Free Vibrations of an Arbitrary Structure in Terms of Component Modes

A method for the analysis of the free vibrations of an arbitrary structure in terms of component modes is presented based upon the use of the normal, free-free modes of the components in a Rayleigh-Ritz analysis with the constraint or continuity conditions between components enforced by means of Lagrange multipliers. Several examples are given and the advantages of such a procedure over more conventional methods are discussed.