An accurate solution for the responses of circular curved beams subjected to a moving load

In this paper, an accurate and effective solution for a circular curved bea m subjected to a moving load is proposed, which incorporates the dynamic st iffness matrix into the Laplace transform technique. In the Laplace domain, the dynamic stiffness matrix and equivalent nodal force vector for a movin g load are explicitly formulated based on the general closed-form solution of the differential equations for a circular curved beam subjected to a mov ing load. A comparison with the modal superposition solution for the case o f a simply supported curved beam confirms the high accuracy and applicabili ty of the proposed solution. The internal reactions at any desired location can easily be obtained with high accuracy using the proposed solution, whi le a large number of elements are usually required for using the finite ele ment method. Furthermore, the jump behaviour of the shear force due to pass age of the load is clearly described by the present solution without the Gi bb's phenomenon, which cannot be achieved by the modal superposition soluti on. Finally, the present solution is employed to study the dynamic behaviou r of circular curved beams subjected to a moving load considering the effec ts of the loading characteristics, including the moving speed and excitatio n frequency, and the effects of the characteristics of curved beams such as the radius of curvature, number of spans, opening angles and damping. The impact factors for displacement and internal reactions are presented. Copyr ight (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.