Dynamic Analysis of a Fiber-Reinforced Composite Beam under a Moving Load by the Ritz Method

Abstract

This paper presents the dynamic responses of a fiber-reinforced composite beam under a moving load. The Timoshenko beam theory was employed to analyze the kinematics of the composite beam. The constitutive equations for motion were obtained by utilizing the Lagrange procedure. The Ritz method with polynomial functions was employed to solve the resulting equations in conjunction with the Newmark average acceleration method (NAAM). The influence of fiber orientation angle, volume fraction, and velocity of the moving load on the dynamic responses of the fiber-reinforced nonhomogeneous beam is presented and discussed.

Keywords

• moving load problems
• fiber-reinforced composite materials
• Timoshenko beams
• Ritz method