Large Oscillations of a Thin Cantilever Beam: Physical Experiments and Simulation Using the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation

Many papers have studied computer-aided simulations of elastic bodies undergoing large deflections and large deformations. But there have not been many attempts to check the validity of the numerical formulations used in these studies. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate the validity of one such numerical formulation, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), by comparing the results it generates with the results of real experiments. Large oscillations of a thin cantilever beam are studied in this paper to numerically model the beam, which also accounts for the effects of an attached end-point weight and damping forces. The experiments were carried out using a high-speed camera and a data acquisition system.