Observations on the Steady-State Solution of an Extremely Flexible Spinning Disk With a Transverse Load

Abstract

The steady deflection of a transversely loaded, extremely flexible, spinning disk is studied. Membrane theory is used to predict the shapes and locations of waves that dominate the response. It is found that waves in disconnected regions are possible. Some results are presented to show how disk stiffness moderates the membrane waves, the most important result being an upper bound on the highest ordered wave of significant amplitude. A hybrid system of differential equations and boundary conditions is developed to replace the pure membrane formulation that is singular, and the full fourth-order plate formulation that is numerically sensitive. The hybrid formulation retains the salient features of the flexible disk response and facilitates calculations for very small disk stiffnesses.