Cantilever Beam Loading Type?

[ACT]

Hello,

I am modeling a Cantilever beam and there will be no loading except an excitation at the calmped end.

Should I describe it as uniformally loaded or purely free? am confused :S

 

[Mech_Engineer]

By definition, a cantilever beam cannot have an excitation at its fixed end. So either this will be a steady-state beam that does nothing, or it's loading condition is not really as you have described it...

 

[ACT]

thanks for your reply!

> a steady-state beam

hmm, could you please elaborate?

I will have to excite the clamped end with displacement (x) and the other end will be free!

this is my loading condition. it is not wrong.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

I see, so what you're wanting to do is look at a beam's frequency response to an excitement (movement) at the base. I think what I would first try to do is rather than fixing the "fixed" end in all 6 degrees of freedom, only fix it in five. In other words, look at a modal analysis of the beam where a single degree of freedom is free at the fixed end of the beam, such as vertical translation.

Will you be doing this analysis in an FEA package, or analytically?

 

[ACT]

the movement will be in the vertical direction (along the z-axis say!) all the rest of the displacements is zero !

how can i do the modal analysis am a bit beginner :S

i will do it analytically and then use matlab...

is there any free software for FE online?

thanks