) based on the spectral finite element method (SFEM) is proposed. It can avoid difficulties in solving the characteristic equation with higher orders and unknown parameters for wave numbers when using the SFEM; simultaneously, advantages of a very few elements and high accuracy of the SFEM are kept. A numerical example shows that the proposed method is very effective and reliable, compared with the exact solutions resulted from the spectral transfer matrix method (STMM).