Vibratory characteristics of flexural non-uniform Euler–Bernoulli beams carrying an arbitrary number of spring–mass systems

A new exact method for the analysis of free flexural vibrations of non-uniform multi-step Euler–Bernoulli beams carrying an arbitrary number of single-degree-of-freedom and two-degree-of-freedom spring–mass systems is presented in this paper. The closed-form solutions for free vibrations of non-uniform Euler–Bernoulli beams are derived for five important cases. Then, using the massless equivalent springs to replace the spring–mass systems and the fundamental solutions developed in this paper, the frequency equation for free flexural vibrations of a multi-step non-uniform beam with any kind of support configurations and carrying an arbitrary number of spring–mass systems can be conveniently established from a second-order determinant. The proposed method is computationally efficient due to the significant decrease in the determinant order as compared with previously developed procedures.