VIBRO-ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF FLUID-FILLED CYLIN-

DRICAL SHELL USING THE TRANSFER MATRIX

METHOD
Ravikumar Kamani, Veerabhadra Reddy, Nagaraja Jade and Venkatesham B
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad,
Telangana- 502285
E-mail: venkatesham@iith.ac.in

The present paper discusses prediction of structural vibration caused by fluid filled inside
the structure. The fluid essentially acts as a lumped mass without changing structure’s stiffness.
Hence, this analysis deals only with effect of fluid on the structure, and consequence of struc-
tural vibration on fluid’s properties such as fluid pressure, particle velocity, fluid density, are
not considered. In the current paper, vibro-acoustic modal analysis was performed on a fluid-
filled cylindrical shell, using transfer matrix approach. Transfer matrix connects the upstream
and downstream state variables, and is computationally less expensive. In this method, gov-
erning equations of shell vibration are expressed in terms of eight state variables namely, three
displacements, one slope, two membrane forces, one moment and one shear force. The fluid
pressure term is introduced into the equation of motion in radial direction. It is also assumed
that inside pressure distribution in circumferential and axial direction is same as shell wall
radial displacement pattern. At fluid-structure interface, shell’s normal vibration velocity is
equated to fluid particle velocity ensuring continuity. The governing equations are written in
state-space form, which are integrated to obtain transfer matrix in terms of eight state variables.
This continuity condition leads to a fluid-loading term. The same transfer matrix formulation
is applicable for uncoupled structural problem by considering fluid loading term as zero. Sym-
metric and asymmetric boundary conditions are used to reduce transfer matrix size. Natural
frequencies are calculated by equating the determinant of reduced transfer matrix to zero. Nu-
merical model of cylindrical shell filled with water is developed using the Finite and Boundary
Element Method (FEM-BEM). The shell is modeled with six degrees of freedom shell elements
in finite element model and fluid boundary is considered as mesh model in Direct Boundary
Element Model (DBEM). These two model meshes are mapped in circumferential direction.
The fluid loading is incorporated as extra mass in structural equations. In this analysis, vibro-
acoustic natural frequencies of the cylindrical shell are presented for clamped-clamped bound-
ary condition. The results of transfer matrix method for cylindrical shell structure with and
without fluid are validated with FEM-BEM model and available literature data.

WESPAC 2018, New Delhi, India, November 11-15, 2018 1

1. Introduction
Cylindrical shell structures are commonly used in HVAC ducts, aircraft fuel tank, submarine,
for conveying petroleum products, etc. Presence of fluid inside the structure changes dynamical
behavior of the shell structure. This motivates us to perform vibro-acoustic analysis of fluid-filled
structures and understand influence of fluid on natural frequencies, especially when fluid in consid-
eration is much denser than the air. Irie et al. [1] studied uncoupled structural free vibrations of non-
circular cylindrical shells with longitudinal interior plate using transfer matrix method. Zhang et al.
[2] studied uncoupled structural vibration of a thin cylindrical shell using wave propagation approach
and extended this approach to analyse a fluid-filled cylindrical shell [3]. Kalnins [4] used classical
bending theory of shells to study vibration of sphere-cone combination. Hu and Raney [5] used same
theory to analyse effect of joint in a cone-cylinder composite shell. Yamada et al. [6] used transfer
matrix method to analyse a circular cylindrical concentric double-shell with two end plates. Irie et al.
[7] also used this approach to study uncoupled structural vibration of conical-cylindrical shell. Irie et
al. [8] analysed free vibration of truncated conical shell of variable thickness using the same approach.
Transfer matrix method discussed in this paper can be applied to any combination of boundary con-
ditions. Here, uncoupled structural and vibro-acoustic analyses are shown for a clamped-clamped
cylindrical shell.

2. Free vibration analysis of fluid-filled cylindrical shell

2.1 Equations for fluid-loaded cylindrical shell
Figure 1 depicts a cylindrical shell of uniform thickness and isotropic material. Here, x, s, r
are axial, circumferential and radial (or normal) co-ordinates and u, v, w are displacements in re-
spective directions. Shell is of length L, thickness h and mean surface radius R.

Figure 1. Co-ordinate system for cylindrical shell

Referring to Goldenveizer-Novozhilov theory of shells (as discussed by Irie et al. [1]) and add-
ing fluid pressure ( p ) term in Goldenveizer-Novozhilov equations such that the pressure acts in ra-
dial direction, we have

Fx Fsx
  h 2u  0, (1)
x s
Fs Fxs Vs
   h 2 v  0, (2)
s x R
Vx Vs Fs
   h 2 w  p( x, s, r )  0. (3)
x s R

WESPAC 2018, New Delhi, India, November 11-15, 2018 2

Here,  , F , V and  are density of shell, membrane force, shear force and circular natural fre-
quency, respectively. Membrane force components are given by
 u  v w   v w u  B1     u v 
Fx  B      , Fs  B    , Fsx    ,
 x  s R   s R x  2  s x 
.
B1     u v h 2   v w 
Fxs        (4)
2  s x 6 R x  R s 

Components of shear force are

M x M sx M s M sx
Vx   , Vs   , (5)
x s s x
and that of moment are
 2w   v w     v w   2w
M x  K  2     , Ms  K      2 ,
 x s  R s   s  R s  x 
  v w 
M xs  M sx  K 1      . (6)
x  R s 
Kelvin-Kirchhoff shear force is
M sx
Ps  Vs 
. (7)
x
Here, flexural rigidity K  Eh 3 12(1   2 ) and extensional rigidity B  Eh (1   2 ) are expressed
in terms of Young’s modulus E and Poisson’s ratio  . The slope is expressed as   v R  w s .
According to wave propagation approach, displacement w and fluid pressure p can be writ-
ten in terms of axial half wave number k x  and circumferential modal parameter n  as follows,
w  wm cosn e jt  jkx x , p  pm J n k r r  cosn e jt  jkx x . (8)
Here, J n () is Bessel function of first kind and order n . Radial wave number
k r  1 R   c s cf   k R
2
x
2
where, c s , c f are speed of sound in shell and fluid medium, respec-
tively and 2  h 2 R 2 B is non-dimensional frequency parameter. At the fluid-structure interface,
structural normal velocity is equated to fluid particle velocity to maintain continuity, i.e.,
 w  1  p 
     . (9)
 t  R j f  r  R
Substitution of Eq. (8) into Eq. (9) yields,
 2  f J n k r R 
p w. (10)
k r J n' k r R 

Now, defining a state vector z (s) in terms of eight state variables as

z ( s)  w  M s Ps v u Fs Fsx  and assuming variations of these state variables (where k x is the
T

axial half wave number) in the following fashion,

u  cosk x x ,
u
v, w  1 v , w sink x x ,   k x  sink x x , M s  k x2 M s sink x x ,
K K K
Fs , Ps   k x Fs , Ps sink x x ,
3
Fsx  k x3 Fsx cosk x x  , (11)

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we can re-write the Eqs. (1) to (7) in a matrix differential equation form as (d / ds) z ( s)  A z ( s) .
The matrix A is as follows.
 1 
 0  kx 0 0 0 0 0 
R
 k 0 kx 0 0 0 0 0 
 x

 0 2k x 1    0 kx 0 0 0 0 
 1 
 A41 0 k x 0 0 0 0 
 R 
Kk x3
A    R 0 ,
1
0 0 0 0 k x
B 
 2 Kk x3 
 0 0 0 0  kx 0 0 
 B1   
 1 h 2 
 0 0 0   0 0 kx 
 R Kk x3 
 
B 1  2


h 2
 k x

 0 0 0 0 0
Kk x3
0 
 Kk x 
h 2  2  f J n k r R 

where, A41  k x 1   2
  FL and FL   3 is fluid-loading term. The same
Kk x3 Kk x k r J n' k r R 
matrix formulation is valid for calculating uncoupled structural natural frequencies by taking the FL
term as zero.

2.2 Transfer matrix approach

Transfer matrix, basically, connects upstream and downstream state variables. Here, a transfer
matrix T s 0 , s  , which connects state vector at s 0 to state vector at any given point s on circumfer-
ence of the shell, is defined as, z s   T s0 , s  z s0  . Substitution of this equation into
(d / ds) z ( s)  A z ( s) yields
d
T s0 , s   A T s0 , s  (12)
ds
s 
The transfer matrix can be calculated by solving Eq. (12) which gives, T s 0 , s   exp  Ads  .
 s0 

2.3 Boundary conditions

Axial boundary condition decides the selection of axial wave number ( k x ). Table 1 shows k x L
values for different axial boundary conditions [9].
Table 1. k x L values for different boundary conditions

Boundary condi- kx L Boundary condi- kx L

tion
Clamped-clamped 4.73004074 for m  1,
(or Free-free) 7.85320462 for m  2,
10.9956079 for m  3,
14.1371655 for m  4,
17.2787597 for m  5,
(2m  1) / 2 for m  5.
tion
Clamped-free 1.87510407 for m  1,
4.69409113 for m  2,
7.85475744 for m  3,
10.99554073 for m  4,
14.13716839 for m  5,
(2m  1) / 2 for m  5.

Clamped-pinned 3.92660231 for m  1, Pinned-pinned m

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 7.06858275 for m  2,
10.21017612 for m  3,
13.35176878 for m  4,
16.49336143 for m  5,
(4m  1) / 4 for m  5.

Additionally, with cylindrical shell being symmetric to plane parallel to its length and passing through
the axis, only symmetric (S) and asymmetric (AS) modes of vibrations are present in the system.
Symmetric and asymmetric boundary conditions are expressed as   v  Ps  Fsx  0 for symmet-
ric mode (S) and w  u  M s  Fs  0 for asymmetric mode (AS). By applying S or AS boundary
conditions, transfer matrix can be reduced to a 4 4  matrix as follows. Natural frequencies can be
obtained by equating determinant of the 4  4 matrix to zero.
For the S-S mode, For the S-AS mode,
T21 T23 T26 T27   w  T11 T13 T16 T17   w 
T  M  T T33 T36 T37  M s 
 41 T43 T 46 T 47 
   0
s   31
 0
T51 T53 T56 T57   u  T61 T63 T66 T67   u 
   
T81 T83 T86 T87    Fs  T71 T73 T76 T77   Fs 

3. Numerical model
Finite Element and Boundary Element analyses (FEM and BEM) are performed to validate
results obtained through transfer matrix method. An FEM model is developed to calculate uncoupled
natural frequencies of cylindrical shell and an FEM-BEM model is developed to calculate natural
frequencies of the fluid-filled cylindrical shell. As discussed by Zhang et al. [3], FEM model consid-
ers structural properties and BEM model essentially represents a fluid mesh where pressure and par-
ticle velocity are solved by boundary integral equation method. A 20 m long cylindrical shell with
thickness of 10 mm and 1 m in radius, is meshed with 40 elements along the circumference and 127
elements longitudinally. For the vibro-acoustic analysis, the shell is filled with water.

4. Results and discussion

Table 2 shows uncoupled structural frequencies comparison for a clamped-clamped cylindrical
shell of 20 m length, 1 m radius and 10 mm thickness. Shell material properties considered are: den-
sity   7850 kg/m3, Young’s modulus E  210 GPa and Poisson’s ratio   0.3 .
Table 3 shows vibro-acoustic frequencies comparison with water of density  f  1000 kg/m3
and speed of sound c f  1500 m/s, filled inside the shell.
Table 2. Uncoupled structural frequencies (in Hz) comparison for clamped-clamped cylindrical shell
Sr. No. Transfer matrix FEM Literature [3]
1 12.12 12.02 12.17
2 19.60 19.77 19.61
3 23.27 23.26 23.28
4 28.06 28.19 28.06
5 31.95 31.57 31.98
6 36.47 36.77 36.47
7 37.37 37.61 37.37

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 Table 3. Vibro-acoustic frequencies (in Hz) comparison for clamped-clamped cylindrical shell
Sr. No. Transfer matrix FEM-BEM Literature [3]
1 4.91 4.83 4.91
2 9.14 9.06 9.13
3 10.70 10.70 10.80
4 11.47 11.04 11.19
5 14.67 14.58 14.79
6 19.32 18.81 18.99
7 19.50 19.21 19.46

From Table 2 and Table 3, it can be observed that natural frequencies obtained through trans-
fer matrix method for both uncoupled structural vibration and fluid-loaded structural vibration are in
very good agreement with numerical results and literature data.

5. Conclusions
Uncoupled structural and vibro-acoustic analysis of a clamped-clamped cylindrical shell has
been done using transfer matrix method based on Goldenveizer-Novozhilov shell theory. The gov-
erning equations are written in a matrix differential equation form, and the transfer matrix is obtained
by solving it. Symmetry of cylindrical shell is used to reduce the size of a transfer matrix. Addition
of dense fluid has a significant effect on natural frequencies of fluid-loaded cylindrical shell as com-
pared to uncoupled structural frequencies. Comparison of transfer matrix results with those obtained
from numerical analysis and literature data shows that transfer matrix method predicts natural fre-
quencies very well.

REFERENCES
[1] T. Irie, G. Yamada and Y. Kobayashi, 1984. Free vibration of non-circular cylindrical shells with
longitudinal interior partitions, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 96, 133-142.
[2] X. Zhang, G. Liu and K. Lam, 2001. Vibration analysis of thin cylindrical shells using wave propaga-
tion approach, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 239, 397-403.
[3] X. Zhang, G. Liu and K. Lam, 2001. Coupled vibration analysis of fluid-filled cylindrical shells using
the wave propagation approach, Applied Acoustics, 62, 229-243.
[4] A. Kalnins, 1964. Free vibration of rotationally symmetric shells, The Journal of the Acoustical Society
of America, 36, 1355-1365.
[5] W. Hu and J. Raney, 1967. Experimental and analytical study of vibrations of joined shells, AIAA
Journal, 5, 976-980.
[6] G. Yamada, T. Irie and T. Tamiya, 1986. Free vibration of a circular cylindrical double-shell system
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[7] T. Irie, G. Yamada and Y. Moramoto, 1984. Free vibration of joined conical-cylindrical shells, Journal
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[8] T. Irie, G. Yamada and Y. Kaneko, 1982. Free vibration of a conical shell with variable thickness,
Journal of Sound and Vibration, 82, 83-94.
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