Dynamic Stability of Beams in a Combined Thermal-Acoustic Environment

Abstract : The present report describes a number of studies carried out to further understanding of the phenomenon of snap-through of initially buckled beams under random loading. The most significant of these involves the numerical integration of the equations of motion with the use of a computer generated random loading function. The results lead to a definition of a critical power spectral density of the loading as the value for which the average zero-crossing frequency of the response becomes very small or zero and to an estimate of the critical value. The required calculations are lengthy and costly and point up the need for better analytical techniques for highly nonlinear structures. (Author)