Implications of Anisotropy and Structural Couplings on Dynamics and Instability of Spinning Thin-Walled Beams

The problem of the mathematical modeling of anisotropic beams rotating with constant angular speed about the longitudinal body-axis fixed in the inertial space is addressed. The analysis is conducted in the context of thin-walled anisotropic composite beam theory which incorporates a number of non-classical effects. Among them there are the transverse shear, as well as primary and secondary warping effects. Special attention is paid to the influence played by anisotropy of constituent materials, boundary conditions and spinning speed on forward and backward precession frequencies and on instability speed. A number of applications involving both axisymmetric and doubly symmetric cross-section beams are presented and pertinent conclusions are outlined.