Analytical/Experimental Correlation of a Nonlinear System Subjected to a Dynamic Load

Abstract

Analytical and experimental studies of the dynamic response of a system with geometric and material nonlinearity are described. The dynamic excitation consists of sinusoidal and impulsive base acceleraton. The dynamic system, which is representative of many practical cases involving mechanical equipment and piping systems, consists of a cantilever beam with a gapped support at the free end. The material nonlinearity considers both the effect of yielding and the effect of strain rate on the initial yield level. The analytical studies are performed by transforming the continuous system to an equivalent single-degreee-of-freedom system and using numerical techniques to solve the resulting equation of motion. Experimental studies are conducted and responses are measured on the same dynamic systems. Critical comparisons are made between the calculated and measured responses.