Vibration analysis of a cylindrical shell coupled with interior structures using a hybrid analytical-numerical approach

In present paper, a hybrid analytical-numerical approach is developed to investigate vibration characteristics of a finite cylindrical shell with interior structures, e.g. plates and other complicated structures. The cylindrical shell is analyzed through exact wave based method (WBM). Flügge theory is adopted to describe motion equations of the shell and displacement functions are expressed as wave functions. Interior structures are modelled by means of finite element method (FEM) and coupled to the shell through the artificial spring technique. By allowing a wide variation range of spring stiffness constants, different coupling conditions between the shell and interior structures can be easily simulated. Comparisons of results individually obtained from this hybrid method and FEM demonstrate the high accuracy of the hybrid method. Some numerical examples are given herein to further study effects of coupling conditions and boundary conditions on vibration responses of the shell with interior structures.