Review of Numerical Methods of Solution

Abstract

In this chapter we will discuss the numerical approaches to the moving load problem given in the literature. Most of them concern beam deflection. Unfortunately, comparison with exact analytical or semi-analytical results are rarely given. In most cases the authors compare their results with curves published by other researchers. The authors compute examples using different data and boundary conditions. They usually emphasize the agreement of their results with other computational methods. Unfortunately, results which coincide with an approximate method are not necessarily accurate as well.We should relate the results to analytical solutions or at least to solutions which fulfill the governing differential equations with possibly the lowest error. In this chapter we will compare the curves presented in these publications with semi-analytical results.