Vibration characteristic analysis of buried pipes using the wave propagation approach

A theoretical analysis for the free vibration of simply supported buried pipes has been investigated using the wave propagation approach. The pipe modeled as a thin cylindrical shell of linear homogeneous isotropic elastic material buried in a linear isotropic homogeneous elastic medium of infinite extent. The vibrations of the pipe are examined by using Fluggle shell equation. The natural frequencies are obtained for the pipes surrounded by vacuo or elastic medium. The results are compared with those available in the literature and agreement is found with them. It is found that the free vibration frequency of the pipe does not appear for some of the axial or circular vibration modes and the real natural frequencies of the pipe are significantly dependent on the rigidity of the surrounding medium. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.