Steady-State Responses of a Beam on Idealized Strain-Hardening Foundations for a Moving Load

Abstract

The steady-state responses to a point load moving with constant velocity on an elastic beam which rests on two types of idealized strain-hardening foundations are considered. The one-dimensional elastic-rigid foundation problem is shown to be equivalent to an elastic foundation with two traveling point loads. The opposing loads produce deflections which remain bounded for all load velocities and less than the corresponding elastic foundation results. The deflections of a one-dimensional elastic-perfectly plastic foundation are shown to be bounded for all load velocities. However, deflections significantly larger than the corresponding elastic foundation results occur over a wide range of velocities which are less than the elastic foundation critical velocity.