Dynamic Analysis of Beams

Abstract

In this chapter, we shall study the dynamic behavior of structures designated as beams, that is, structures that carry loads that are mainly transverse to the longitudinal direction, thus producing flexural stresses and lateral displacements. We begin by establishing the static characteristics for a beam segment; and then introduce the dynamic effects produced by the inertial forces. Two approximate methods are presented to take into account the inertial effect in the structure: 1) the lumped mass method in which the distributed mass is assigned to point masses, and 2) the consistent mass method in which the assignment to point masses includes rotational effects. The latter method is consistent with the static deflections of the beam. In Part IV on Special Topics the exact theory for dynamics of beams considering the elastic and inertial distributed properties will be presented.