Abstract The dynamic models for different linear or nonlinear beam structures are proposed in this dissertation. The proposed mathematical model for a turbo-disk, which is valid for whatever isotropic or orthotropic turbo-blades with or without shrouds, accounts for the geometric pretwist and taper angles, and considers coupling effect among bending and torsion effect as well. The Kelvin-Voigt internal and external damping effects have been included in the formulation. The effect of fiber orientation on the natural frequencies of a fiber-reinforced orthotropic turbo-blade has also been investigated. The eigenvalue problems of a single pre-twisted taper-blade or a shrouded turbo-blade group are formulated by employing the differential quadrature method (DQM). The DQM is used to convert the partial differential equations of a tapered pre-twisted beam system into a discrete eigenvalue problem. The Chebyshev-Gauss- Lobatto sample point equation is used to select the sample points in these analyses. The effect of the number of sample points on the accuracy of the calculated natural frequencies has also been studied. The integrity and computational efficiency of the DQM in this problem will be demonstrated through a number of case studies. The effects of design parameters, i.e. Kelvin-Voigt internal and linear external damping coefficients, the fiber orientation, and the rotation speed on the dynamic behavior for a pretwisted turbo-blade are investigated. The dynamic response of a nonlinear electrode actuator used in the MEMS has also been formulated and analyzed by employing the proposed DQM algorithm. The transitional responses of the derived nonlinear systems are calculated by using the Wilson¡V method. Results indicated the curve shape of the electrode and the cantilever actuator may affect the pull-in behavior and the residual vibration of the electrostatic actuators significantly. Numerical results demonstrated the validity and the efficiency of the DQM in solving different type beam problems.

In this work, rotating beams which are isospectral to non-rotating beams are studied. A rotating beam is isospectral to a non-rotating beam if both the beams have the same spectral properties i.e; both the beams have the same set of natural frequencies under a given boundary condition. The Barcilon-Gottlieb transformation is extended, so that it converts the fourth order governing equation of a rotating beam (uniform or non-uniform), to a canonical fourth order eigenvalue equation. If the coefficients in this canonical equation match with the coefficients of the non-rotating beam (non-uniform or uniform) equation, then the rotating and non-rotating beams are isospectral to each other. The conditions on matching the coefficients lead to a pair of coupled differential equations. We solve these coupled differential equations for a particular case, and thereby obtain a class of isospectral rotating and non-rotating beams. However, to obtain isospectral beams, the transformation must leave the boundary conditions invariant. We show that the clamped end boundary condition is always invariant, and for the free end boundary condition to be invariant, we impose certain conditions on the beam characteristics. The mass and stiffness functions for the isospectral rotating and non-rotating beams are obtained. We use these mass and stiffness functions in a finite element analysis to verify numerically the isospectral property of the rotating and non-rotating beams. Finally, the example of beams having a rectangular cross section is presented to show the application of our analysis. Since experimental determination of rotating beam frequencies is a difficult task, experiments can be easily conducted on these rectangular non-rotating beams, to calculate the frequencies of the isospectral rotating beams.