Spectrum analysis of a serially connected Euler-Bernoulli beams problem (Q2268228)

This paper studies the vibration frequencies of a series of \(N\) serially connected Euler-Bernoulli beams, each with different mechanical constants. The problem is to consider \(N\) fourth-order equation on \(N\) intervals with boundary conditions coupled in an appropriate way. A function \(f\) whose zeros give the eigenvalues is explicitly defined through a determinant, but the study of the zeros of this function is a challenging task. Using the exterior matrix method, the author isolates the dominant term in the function \(f\). Through the study of this term the central spectral gap result of the paper is established, namely that the gaps between consecutive eigenvalues go to infinity. Applications of this result to controllability problems are given.