ON THE RESPONSE OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED NON-UNIFORM RAYLEIGH BEAM TO TRAVELLING DISTRIBUTED LOADS

Abstract

The problem of a simply supported non-uniform Rayleigh beam under travelling distributed loads is investigated in this paper. Both gravity and inertia effects of the distributed loads are taken into consideration. For the solution of the problem, the Galerkin’s Weighted Residual (GWR) method and Struble’s asymptotic technique are employed. From the analysis, it is seen that the displacement response of both moving distributed force and moving distributed mass problems decrease with increase in the values of foundation moduli. Furthermore, higher values of rotatory inertia correction factor reduce the transverse deflection of the beam structure when both force and inertia effects are taken into consideration. Analytical and Numerical solutions show that for the same natural frequency, the critical speed for the system consisting of a non-uniform simply supported Rayleigh beam traversed by a moving distributed force at constant velocity is higher than that of the moving distributed mass problem. Thus, resonance is reached earlier in the
moving distributed mass system than in the moving distributed
force system.