Abstract
An analysis is presented for the free vibration of joined hemispherical-cylindrical shells. This kind of shell is an approximate model of Japanese hanging bell. For this purpose, the governing equations of vibration of a hemispherical shell, including a cylindrical shell as a special case, are written as a coupled set of first order differential equations by using the transfer matrix of the shell. Once the matrix has been determined, the entire structure matrix is obtained by the product of the transfer matrices of the shells, and the frequency equations are derived with terms of the elements of the structure matrix under the boundary conditions. The method is applied to the shells with various axial lengths and wall thicknesses, and the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of vibration are calculated numerically. The results are presented, clarifying the vibration characteristics of the joined shells.
