Experimental validation of free vibrations from nonsymmetrical thin walled beams

Regularly, new theories and approaches about thin walled beams are presented in the literature and different comparisons are performed between them. However, in most cases, it is notable the lack of experimental data, particularly about nonsymmetrical thin walled beams, which are essential to compare the results in order to obtain reliable conclusions about the accuracy and applicability of these theories. In this paper, an experimental study about natural frequencies of doubly unsymmetrical thin walled and open cross-section beams is presented. Then, the main objective of this paper is to provide experimental data that can be used for checking the accuracy and reliability of different theories and approaches. Moreover, a theoretical-numerical model developed by the author, which is based on Vlasov's theory of thin walled beams, is applied to the actual tested beams. The results obtained with this theory are compared with the experimental ones and with those obtained with a FEM code. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.