Dynamic analysis of an axially moving finite-length beam with intermediate spring supports

This paper presents the analysis for the transverse vibration of an axially moving finite-length beam inside which two points are supported by rotating rollers. In this study, the rollers are modeled as uniaxial springs in the transverse direction. Hamilton?s principle is applied to derive the equations of motion and boundary conditions of the system. The equations of motion include translational and rotational motions as well as flexible motion. These equations are discretized using Galerkin?s method, and then the dynamic characteristics of a flexible beam with spring supports are studied by solving an eigenvalue problem. The veering phenomenon of natural frequency loci and mode exchanges are investigated for different positions of the springs and various values of the spring stiffness. In addition, the mode localization is also analyzed using the peak amplitude ratio. It is found in this study that the first mode is localized in one of the beam spans if an appropriate value of the spring constant is selected. Furthermore, it is shown that mode localization can be used to reduce the vibration transferred from one span to the other span while a beam moves axially.     

Free vibration and stability of a cantilever beam attached to an axially moving base immersed in fluid

Free vibration and stability are investigated for a cantilever beam attached to an axially moving base in fluid. The equations of motion of the slender cantilever beam affiliated to an axially moving base at a known rate while immersed in an incompressible fluid are derived first. An “axially added mass coefficient” is taken into account in the obtained equations. Then, a coordinate transformation is introduced to fix the boundaries. Based on the Galerkin approach, the natural frequencies of the beam system are numerically analyzed. The effects of moving speed of the base and several other system parameters on the dynamics and stability of the beam are discussed in detail. It is found that when the moving speed exceeds a certain value the beam becomes unstable and the instability type is sensitive to the system parameters. When the values of system parameters, such as mass ratio and axially added mass coefficient, are big enough, however, no instabilities are detected. The variations of the lowest unstable critical moving speed with respect to several key parameters are also investigated.     

Codimension-two bifurcation of axial loaded beam bridge subjected to an infinite series of moving loads

A novel model is proposed which comprises of a beam bridge subjected to an axial load and an infinite series of moving loads. The moving loads, whose distance between the neighbouring ones is the length of the beam bridge, coupled with the axial force can lead the vibration of the beam bridge to codimension-two bifurcation. Of particular concern is a parameter regime where non-persistence set regions undergo a transition to persistence regions. The boundary of each stripe represents a bifurcation which can drive the system off a kind of dynamics and jump to another one, causing damage due to the resulting amplitude jumps. The Galerkin method, averaging method, invertible linear transformation, and near identity nonlinear transformations are used to obtain the universal unfolding for the codimension-two bifurcation of the mid-span deflection. The efficiency of the theoretical analysis obtained in this paper is verified via numerical simulations.     

Nonlinear free transverse vibration of an axially moving beam: Comparison of two models

Nonlinear free transverse vibration of an axially moving beam is investigated. A partial-differential equation governing the transverse vibration is derived from the Newton's second law. Under the assumption that the tension of beam can be replaced by the averaged tension over the beam, the partial-differential reduces to a widely used integro-partial-differential equation for nonlinear free transverse vibration. The method of multiple scales is applied directly to two equations to evaluate nonlinear natural frequencies. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the analytical results and to highlight the difference between two models. Two models yield the essentially same results for the weak nonlinearity, the small axial speed and the low mode, while the difference between two models increases with the nonlinear term, the axial speed, and the order of mode.     

Analysis of the coupled thermoelastic vibration for axially moving beam

The coupled thermoelstic vibration characteristics of the axially moving beam are investigated. The differential equation of motion of the axially moving beam under the thermoelastic coupling is established based to the equilibrium equation and the thermal conduction equation involving deformation term. The eigenequation is deduced and the dimensionless complex frequencies of the axially moving beam with different boundary conditions under the coupled thermoelastic case are calculated by the differential quadrature method. The curves of the real parts and imaginary parts of the first three-order dimensionless complex frequencies versus the dimensionless axially moving speed are obtained. The effects of the dimensionless coupled thermoelastic factor, the ratio of length to height, the dimensionless moving speed on the stability of the beam are analyzed.     

Theoretical and experimental study on the transverse vibration properties of an axially moving nested cantilever beam

An axially moving nested cantilever beam is a type of time-varying nonlinear system that can be regarded as a cantilever stepped beam. The transverse vibration equation for the axially moving nested cantilever beam with a tip mass is derived by D’Alembert?s principle, and the modified Galerkin?s method is used to solve the partial differential equation. The theoretical model is modified by adjusting the theoretical beam length with the measured results of its first-order vibration frequencies under various beam lengths. It is determined that the length correction value of the second segment of the nested beam increases as the structural length increases, but the corresponding increase in the amplitude becomes smaller. The first-order decay coefficients are identified by the logarithmic decrement method, and the decay coefficient of the beam decreases with an increase in the cantilever length. The calculated responses of the modified model agree well with the experimental results, which verifies the correctness of the proposed calculation model and indicates the effectiveness of the methods of length correction and damping determination. Further studies on non-damping free vibration properties of the axially moving nested cantilever beam during extension and retraction are investigated in the present paper. Furthermore, the extension movement of the beam leads the vibration displacement to increase gradually, and the instantaneous vibration frequency and the vibration speed decrease constantly. Moreover, as the total mechanical energy becomes smaller, the extension movement of the nested beam remains stable. The characteristics for the retraction movement of the beam are the reverse.     

Dynamic responses of axially moving viscoelastic beam under a randomly disordered periodic excitation

We investigate dynamic responses of axially moving viscoelastic beam subject to a randomly disordered periodic excitation. The method of multiple scales is used to derive the analytical expression of first-order uniform expansion of the solution. Based on the largest Lyapunov exponent, the almost sure stability of the trivial steady-state solution is examined. Meanwhile, we obtain the first-order and the second-order steady-state moments for the non-trivial steady-state solutions. Specially, we discuss the first mode theoretically and numerically. Results show that under the same conditions of the parameters, as the intensity of the random excitation increases, non-trivial steady-state solution fluctuation will become strenuous, which will result in the non-trivial steady-state solution lose stability and the trivial steady-state solution can be a possible. In the case of parametric principal resonance, the stochastic jump is observed for the first mode, which indicates that the stationary joint probability density concentrates at the non-trivial solution branch when the random excitation is small, but with the increase of intensity of the random excitation, the probability of the trivial steady-state solution will become larger. This phenomenon of stochastic jump can be defined as a stochastic bifurcation.     

Stability of an axially accelerating string subjected to frictional guiding forces

The dynamic response of an axially translating continuum subjected to the combined effects of a pair of spring supported frictional guides and axial acceleration is investigated; such systems are both non-conservative and gyroscopic. The continuum is modeled as a tensioned string translating between two rigid supports with a time-dependent velocity profile. The equations of motion are derived with the extended Hamilton's principle and discretized in the space domain with the finite element method. The stability of the system is analyzed with the Floquet theory for cases where the transport velocity is a periodic function of time. Direct time integration using an adaptive step Runge-Kutta algorithm is used to verify the results of the Floquet theory. This approach can also be employed in the general case of arbitrary time-varying velocity. Results are given in the form of time history diagrams and instability point grids for different sets of parameters such as the location of the stationary load, the stiffness of the elastic support, and the values of initial tension. This work showed that presence of friction adversely affects stability, but using non-zero spring stiffness on the guiding force has a stabilizing effect. This work also showed that the use of the finite element method and Floquet theory is an effective combination to analyze stability in gyroscopic systems with stationary friction loads.     

Nonlinear free transverse vibrations of in-plane moving plates: Without and with internal resonances

In this paper, nonlinear free transverse vibrations of in-plane moving plates subjected to plane stresses are investigated. The Hamilton principle is applied to derive the governing equation and the associated boundary conditions. The method of multiple scales is employed to analyze the nonlinear partial differential equation. The solvability conditions are established in the cases without internal resonance and with 3:1 or 1:1 internal resonances. Some numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effects of in-plane moving speeds on the frequencies. The nonlinear frequencies of the in-plane moving plate without internal resonances are numerically calculated. The relationship between the nonlinear frequencies and the initial amplitudes is showed at different in-plane moving speeds and the nonlinear coefficients, respectively. It is feasible to investigate resonances without the modes not involved in the resonances. The effects of the related parameters are demonstrated for the case of 3:1 and 1:1 internal resonances, respectively. The differential quadrature scheme is developed to solve numerically the governing equation and confirm results via the method of multiple scales.     

Stabilization of an axially moving web via regulation of axial velocity

In this paper, a novel control algorithm for suppression of the transverse vibration of an axially moving web system is presented. The principle of the proposed control algorithm is the regulation of the axial transport velocity of an axially moving beam so as to track a profile according to which the vibration energy decays most quickly. The optimal control problem that generates the proposed profile of the axial transport velocity is solved by the conjugate gradient method. The Galerkin method is applied in order to reduce the partial differential equation describing the dynamics of the axially moving beam into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). For control design purposes, these ODEs are rewritten into state-space equations. The vibration energy of the axially moving beam is represented by the quadratic form of the state variables. In the optimal control problem, the cost function modified from the vibration energy function is subjected to the constraints on the state variables, and the axial transport velocity is considered as a control input. Numerical simulations are performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.     

Dynamics of an axially functionally graded beam under axial load

This paper considers the dynamics of a simply supported beam under axial time–dependent load. The beam is made of an axially functionally graded material. The motion equations are deduced from the equilibrium in deformed configuration and no restriction is made on the amplitude of the transversal displacement, but that naturally imposed by the inextensibility assumption that is adopted in the present study. The transversal motion equation, that is a partial differential equation, is approximated by its Taylor expansion until third order and then discretized through the Galerkin procedure.     

Delay-induced dynamics of an axially moving string with direct time-delayed velocity feedback

The local dynamics of an axially moving string under aerodynamic forces is investigated with a time-delayed velocity feedback controller. The retarded differential difference governing equation is obtained in modal coordinates of a two-degree-of-freedom system through Galerkin’s discretization procedure. The stability of trivial equilibrium is examined with the change of counting multiplicity of eigenvalue with positive real part. The Hopf bifurcation curves are determined in the controlling parameter spaces. With the aid of the center manifold reduction, a functional analysis is carried out to reduce the modal equation to a single ordinary differential equation of one complex variable on the center manifold. The approximate analytical solutions in the vicinity of Hopf bifurcations are derived in the case of primary resonance. The curves of excitation-response and frequency-response curves are shown with the effect of time delay. The stability analysis for steady-state periodic solutions of the reduced system indicates the onset of local control parameter for vibration control and response suppression. Moreover, the Poincaré-Bendixson theorem and energy considerations are used to investigate the existences and characteristics of quasi-periodic solutions when stability of the periodic solution is lost. Numerical results demonstrate the validity of the analytical prediction. Two different kinds of quasi-periodic solutions are found.     

On the influence of lateral vibrations of supports for an axially moving string

In this paper the transverse oscillations in travelling strings due to arbitrary lateral vibrations of the supports will be studied. Using the method of Laplace transforms (exact) solutions will be constructed for the initial-boundary value problems which describe these transverse oscillations.     

Generation of an axially super-resolved quasi-spherical focal spot using an amplitude-modulated radially polarized beam

An axially super-resolved quasi-spherical focal spot can be generated by focusing an amplitude-modulated radially polarized beam through a high numerical aperture objective. A method based on the unique depolarization properties of a circular focus is proposed to design the amplitude modulation. The generated focal spot shows a ratio of x:y:z=1:1:1.48 for the normalized FWHM in three dimensions, compared to that of x:y:z=1:0.74:1.72 under linear polarization (in the x direction) illumination. Moreover, the focusable light efficiency of the designed amplitude-modulated beam is 65%, which is more than 3 times higher than the optimized case under linear polarization and thus make the amplitude-modulated radial polarization beam more suitable for a wide range of applications.     

Simultaneous control of longitudinal and transverse vibrations of an axially moving string with velocity tracking

In this paper, an active control scheme for an axially moving string system that suppresses both longitudinal and transverse vibrations and regulates the transport velocity of the string to track a desired moving velocity profile is investigated. The control scheme utilizes three inputs: one control force at the right boundary, which is exerted by a hydraulic actuator equipped with a damper, and two control torques applied at the left and right rollers. The equations of motion are derived by using Hamilton's principle. Two nonlinear partial differential equations govern the longitudinal and transverse motions, where the variation of the tension of the string due to the transverse and longitudinal vibrations is considered. Among four boundary conditions, two describe the rotational dynamics of the left and right rollers; one determines the dynamics of the hydraulic actuator at the right boundary, and the last one denotes that the left boundary is fixed. The Lyapunov method is employed to generate control laws. Asymptotic stability of the transverse and longitudinal dynamics and the velocity tracking error is achieved. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is illustrated via numerical simulations.     

Stability of vehicles moving on an elastic foundation

Few studies have been made of the stability of a dynamic system moving on an infinite continuum. Here a general method of analysis of such coupled systems is presented. It shows that vehicles possessing a single point of contact with the foundation become unstable above a velocity always higher than the critical speed defined in the classical constant moving force problem. Flutter speeds lower than this critical speed have been obtained in the case of vehicles with two points of contact. This destabilizing effect is due to the damping of the foundation. The evolution of the flutter boundaries as a function of the characteristics of the foundation is described for a typical vehicle.     

Parametric control of an axially moving string via fuzzy sliding-mode and fuzzy neural network methods

This study is dedicated to design effective control schemes to suppress transverse vibration of an axially moving string system by adjusting the axial tension of the string. To this end, a continuous model in the form of partial differential equations is first established to describe the system dynamics. Using an energy-like system functional as a Lyapunov function, a sliding-mode controller (SMC) is designed to be applied when the level of vibration is not small. Due to non-analyticity of the SMC control effort generated as vibration level becoming small, two intelligent control schemes are proposed to complete the task — fuzzy sliding-mode control (FSMC) and fuzzy neural network control (FNNC). Both control approaches are based on a common structure of fuzzy control, taking switching function and its derivative as inputs and tension variation as output to reduce the transverse vibration of the string. In the framework of FSMC, genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized to search for the optimal scalings for the inputs; in addition, the technique of regionwise linear fuzzy logic control (RLFLC) is employed to simplify the computation procedure of the fuzzy reasoning. On the other hand, FNNC is proposed for conducting on-line tuning of control parameters to overcome model uncertainty. Numerical simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of controllers. Satisfactory stability and vibration suppression are attained for all controllers with the findings that the FSMC assisted by GA holds the advantage of fast convergence with a precise model while the FNNC is robust to model uncertainty and environmental disturbance although a relatively slower convergence could be present.