Free vibrations of non-uniform and axially functionally graded beams using Haar wavelets

Vibrations of non-uniform and functionally graded (FG) beams with various boundary conditions and varying cross-sections are investigated using the Euler-Bernoulli theory and Haar matrices. It is assumed that the cross-section and material properties vary along the beam in the axial direction. The system of the governing equations is transformed with the aid of a set of simplest wavelets. To validate the present results, the non-homogeneity of the beams is discussed in detail and the calculated frequencies are compared with those of the existing literature. The results show that the Haar wavelet approach is capable of calculating frequencies for the beams with different shapes, rigidity, mass density, small or large translational and rotational boundary coefficients. The advantage of the novel approach consists in its simplicity, accuracy and swiftness. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.