Vibration Analysis of Timoshenko Beams on a Nonlinear Elastic Foundation

The vibrations of beams on a nonlinear elastic foundation were analyzed considering the effects of transverse shear deformation and the rotational inertia of beams. A weak form quadrature element method (QEM) is used for the vibration analysis. The fundamental frequencies of beams are presented for various slenderness ratios and nonlinear foundation parameters for both slender and short beams. The results for slender beams compare well with finite element results. The analysis shows that the transverse shear deformation and the nonlinear foundation parameter significantly affect the fundamental frequency of the beams.