Influence of Geometric Imperfections on Vibrational Frequencies of Thin Rings

A relatively thin—thickness to radius ratio—circular ring with rectangular cross section has been investigated to numerically evaluate the effect of eccentricity on the in plane bending natural frequencies and mode shapes. The assumed boundary conditions correspond to a ring freely supported in space such that it is free to translate and rotate with rigid body motion. A truncated Fourier series solution is assumed in an energy formulation to obtain numerical approximations of the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors for different eccentricities. Extensional and inextensional models for both Flu¨gge and Love-Timoshenko ring models were considered with two thickness to radius ratios. Results show different rates of decrease in the magnitudes of the natural frequencies for different mode configurations. Existence of closely spaced frequencies along with modal coupling are noticeable at 50 percent eccentricity.