Lateral impacts on flexible beams in multibody dynamics simulations

Abstract

The motion of a simply supported beam struck by a spherical ball is studied. Time scales are identified, which reveal the relative importance of several effects. The resulting motion is calculated with the aid of fundamental solutions. It is shown that the approach leads to results that agree with those obtained by means of a spatial discretization. A further development into a generally applicable method remains a subject for further investigations. © 2007 Springer.