Free Vibration Analysis of Rotating Axially Functionally Graded Tapered Timoshenko Beams

The free vibration of rotating tapered Timoshenko beams (TBs) made of the axially functionally graded materials (FGMs) is studied. The Chebyshev polynomials multiplied by the boundary functions are selected as the admissible functions in the Ritz minimization procedure, which is called the Chebyshev-Ritz method. As such, the geometric boundary conditions are satisfied, while the numerical robustness is guaranteed through use of the Chebyshev polynomials. The Ritz approach provides an upper bound of the exact frequencies. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed in the convergence and comparison studies. The effects of hub radius ratio, rotational speed ratio, taper ratios, rotary inertia and material gradient on the natural frequencies of the TBs for six different sets of boundary conditions are studied in detail.