Abstract

In this paper, an energy flow model is developed to analyze transverse vibration including the effects of rotatory inertia as well as shear distortion, which are very important in the Timoshenko beam transversely vibrating in the medium-to-high frequency ranges. The energy governing equations for this energy flow model are newly derived by using classical displacement solutions of the flexural motion for the Timoshenko beam, in detail. The derived energy governing equations are in the general form incorporating not only the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory used for the conventional energy flow model but also the Rayleigh, shear, and Timoshenko beam theories. Finally, to verify the validity and accuracy of the derived model, numerical analyses for simple finite Timoshenko beams were performed. The results obtained by the derived energy flow model for simple finite Timoshenko beams are compared with those of the classical solutions for the Timoshenko beam, the energy flow solution, and the classical solution for the Euler-Bernoulli beam with various excitation frequencies and damping loss factors of the beam. In addition, the vibrational energy flow analyses of coupled Timoshenko beams are described in the other companion paper.