Analysis of Vibrating Timoshenko Beams Using the Method of Differential Quadrature

Abstract

The main advantages of the differential quadrature method are its inherent conceptual simplicity and the fact that easily programmable algorithmic expressions are obtained. It was developed by Bellman in the 1970s but only recently has been applied in the solution of technically important problems. Essentially, it consists of the approximate solution of the differential system by means of a polynomial–collocation approach at a finite number of points selected by the analyst. This article reports some numerical experiments on vibrating Timoshenko beams of nonuniform cross-section.