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IETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TABLE I. Calculated and approximated frequency of compressed beams.


The numerical calculationswere performed by truncating the
infinite matrix to 4X4; this truncation being sufficient to insure
the accuracy of the first two frequenciesm, t.. The results of the Clamped-free beam Clamped-clamped beam
.O
A Ra Olab S/So .O
AR O)a
calculations
arelistedin TableI forbothboundary
conditions
for s/so
plates having Poisson'sratio ,,=0.25. The general trend of the o 3.517 3.517 0 22.373 22.373
3.348 3.337 O. 1 21.257 21.225
frequenciesis in the order of increasingmagnitudeas a progresses o.1
3.169 3.146 0.2 20.073 20.011
fromnegative(convex-plates)
valuesto positive(concave-plates) 0.2 2.796? 2.943 0.3 18.808 18.719
values.The difference
in magnitude
is quitesubstantial
for the 0.3 2.766 2 724 0.4 17.443 17.330
fixed
case.
In fact,theratiois20to1fortl,whereas
forthesimply 0.4
0.5 2.535 2.487 0.5 15.952 15.820
supported
casetheratiois only8 to 1. But of course,
thisis to be 0.6 2.277 2.224 0.6 14.294 14.150
expected,sincethe couplingis so strongin the fixed situation. 0.7 1.980 .t .926 0.7 12.404 12.254
Sincethe greatestconcentrationof massis at the centerwhen the 0.8 1.624 1.573 0.8 10.148 10.005
plate is convex,then by a theoremof Rayleigh, the frequenciesare o.9 1.166 1.112 0.9 7.191 7.075
0 0 1.0 0 0
lower than those of the correspondingflat plate. Exactly the 1.0
oppositebehavior holds for concaveplates.
In view of the very large differencein natural frequenciesone a o.4R is the Amba-Rao calculated dimensionless frequency.
would expectthat the amplitude of the first modewould be sub- b oais the approximate dimensionless frequency.
stantially differentfor the contouredplates. Detailed calculations,
however,demonstratethis false, as witnessFigs. 1 and 2. Also, note that E1 and u are written insidethe integral signsin
i E. H. Mansfield, The Bending and Stretching of Plates (Pergamon Press, Eqs. 2 and 3 but do not appearat all in Eq. 1. Thus, Eq. 1 may
Ltd., London, 1964), p. 73. be readily applied to nonuniform beams without additional
calculations.
In closing,it is noted that Amba-Rao employedfor the effective
length of a clamped-hingedcolumn, the value KL-(V2/2)L
instead of the correct value, KL= (0.6996-..)L. This was un-
doubtedly done for computational convenience; but since a
digital computer was available to him, it would appear that no
suchapproximationwas necessary.
1 C. L. Amba-Rao, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 42,900-901 (1967).
g S. P. Timoshenko, Theory of Elastic Stability (McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
New York, 1936), pp. 78-82.
12.7 Received 14 December 1967 a j. W. Strutt Lord Rayleigh, Theory of Sound (Dover Publications,
Inc., New York, 1945), 2nd ed.. Vol. 1, pp. 111 and 287.

Bending Frequencies of Compressed Beams


A. E. GALEF
Oceanic Products Department, Aerojet-General Corporation, Azusa, California
91702

THE NUMERICAL RESULTS OF AMBA-RAo 1 FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL


natural frequenciesof compressedbeams may be approximated Received 5 April 1968 13.3; 11.7
very dosely by the equation
Reply to
,o=,oo( - S/&) , ( )
"Comments on 'Evidence of Phase Shift at Caus-
where S is compressive load, Sc is Euler bucklingload, o0is the
natural frequencyof the uncompressed beam,and oais the natural tics'" Ivan Tolstoy, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 43,
frequencyof the compressed beam. 380 (L)(1968)-]
It is more than a fortunate happenstancethat permits the
ROBERT M. BARASH
carefulanalysisand computingeffort of Amba-Rao to be expressed
so conciselyand accurately. Actually, Eq. 1 followsdirectly from U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, White Oak, Silver Spring, fff aryland 20910
combiningthe well-known2 energyapproximationfor the critical A numerical error by Tolstoy has provided an incorrect basis for his
load of a column, criticism of my interpretations of experimental data on phase shift of
explosion pressure pulses in refractive water.

= EI(xY)dx/fo
(dY'2dx(2)incorrect basisfor his criticism of my interpretations"of experi-
A NUMERICAL ERROR IN TOLSTOY'S LETTER 1 HAS PROVIDED AN

and the equally knowns Rayleigh expressionfor the natural mental data on phaseshift of explosionpressurepulsesin refractive
frequencyof a beam, water.

The point under discussion


is whether the phaseshiftsobserved
ry)x_4 ,/ j/ydx, (3)inpoint
,:igEI, such experimentsare due to the wave's transiting a turning
(ray vertex) or transitinga caustic.I interpretedthe data
where EI is the flexural rigidity of beam, y(x) is the normalized from two experimentalseries,consideredtogether,as supporting
shapeof beam in its bucklingor vibrating mode, as applicable, others' theoretical findings that the phase shift occurs at the
L is length of the beam, and u is mass of the beam (per unit caustic. Tolstoy contendsthat the data are entirely consistent
length). with his proposalthat a sufficientcriterionfor observablephase
Expressions 2 and 3 are exact if the correctexpression for the shift to occurat a turningpoint is that a certain quantity F > l0 s.
applicablemode,y(x), is used.It followsthat Eq. 1 is exactif the It appearsthat Tolstoy overlookedthe inconsistency between
oscillatingmode shapecorresponds to the bucklingmode shape. his turning-point concept and the data from the SargassoSea
This is indeed the case for the hinged-hingeduniform beam, but convergence-zone experiment,becauseof his incorrectlycomputed
for few other casesif any. Nevertheless,the static and dynamic value of F for this case. Using an erroneousvalue of 10-s sec- for
mode shapesare sufficientlysimilar for most beamsand other the sound-velocitygradient dc/dz at the turning points, he ob-
structuresas well that Eq. 1 will yield an excellentapproximation tained F--_60.The gradientwas actually 0.0175 sec-1 at the turn-
as demonstrated,for example,in Table I. ing points,or 0.0135sec-1 averagedbelowthe sound-channel
axis,

The Journalof the AcousticalSocietyof America 643

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