Free vibrations of spatial frame structures: Analytical modelling and solution

Abstract

This study analytically handles the three-dimensional free vibrations of spatial frames using the initial values method, considering the axial and shear deformations alongside rotary inertias, namely, torsional, in-plane bending and out-of-plane bending. To handle the spatial geometry, the direction cosine matrices are used. Validation is performed with three cases in total, one case available in the literature alongside two numerical examples that are solved analytically and compared to the finite element models. Excellent agreements are found between the analytical results and the results in the literature, as well as those obtained from the finite element models.