Nonlinear behaviour of different flexible size-dependent beams models based on the modified couple stress theory. Part 1: Governing equations and static analysis of flexible beams

In the first part of the paper we employ the Sheremetev-Pelekh-Reddy-Levinson hypotheses, which yield a non-linear mathematical model of a beam taking into account geometric and physical non-linearity as well as transverse shear based on the modified couple stress theory. The general model includes both Bernoulli-Euler and Timoshenko models with/without geometric/physical non-linearity, and the size-dependent beam behaviour.In addition, we present results of the development of the relaxation method for solution to numerous static problems. The influence of the size-dependent coefficient on the load-deflection and stress-strain states of the Bernoulli-Euler, Timoshenko, and Sheremetev-Pelekh-Reddy-Levinson mathematical models has been also studied.     

Optimization of flexible beams

We consider the optimal design problem for cantilever beams of variable rigidity loaded at the free end by an arbitrary transverse force. The value of the cantilever free end vertical displacement serves as the optimality criterion, and the distribution of the cantilever thicknesses (cross-sections) is usually used as the design variable. We present results of an asymptotic analysis and a numerical solution of the optimization problem and discuss specific features of the formation of optimal solutions under nonlinear bending.     

柔性梁大变形计算的一种新方法

研究了柔性梁大变形问题。常规Lagrangian有限元格式在处理大变形问题时,由于其单元插值函数不满足位移场的协调性要求,从而需要划分较多的单元,才能得到较好的结果。本文首先推导了Lagrangian坐标描述下的位移场变量满足的协调关系式,利用此关系式给出了位移场协调的非线性单元插值函数。基于虚功原理导出了梁大变形问题的非线性控制方程,数值计算结果证明了本文方法的正确性和有效性。     

Three-dimensional nonlinear vibrations of composite beams — II. flapwise excitations

The nonlinear equations of motion derived in Part I are used to investigate the response of an inextensional, symmetric angle-ply graphite-epoxy beam to a harmonic base-excitation along the flapwise direction. The equations contain bending-twisting couplings and quadratic and cubic nonlinearities due to curvature and inertia. The analysis focuses on the case of primary resonance of the first flexural-torsional (flapwise-torsional) mode when its frequency is approximately one-half the frequency of the first out-of-plane flexural (chordwide) mode. A combination of the fundamental-matrix method and the method of multiple scales is used to derive four first-order ordinary-differential equations to describe the time variation of the amplitudes and phases of the interacting modes with damping, nonlinearity, and resonances. The eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix of the modulation equations are used to determine the stability and bifurcations of their constant solutions, and Floquet theory is used to determine the stability and bifurcations of their limit-cycle solutions. Hopf bifurcations, symmetry-breaking bifurcations, period-multiplying sequences, and chaotic solutions of the modulation equations are studied. Chaotic solutions are identified from their frequency spectra, Poincaré sections, and Lyapunov's exponents. The results show that the beam motion may be nonplanar although the input force is planar. Nonplanar responses may be periodic, periodically modulated, or chaotically modulated motions.     

Assessing dynamic response of multispan viscoelastic thin beams under a moving mass via generalized moving least square method

Dynamic response of multispan viscoelastic thin beams subjected to a moving mass is studied by an efficient numerical method in some detail. To this end, the unknown parameters of the problem are discretized in spatial domain using generalized moving least square method （GMLSM） and then, discrete equations of motion based on Lagrange＇s equation are obtained. Maximum deflection and bending moments are considered as the important design parameters. The design parameter spectra in terms of mass weight and velocity of the moving mass are presented for multispan viscoelastic beams as well as various values of relaxation rate and beam span number. A reasonable good agreement is achieved between the results of the proposed solution and those obtained by other researchers. The results indicate that, although the load inertia effects in beams with higher span number would be intensified for higher levels of moving mass velocity, the maximum values of design parameters would increase either. Moreover, the possibility of mass separation is shown to be more critical as the span number of the beam increases. This fact also violates the linear relation between the mass weight of the moving load and the associated design parameters, especially for high moving mass velocities. However, as the relaxation rate of the beam material increases, the load inertia effects as well as the possibility of moving mass separation reduces.     

On the response spectrum of Euler–Bernoulli beams with a moving mass and horizontal support excitation

In this study, the response spectrum of a time-varying system such as a beam subjected to moving masses under a harmonic and earthquake support excitations is explored. The excitations are supposed to act on the horizontal directions of the beam axis. The inertial effect of the moving masses on the natural frequencies of the beam for different cases of loading is investigated and a critical value of a so called parameter “mass staying time” is presented to avoid dynamic instability of the system. Finally, some 3D response spectra for different supports excitations as well as the beam natural frequencies are depicted.     

Optimization process in tall beams

Some principles presented in previous papers and some procedures to be followed to optimize structural components are briefly reviewed. They all deal with the removal of material from load-free inside boundaries to simultaneously decrease the weight and increase the strength. Some of the problems that may be found when the designer tries to optimize structural components by removing material from inside the stressed field as opposed to removing material from free boundaries are studied here. Some solutions for the case of tall beams are presented. Emphasis is put on the transformation of the solutions and of the associated stress distributions—all of which are improvements of the original design, and every one of which could be considered optimum for particular design constraints. The approach followed can be used just as well for photoelasticity as for numerical methods. It is claimed, however, that in cases similar to the ones analyzed, photoelasticity permits one to obtain a faster, less expensive and more reliable solution than numerical methods. Some of the redesigned shapes show 38 percent less weight than the original design, without increase in the maximum tensile stress.     

Active control of flexible beams subjected to multi-disturbance using one controller

The active control of vibration for a beam subjected to multi-disturbances is investigated based on wave propagating suppression. In this control system, there are the same numbers of the sensors, the signal inputting to the controller and the disturbances, but there is only one controller. It is a local control system, the system parameters depend only on the characteristics of the structure bounded by the sensors and the controller, and we need not take into account the boundary conditions and the properties of structures outside of this field. The system is efficient when a structure vibrates in middle and high frequency regions. Some control design rules are developed from the calculation results. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Post Doctorate Science Fund of China     

Alternating chaos versus synchronized vibrations of interacting plate with beams

We study networks of coupled oscillators governed by ODEs and yielded by physically validated sets of a few PDEs governing dynamics of structural members (plate and beams), chaos and phase synchronization and contact/no-contact non-linear dynamics of structural members coupled via boundary conditions. We have detected, illustrated and discussed a few novel kinds of hybrid states of the studied plate-beam(s) contact/no-contact interactions as well as novel scenarios of transition into chaos exhibited by the interplay of continuous objects. Classical (time histories, phase portraits, Poincaré maps, FFT, Lyapunov exponents) and non-classical (2D Morlet wavelets) approaches are used while monitoring non-linear dynamics of the interacting spatial structural members. Our results include examples from structural mechanics and the studied objects are modelled by validated mechanical hypotheses and assumptions. Novel non-linear phenomena including switching to different vibration regimes and phase chaotic synchronization are illustrated and discussed.     

Internal-external resonance of beams on non-linear viscoelastic foundation traversed by moving load

Vibration of a finite Euler–Bernoulli beam, supported by non-linear viscoelastic foundation traversed by a moving load, is studied and the Galerkin method is used to discretize the non-linear partial differential equation of motion. Subsequently, the solution is obtained for different harmonics using the Multiple Scales Method (MSM) as one of the perturbation techniques. Free vibration of a beam on non-linear foundation is investigated and the effects of damping and non-linear stiffness of the foundation on the responses are examined. Internal-external resonance condition is then stated and the frequency responses of different harmonics are obtained by MSM. Different conditions of the external resonance are studied and a parametric study is carried out for each case. The effects of damping and non-linear stiffness of the foundation as well as the magnitude of the moving load on the frequency responses are investigated. Finally, a thorough local stability analysis is performed on the system.     

Three kinematic representations for modeling of highly flexible beams and their applications

Presented here are three kinematic representations of large rotations for accurate modeling of highly flexible beam-like structures undergoing arbitrarily large three-dimensional elastic deformation and/or rigid-body motion. Different methods of modeling torsional deformation result in different beam theories with different mathematical characteristics. Each of these three geometrically exact beam theories fully accounts for geometric nonlinearities and initial curvatures by using Jaumann strains, exact coordinate transformations, and orthogonal virtual rotations. The derivations are presented in detail, a finite element formulation is included, fully nonlinear governing equations and boundary conditions are presented, and the corresponding form for numerically exact analysis using multiple shooting methods is also derived. These theories are compared in terms of their appropriate application areas, possible singular problems, and easiness for use in modeling and analysis of multibody systems. Nonlinear finite element analysis of a rotating beam and nonlinear multiple shooting analysis of a torsional bar are performed to demonstrate the capability and accuracy of these beam theories.     

Thermal vibration of functionally graded porous nanocomposite beams reinforced by graphene platelets

The thermal vibration of functionally graded(FG) porous nanocomposite beams reinforced by graphene platelets(GPLs) is studied.The beams are exposed to the thermal gradient with a multilayer structure.The temperature varies linearly across the thickness direction.Three different types of dispersion patterns of GPLs as well as porosity distributions are presented.The material properties vary along the thickness direction.By using the mechanical parameters of closed-cell cellular solid,the variation of Poisson's ratio and the relation between the porosity coefficient and the mass density under the Gaussian random field(GRF) model are obtained.By using the Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model,the elastic modulus of the nanocomposite is achieved.The equations of motion based on the Timoshenko beam theory are obtained by using Hamilton's principle.These equations are discretized and solved by using the generalized differential quadrature method(GDQM) to obtain the fundamental frequencies.The effects of the weight fraction,the dispersion model,the geometry,and the size of GPLs,as well as the porosity distribution,the porosity coefficient,the boundary condition,the metal matrix,the slenderness ratio,and the thermal gradient are presented.     

Principal parametric and three-to-one internal resonances of flexible beams undergoing a large linear motion

A set of nonlinear differential equations is established by using Kane‘s method for the planar oscillation of flexible beams undergoing a large linear motion. In the case of a simply supported slender beam under certain average acceleration of base, the second natural frequency of the beam may approximate the tripled first one so that the condition of 3 : 1 internal resonance of the beam holds true. The method of multiple scales is used to solve directly the nonlinear differential equations and to derive a set of nonlinear modulation equations for the principal parametric resonance of the first mode combined with 3 : 1 internal resonance between the first two modes. Then, the modulation equations are numerically solved to obtain the steady-state response and the stability condition of the beam. The abundant nonlinear dynamic behaviors, such as various types of local bifurcations and chaos that do not appear for linear models, can be observed in the case studies. For a Hopf bifurcation,the 4-dimensional modulation equations are reduced onto the central manifold and the type of Hopf bifurcation is determined. As usual, a limit cycle may undergo a series of period-doubling bifurcations and become a chaotic oscillation at last.     

A node-based smoothed point interpolation method for dynamic analysis of rotating flexible beams

We proposed a mesh-free method, the called node-based smoothed point interpolation method (NS-PIM), for dynamic analysis of rotating beams. A gradient smoothing technique is used, and the requirements on the consistence of the displacement functions are further weakened. In static problems, the beams with three types of boundary conditions are analyzed, and the results are compared with the exact solution, which shows the effectiveness of this method and can provide an upper bound solution for the deflection. This means that the NS-PIM makes the system soften. The NS-PIM is then further extended for solving a rigid-flexible coupled system dynamics problem, considering a rotating flexible cantilever beam. In this case, the rotating flexible cantilever beam considers not only the transverse deformations, but also the longitudinal deformations. The rigid-flexible coupled dynamic equations of the system are derived via employing Lagrange’s equations of the second type. Simulation results of the NS-PIM are compared with those obtained using finite element method (FEM) and assumed mode method. It is found that compared with FEM, the NS-PIM has anti-ill solving ability under the same calculation conditions.     

Nonlinear coupling modeling and dynamics analysis of rotating flexible beams with stretching deformation effect

Dynamic coupling modeling and analysis of rotating beams based on the nonlinear Green-Lagrangian strain are introduced in this work. With the reservation of the axial nonlinear strain, there are more coupling terms for axial and transverse deformations. The discretized dynamic governing equations are obtained by using the finite element method and Lagrange’s equations of the second kind. Time responses are conducted to compare the proposed model with other previous models. The stretching deforma...     

高效的三维曲梁单元

三维井眼中延伸数千米的三维细长圆截面钢钻柱应力分析问题是一个复杂的力学问题,通常使用有限元数值分析方法对其进行受力分析。而在进行有限元分析时,现有的圆弧曲粱单元和空间直粱单元在几何上都不能很好地模拟三维曲线形状的钻柱。为了确保计算精度．其单元划分势必不能过大,结果是计算时间长,收敛性差。为了解决这一问题,显然必须构建一种新的较有效的曲梁单元。基于自然坐标系,依据圆截面空间曲粱单元节点有6个自由度——3个线位移和3个角位移,利用包含全部刚体位移模式和常应变的形函数,忽略剪切变形,假设变形后的梁轴线的弯曲曲率改变为线性变化,建立起了保证收敛性的具有12个自由度的有初始曲率和挠率的圆截面空间曲梁的有限元模型。为了证明给出的有限元模型的高效性,分析了几个静态问题,并与现有文献中的解析解或数值结果进行了比较。基于所给出的结果,可望该有限元模型可以作为分析三维空间曲粱结构的有效工具。     

On linearization of the stiffness characteristics of flexible beams made of physically nonlinear materials

The geometry of flexible beams that are made of a physically nonlinear material and have a nearly linear load-deflection characteristic is identified for a wide range of monotonic and harmonic loads. The geometrically nonlinear beam equations are used. The physically nonlinear behavior of the material is described using a unified viscoplastic theory. A beam thickness criterion is formulated to provide nearly linear stiffness characteristic of the beam in the case of significant deflections and physically nonlinear deformations of the beam’s outer layers __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 85–92, February 2006.     

Experimental and numerical investigations of impacting cantilever beams part 1: first mode response

In this paper, the dynamic behavior of a cantilever beam impacting two flexible stops as well as rigid stops is studied both experimentally and numerically. The effect of contact stiffness, clearance, and contacting materials is studied in detail. For the numerical study of the system, a finite element model is created and the resulting differential equations are solved using a Time Variational Method (TVM). To achieve higher computational efficiency, the Newton–Krylov method is used along with TVM. Experimental results validate the contact model proposed for predicting the first mode system dynamics. A new nonlinear force estimation function has been proposed based on measured accelerations, which enables the understanding of the impact dynamics.     

Contact analysis of a flexible bladed-rotor

This paper presents a model of fully flexible bladed rotor developed in the rotating frame. An energetic method is used to obtain the matrix equations of the dynamic behaviour of the system. The gyroscopic effects as well as the spin softening effects and the centrifugal stiffening effects, taken into account through a pre-stressed potential, are included in the model. In the rotating frame, the eigenvalues' imaginary parts of the latter matrix equation give the Campbell diagram of the system and its stability can be analysed through its associated eigenvalues' real parts. The turbo machine casing is also modelled by an elastic ring in the rotating frame through an energetic method. Thus, in some rotational speed ranges the contact problem between the rotor and the stator can be treated as a static problem since both structures are stationary to each other. Prior to the study of the complete problem of contact between the flexible blades of the rotor and the flexible casing, a simple model of an elastic ring having only one mode shape, excited by rotating loads is developed in the rotating frame too, in order to underline divergence instabilities and mode couplings. Then, the complete problem of frictionless sliding contact between the blades and the casing, without rubbing, is studied. The stable balanced static contact configurations of the structure are found as function of the rotational speed of the rotor. Finally, the results are compared to these of the simple model of rotating spring-masses on an elastic ring, showing good adequacy. The present model of rotor appears thus particularly adapted to the study of blades-casing contacts and highlighted an unstable phenomenon near the stator critical speed even in case of frictionless sliding.     

Impact of fruit on flexible beams to sense modulus of elasticity

The increasing use of nonselective mechanical harvesters of fruit requires sorting the fruit on firmness. A model and computer program were developed based upon Hertzian impact theory which can predict the impact force function for a spherical fruit hitting a simply supported beam. The model was exercised to observe the effects of beam dimensions and fruit characteristics, including firmness, on the force function. Experimental work showed that measurements from a strain gage on the impacted beam can be used to determine the force function. The measured force function approximated the function predicted by the impact theory model. This work indicated that by the proper design of a sensing beam, fruit firmness may be sensed.