ABSTRACT
Axisymmetric shells are commonly used in all fields of engineering and their dynamic characteristics are of great importance in their overall performance. Segmented shells are shells that are built of several pieces that form together an axisymmetric shell with a joint axis. These can be cylindrical, conical or plate segments that are connected to form a complete shell. In this research the exact dynamic stiffness matrices for each segment are derived and used in assembly of the complete structure dynamic stiffness matrix. Then the natural frequencies of vibrations are found as the frequencies that cause this matrix to become singular. Examples are given for the frequencies and modes of segmented shells made of conical and cylindrical segments.
