Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to present an analytical method for free vibration of arches with thickness varying in a discontinuous fashion. The ordinary differential equations governing the free vibration of these arches are derived as nondimensional forms including the effect of rotatory inertia. The governing equation are solved numerically for the circular and sinusoidal arches with hinged-hinged-hinged end clamped-clamped end constraints. As the numerical results, the effect of rotatory inertia on the natural frequencies is reported. The lowest four natural frequencies are presented as the functions of four nondimensional system parameters; the rise to span length ratio, the slenderness ratio, the section ratio and the ratio of discontinuous section.