Bernoulli's transformation of the response of an elastic body and damping

Bernoulli's transformation and the related separation of variables method or modal analysis as classically applied to the partial differential equation of motion of an elastic continuum will always conclude an undamped response. However, this conclusion lacks reliability, since the underlying analysis assumes either integralwise differentiability (i.e. differentiation and integration signs are interchangeable) or termwise differentiability (i.e. the derivative of an infinite series of terms equals the sum of the derivatives of the terms) for Bernoulli's transformation, which not only is arbitrary but also is responsible for the undamped response. This paper using Bernoulli's transformation examines an elastic uniform column ruled by the generalized Hooke's law and subjected to axial surface tractions at its free end or a free axial vibration, and shows that the above differentiability assumptions underlying classical analysis are equivalent and actually constitute a limitation to the class of the response functions. Only on this limitation, damping appears to be inconsistent with the elastic column response. Removing the limitation through nontermwise differentiability of Bernoulli's transformation results in a damped response of the elastic column, which indicates that damping actually complies with the generalized Hooke's law as applied to elastic continua.