Transfer Stiffness Coefficient Method Combined with Concept of Substructure Synthesis Method: (Linear Free and Forced Vibration Analyses of a Straight-Line Beam Structure)

The transfer stiffness coefficient method was developed in order to improve the computation efficiency and extend the applicability of the transfer influence coefficient method through introduction of the concept of the substructure synthesis method. In the new method, the structure to be analyzed is divided into substructures, each of which is divided into a number of identical fundamental elements. Each substructure is reconstructed by connection of the fundamental elements and the computation cost is markedly reduced by elimination of the degrees of freedom at the inner nodes of substructures in the process of reconstruction. In addition, the computation procedure, which is the same as that in the transfer influence coefficient method, is applied to the entire structure reconstructed from the substructures, for even greater improvement of the computation efficiency. As the most fundamental example of use of the present method, an algorithm is formulated for free and forced vibration analyses of a straightline beam structure. The validity of the present method is confirmed by the results of numerical computation.