Spectral analysis of dynamic response of a thin beam subjected to a varying speed moving mass

A parametric survey was conducted to capture the dynamic response of a thin beam subjected to a varying speed moving mass. The existing literature lacks a comprehensive study on the beam dynamic behavior under a varying speed moving mass with arbitrary constant acceleration and mass ratio. The current work represents midpoint response spectra for a thin beam acted upon by a varying speed moving mass for a wide range of design parameters. Findings show that for a given mass ratio, higher response amplitudes are observed in decelerating motion compared to accelerating one. Moreover, increasing the mass ratio of the moving mass generally leads to higher beam dynamic response. Among the methods that can be utilized to calculate beam response, the Eigenfunction expansion method (EFM) and Orthonormal polynomial series expansion method (OPSEM) were used. Then an improvement technique was applied on both aforementioned methods and computational efficiency and convergence rate of all utilized methods was compared.