Parametric excitation of beams moving over supports

Studied in this work are the formulation of equations of motion and the response to parametric excitation of a uniform cantilever beam moving longitudinally over a single bilateral support. The equations of motion are generated by using assumed modes to discretize the beam, by regarding the support as a kinematic constraint, and by employing an alternate form of Kane's method that is particularly well suited to systems subject to constraints. Instability information is developed using the results of perturbation analysis for harmonic longitudinal motions of small amplitude and with Floquet theory for general periodic motions of any amplitude. Results demonstrate that definitive instability information can be obtained for a beam moving longitudinally over supports based on the frequencies of free transverse vibration of a beam that is longitudinally fixed.