On the response of beams with internal hinges, under moving mass

This article extends a procedure that has been used to discretize a continu ous flexible beam into a system of rigid bars and joints, which resist rela tive rotation of the attached bars. The object of this article is to presen t and formulate a simple and practical approximate technique for determinin g the time response of beams with internal hinges and different boundary co nditions, carrying a moving mass. The results are compared with a general-p urpose nonlinear dynamic finite element program, and a good agreement is ac hieved. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.