Free and forced oscillations of Timoshenko beam made of viscoelastic material

Dynamics of Timoshenko's beam made of a viscoelastic material is studied. Dimensionless equations of motion are obtained, depending only on two parameters, one of which relates to the shear flexibility and the second – to the viscous internal friction. Advantages of the proposed equations are illustrated by solutions to the free and forced oscillation problems for the simplest case of hinged-hinged beams. The influence of the beam shear flexibility and viscous internal friction on the natural frequencies and the dynamic amplification factor is studied.