On Wave-Like Differential Equations in General Hilbert Space. The Functional Analytic Investigation of Euler-Bernoulli Bending Vibrations of a Beam as an Application in Engineering Science

Wave-like partial differential equations occur in many engineering applications. Here the engineering setup is embedded into the Hilbert space framework of functional analysis of modern mathematical physics. The notion wave-like is a generalization of the primary wave (partial) differential equation. A short overview over three wave-like problems in physics and engineering is presented. The mathematical procedure for achieving positive, selfadjoint differential operators in an \(\mathrm{L}^2\)-Hilbert space is described, operators which then may be taken for wave-like differential equations. Also some general results from the functional analytic literature are summarized. The main part concerns the investigation of the free Euler--Bernoulli bending vibrations of a slender, straight, elastic beam in one spatial dimension in the \(\mathrm{L}^2\)-Hilbert space setup. Taking suitable Sobolev spaces we perform the mathematically exact introduction and analysis of the corresponding (spatial) positive, selfadjoint differential operators of \(4\)-th order, which belong to the different boundary conditions arising as supports in statics. A comparison with free wave swinging of a string is added, using a Laplacian as differential operator.