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PERGAMON

Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

A new numerical method for the dynamic analysis of


impact loads in exible beams
J.L. Escalona *, J. Mayo, J. Dom nguez
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Seville, Camino delos Descubrimientos s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain

Abstract
The aim of this investigation is to compare the classical St. Venant's solution of the axial impact on
exible rods with the numerical result obtained using a nite element computational procedure involving
component mode synthesis, using a new technique developed to simulate impacts. The impacts treated
are those mainly governed by the propagation of elastic waves along the complete exible body. Local
eects at the vicinity of the contact surfaces are neglected. The phenomenon of succession of impacts is
analytically proved nding a second period of contact in a particular case. A numerical method is
developed to solve the collision based on the theoretical solution. This technique is able to identify the
elastic waves which travel along the rod and a force balance is continuously made to yield the contact
stress and the velocity of the surfaces in contact. Numerical solution shows an excellent agreement
between the numerically obtained displacements histories with the theoretical results. The capability of
the eigenvectors to describe the wave propagation is analysed as well as the eect of the elements
boundaries. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The literature about impact dynamics on exible solids is not very wide. Two classical
theories [8, 11] appear to be the main bases of the theoretical work done in this area. These are
the St. Venant's solution of axial impact on rods which solves the wave equation, and the
Hertz theory of impact, which is an extension of the Hertz theory of contact, and may be used
for the impact between compact bodies in which deformation mainly occurs at the vicinity of
the contact area.
According to the numerical techniques to analyse impact between exible solids, three main
methods have been developed, namely, the contact element method, the constraint addition
deletion method and generalised impulse momentum balance. All of them may be used in nite
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 34 5 455 6905; fax: 34 5 455 6997; e-mail: jlescalo@cica.es(J.L. Escalona)
0094-114X/99/$ - see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 9 4 - 1 1 4 X ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 5 4 - 8

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element computational codes. In the contact element technique, an element which may
comprise a spring and a damper connects the nodes associated with the impacted surfaces.
Necessarily, penetration must occur. Rigidity of the surfaces may be represented as well as
energy losses. Care must be taken on the election of the constants of the spring and damper,
because unreal frequencies may be introduced in the solution. The second method, the
constraint additiondeletion technique, does not allow penetration. A new constraint which
guarantees that there is no normal displacement of the contact nodes through the surfaces is
included in the set of equations of motion. This constant is deleted when a tensile reaction
force is detected. Generalised impulsemomentum balance equations are based on the
equations for the impact between rigid solids. An algebraic system of equations is solved to
obtain the velocity jump of the elastic coordinates after impact. These equations use the
coecient of restitution to account for energy losses. In this method, impacts are supposed to
occur instantaneously, hence, contact forces are not obtained.
These techniques have been used by several authors. Khulief and Shabana [5] develop a
continuous force model using a contact element comprising a spring and a damper to solve
impact on exible multibody systems. Their constants are obtained from energy balance
relations, accounting for the energy stored by the exible bodies in the form of vibration. An
eective mass compensation is dened to account for other bodies in the system connected by
kinematic paris. Wu and Haug [12] make a work about the mode shapes that should be used
on the impact problem. They use the constraint additiondeletion technique. The structures are
divided in substructures at which particular mode shapes are dened. It is distinguished in
between constraint modes and xed interface normal modes. An axial and transverse impact of
a concentrated mass on a cantilever beam are solved. When impact occurs only the modes of
the substructure that include the node in contact are excited. It is armed that this technique
gives better results because only the area near the contact zone is initially excited by the impact
loads. In this study, the generalised impulse momentum equation is criticised because the jump
in global modal velocities obtained with this method would move the complete system at the
initial instant of impact, which is only possible with an innite wave velocity that only
characterises rigid solids. Palas et al. [9] prove that when an innite set of modes is used the
generalised momentum balance equations result in a velocity jump only at the contact area as
a consequence of impact while the other parts of the system keep at rest. A transverse impact
on a radially rotating beam is solved using dierent sets of mode shapes, their results are
compared. Shao et al. [10] study numerically the impact on a exible slidercrank mechanism
using the constraint technique. Initial velocities of the nodes in contact and initial contact
pressure when contact is detected are obtained from wave propagation concepts. But due to
dispersive eects, the velocity of the elastic waves, which is used as a constant to obtain the
initial conditions, depends on the rotation of the solid [4]. However, it is similar enough to the
velocity of the waves in structural systems in most practical considerations. An experimental
work is done to compare with the numerical results and a reasonably agreement is found. Hsu
and Shabana [4] study the problem of the propagation of transversal impact-induced elastic
waves in a radially rotating beam and an additional dispersion due to the eect of the angular
velocity is demonstrated using the Fourier method. The discrepancy between the wave velocity
in the static and rotating cases increases as the angular velocity increases. The nite element
deduced wave velocity shows such a dispersion too but give a smaller value of it than the

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767

Fourier method. Lee and Yoon [7] use a continuous force model originally proposed by
Lankarani and Nikravesh [6] which gives a non zero value of the damping force at the
beginning of impact. They use a load dependent Ritz vector to describe the post- impact
behaviour of beams impacted by a concentrated mass. It is armed that this is a better basis
to describe the dynamic behaviour of the beams than the mode shapes. Yigit [13] studied the
eect of exibility on the severity of a transversal impact on a two link manipulator. A
continuous force model based on Hertz contact is used. The phenomenon of multiple impacts
is shown with a decreasing intensity of them. It is concluded that exibility reduces the severity
of the impact load. Gau and Shabana [2] make a similar study than Hsu and Shabana [4] in
the case of axial impact on a radially rotating beam. Similar conclusions are obtained,
although now the angular velocity is the only source of dispersion of the axial elastic waves.
The travel of a velocity pulse induced by an instantaneous impact is analysed.
The paper is divided into seven parts. In Section two, the assumptions made about the
impact process are presented. In Section three, the wave solution to the axial impact of a rigid
solid on a cantilever beam [11] is used to nd analytically a second period of contact. Based on
this wave solution a numerical technique developed to simulate impacts on beams is presented
in Section four. Initially, it is formulated for axial impacts, and its extension to transverse
impacts is described. In Section ve, the details of the numerical simulations are explained and
their results are shown in Section six. The summary of this work and conclusions are given in
Section seven.
2. Assumptions
The assumptions made about the impact are those regarding the impacting mass, the process
at the contact area and the behaviour of the exible impacted body. These assumptions are:
1. The impacting mass is considered as a compact body with very little dispersion of the mass.
Therefore, the quasistatic assumption can be made, that is, the elastic wave propagation is
much faster than the duration of contact during the impact, hence, the body is considered
as a single point-rigid body.
2. The surfaces in contact are planar and the contact stresses are uniform along them. At the
impact velocities treated there will be no plasticity at the vicinity of the contact area.
Friction is not considered.
3. The exible body is a linear elastic solid. Lateral inertia due to the Poisson's eect is not
considered.
3. St. Venant's Solution: Second Period of Contact
The phenomenon of impact may happen during several periods of contact, this is known in
the literature as the succession of impacts, Goldsmith [3]. It is well known that in the
transversal impact on beams, when solids behave with more exibility than in the axial case,
although the impact could seem a single process to the naked eye, the surfaces join and
separate several times before the impact is nished. In this section, this phenomenon is

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analytically proved using the classical St. Venant's solution in the case in which a concentrated
mass impacts a cantilever beam with a mass ratio equal to one. The formulation is taken from
Timoshenko and Goodier [11]. In this reference, only the rst impact is analysed. The original
contribution of this third section is the study of posterior impacts. Therefore, the analysis to
Eq. (10) can be found in the literature. The nding of the second impact will be studied in
more detail.
The system to be analysed is shown in Fig. 1. Two periods of contact are found during the
collision.
The equation that governs the propagation of axial elastic waves in rods is:
2
@2 u
2@ u

c
@t2
@x2

p
where u is the axial displacement of any section and c E=r is the velocity of propagation of
the axial elastic waves, being E, the Young's modulus, and r, the material density.
The velocity and stress of a section are governed by the wave propagation. The relation
between them is given by:
vt vt0

st st0
cr

where v(t0) and s(t0) are the conditions before the wave arrival. Regarding the sign of these
variables, the velocity of propagation of the wave has the same sign as the velocity of the
sections in the case of a compression wave and opposite signs in the case of a tensile wave.
To solve the impact problem, it is assumed that, initially, the rst section of the rod
suddenly acquires the same velocity as the concentrated mass. This assumption is consistent
since one section has zero mass and, hence, a nite force is needed for this velocity jump,
however, if the concentrated mass would suddenly change its velocity, an innite force would
be needed. The force balance at the contacted area results in
M

dv
s0
dt

where M is the mass of the concentrated body per unit of rod cross section, s is the tension at
the contact section, positive during compression, and v is the velocity of the free section which
is the same as the concentrated mass velocity when contact occurs.
It is considered that the cantilever beam is initially at rest, therefore, substituting v(t0) = 0
and s(t0) = 0 in Eq. (2) yields:

Fig. 1. Axial impact.

J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

s
s
p :
cr
Er

Substituting Eq. (4) in Eq. (3) and solving yields:


p t p
Er
s v0 Ere M :

769

This solution is valid until the arrival of the reected wave from the distal end. At this instant,
t = T = 2L/c, where L is the length of the rod and T the fundamental period of the rod that is
the time spent by the wave on covering the length of the rod twice, the velocity and stress of
the sections are the sum of the values given by the waves that are travelling in opposite
directions. sn(t) represents the total compression stress at the contact point produced by all the
waves that travel to the clamped end. These waves can be both newly generated or reected. It
is assumed that during contact the waves reect at the contact surface like at a clamped end as
the concentrated solid cannot suddenly change its velocity. The wave that came from the distal
end is the same as the wave generated at the contact point during the previous interval. Then:
s sn t sn1 t T;
1
v p sn t sn1 t T;
Er
nT < t < n 1T:

Introducing these expressions in Eq. (3) yields:


d
2a
sn t sn1 t T sn t sn1 t T 0
dt
T

where
a

Lr
M

is the mass ratio between the rod and the concentration mass. The solution of Eq. (7) yields
the values of s1, s2, . . .
In this section we will be consider the case in which the mass ratio is equal to one, i.e. a = 1.
During the rst interval, 0 < t < T, the compression stress is given by Eq. (5). Solving Eq. (7)
for the second interval, T < t < 2 T, it is obtained that:



t
2tT 1
9
14 1
s1 t s0 t s0 e
T
This process could be repeated to get s2, s3, . . ., but for a = 1, the end of the rst impact
occurs at the second interval when the contact force changes its sign, that is:
s0 t T s1 t 0 ) t 1:534T:

10

The velocity of the free section at this instant is:


v1:534T 0:688v0 :

11a

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J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

Taking the origin of time at the end of this period of contact and the origin of the x axis at
the position of the concentrated mass at this instant, the displacement of the concentrated mass
will be given by:
dm 0:688v0 t:

11

The displacement of the free section of the rod is obtained by integrating its velocity, which is
a function of the stress waves. After the end of the rst impact and since the occurrence of a
second one, the waves reect at the free section like at a free end.


1:068
2t
T 1e T
0 < t < 0:466T;
d1 t v0 e
 


t
2t
d2 t 0:6566 10:158 2:5396 eT v0 T;
T
0:466T < t < T:

12

Both displacements are represented in Fig. 2 and the coincidence of them demonstrates the
existence of a second period of contact at t = 0.5944 T, or, with the time origin at 0, at
t = 2.1284 T. The new wave s II(t) is obtained using a similar procedure to that described
above, but now there also exists a known compression s1(t) of the beam previous to the
impact.
For this second contact, the initial condition is that the free section suddenly acquires the
velocity of the free body, that is 0.688v0.

Fig. 2. Displacements of concentrated mass and free section after rst period of contact.

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The stress at the beginning of this second period of contact, the duration of it and the
velocity of the concentrated mass at the end are given by:
sn 0 sI 0 0:274s0 ;
sn t sI t 0 ) t 0:0347T;
1
psII 0:0347T sI 0:0347T 0:6922v0 :
Er

13

4. New Numerical Method for the Treatment of Impacts in Flexible Beams


This new technique is based on the St. Venant solution described in Section one. It is
introduced for the case of axial non-depressive impact-induced elastic waves for simplicity,
however, as will be discussed, it is applicable for dispersive axial or transversal elastic waves.
A concentrated mass is supposed to impact axially on the free end of a exible rod. There is
no assumption about the conditions at the other end. At any instant of the contact period, an
elastic wave sI(t) is generated at the contact point, simultaneously an elastic wave s II(t) is
arriving. This is graphically shown in Fig. 3. The instantaneous value of sI(t) is required to do
so, the value of s II(t) has to be identied, which is the main task to develop.
Eq. (7) may now be expressed as:
d
2a
sI t sII t sI t sII t 0:
dt
T
Numerically using a small time step, this is Dt 4 0, Eq. (14) may be approximated by:
sI t sI t Dt sII t sII t Dt 2a

sI t sII t 0 )
Dt
Dt
T

Fig. 3. Propagation of elastic waves.

14

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1
sII t sII t Dt sI t Dt 2a
sII t
sI t 1 2a
Dt
T
Dt T

15

The point located in a section at a distance d = cDt from the contact surface is point 1. This
point is drawn in Fig. 3. In the previous time step we have:
1
vs t Dt p sI t Dt sII t Dt;
Er
ss t Dt sI t Dt sII t Dt:

16

Where the subscript s means contact section. From Eq. (16) the values of the dierent waves
may be identied
p
1
sI t Dt ss t Dt Ervs t Dt;
2
p
1
sII t Dt ss t Dt Ervs t Dt:
2

17

Similarly, at point 1:
1
vI t Dt p sI t 2Dt sII t;
Er
sI t Dt sI t 2Dt sII t;
p
1
) sII t sI t Dt ErvI t Dt:
2

18
19

Using Eqs. (17) and (19) in Eq. (15) and rearranging it we obtain the value of the
instantaneous wave generated at the contact area:
p


 
p
1
1 1 2a
Er
sI t 1 2a

sI t Dt ErvI t Dt
20
vs t Dt :
2 Dt T
Dt
Dt T
With this procedure, knowing the stress and velocity at point 1 and the velocity of the
impacted section at the previous time step, the value of the wave generated at the actual time
step is obtained. As a result, the velocity of the concentrated mass and the contact stress are
found, this is:
1
vs t p sI t sII t;
Er
ss t sI t sII t:

21

Initially, when contact is detected, with v0 being the initial velocity of the concentrated mass,
the following initial condition is obtained:
p
sI 0 Erv0 :
22
The reason is discussed in Section 3. The contact will continue until the stress changes its sign,

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773

if the value of the new elastic wave obtained, sI(t) < 0 (tension stress), the impact process is
terminated.
In simple words it could be said that it is used as a messenger situated at point 1 which tell
us the value of the elastic wave that is coming. This messenger has to be able to dierentiate
which part of its state is due to which of the two waves that cross it. This problem is solved by
the use of the fundamental relation between the stress and velocity of the sections.
This procedure does not neglect the period of contact, impact is considered a continuous
process. Moreover, other loads acting at the time of the collision are not neglected. The
fundamental set of equations of motion does not alter. There is no need for the contact
element to connect with the nodes associated with the impacting surfaces; when impact is
detected, penetration does not occur since they acquire the same velocity resulting from
Eq. (21).
The proposed procedure may be applied to impacts that provoke dispersive elastic waves. In
such a situation, there is no unique wave velocity; every dierent mode has a dierent
associated wave propagation velocity. However, it is known that the reection of them results
in a reected wave with the same wave number and the same velocity of propagation.
Therefore, with dispersive eects, several points 1 have to be used, as many as the number of
modes used in the solution of the problem. At the modes, just the velocity and stress
associated with the mode in question have to be taken into account to make the force balance
and to calculate the reected wave in the next step.
5. Numerical Simulation
The impact problem is numerically solved using a nite element computational procedure
involving component mode synthesis. The rod is divided in monodimensionally equally spaced
elements which have only axial displacements. The concentrated mass is represented by a single
point. The element shape function is given by:
Si 1 x x

23

x
is the dimensionless axial coordinate and n the number of elements in which the
Where x L=n
rod is divided. The Newmark method is used as an integration scheme in which case d = 0.5
and a = 0.25 is used, Bathe [1]. The eigenvectors of the cantilever beam, without contact of the
concentrated mass, are used as global shape functions that describe the complete deformation
of the rod in order to decrease the number of coordinates. When contact occurs there is a
change in the kinematical structure of the system. In such a situation the eigenvectors of a
cantilever beam with a concentrated mass attached to its end are the proper ones for describing
the process. In order to obtain these eigenvectors a contact element is needed between the
concentrated mass and the originally free section of the rod. However, the free-clamped
eigenvectors may be used as well; they agree with the geometrical boundary condition but they
do not agree with the natural boundary condition, since they always give a zero value of the
stress at the free section. With the method described in Section two, the contact force may be
obtained using the free-end eigenvectors. Therefore, a change in the set of modes is not
necessary as it will be proven in the numerical results.

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J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

According to the time step, some computational codes recommend the use of the time spent
by the elastic waves on covering the length of the element. However, since component mode
synthesis is used, the time step will be based on the description of the period of the mode with
the maximum wave number, that is, the shortest period. It will be ten points per minimum
period, computed from the continuous mode:
Dt

2pomax
10

24

; d is the number of modes used and c the velocity of sound in the


where omax 2d1pc
2L
material.
At the numerical simulation, the rod will be made of steel with a Young's modulus
E = 2.1  1011 N/m2, density r = 7.9  103 Kg/m3, length L = 0.3 m, cross sectional area
A = 9  10 9 m2. The concentrated mass will have the same mass as the rod m = 2.133 kg and
its initial velocity v0 = 1 m/s.

6. Numerical Results
In this part, the results obtained using the nite element computational procedure involving
component mode synthesis are compared with the St. Venant's analytical results presented in
Section 3. It is important to emphasise that this analytical solution presents a discontinuous
contact force model due to the reection of the elastic waves. Velocity jump only exists at zeromass cross sections of the rod.
There is a big dierence between the agreement achieved with the numerically computed
displacements and stresses compared with the analytical results. Just a few modes are needed
to nd a good agreement in the displacements history. However, even with a large number of
modes, the contact stress, the reaction force at the clamped end and, generally, the stress wave,
are underestimated. Even more, some unreal frequencies due to the reection of the elastic
waves at the element boundaries are found at the numerical simulation. As it may be observed
in Fig. 2, if the concentrated mass has a slightly higher velocity after the rst period of contact,
the second one will not occur. It is known that a nite element model always results in a more
sti system than the real one since its degrees of freedom decrease from innite to a nite
number. The stier the system, the less the vibration energy absorbed by it. Hence, it is likely
to not nd the second period of contact mainly when few degrees of freedom are used.
However, the second period of contact alters the subsequent dynamic behaviour of the rod
very little because of its short duration and low contact stress level in comparison with the rst
period of contact. If only the rst contact is found, the rod will take less energy in the form of
vibration from the impacting mass.
Figs. 4 and 5 show the displacements of the free section of the rod during the impact process
obtained using 10 and 40 modes respectively. The rst one shows a good agreement with
theoretical results and excellent agreement is found with the second one. However, in the
problem solved with 10 modes the second period of contact does not appear. Figs. 6 and 7 are
the corresponding contact stresses resulting from both cases. The contact duration is always
very well approximated. The rst period of contact is interrupted before the arrival of the

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775

Fig. 4. Displacement of the free section and concentrated mass, 10 modes:free section, numerical result; free
section, analytical result; . concentrated mass, numerical result.

Fig. 5. Displacement of the free section and concentrated mass, 40 modes:free section, numerical result; free
section, analytical result; . concentrated mass, numerical result.

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J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

Fig. 6. Contact stress, 10 modes:numerical result; analytical result.

Fig. 7. Contact stress, 40 modes:numerical result; analytical result.

J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

777

Fig. 8. Stress waves at t = 1.551  10 5 s, 70 modes:numerical result; theoretical result.

elastic wave from the clamped end; this is due to the phenomenon of reection at the elements
boundaries. This leads to an unreal variation of the stress with a frequency which characterises
the vibration of the elements. These boundaries do not exist in the real solid. With the shape
functions used this phenomenon cannot be avoided. The peaks of the contact stress are always
smaller in the numerical simulation than in the theoretical solution.
The propagation of the elastic waves is shown in Figs. 810 in which the stress wave is
presented in three dierent times and compared with the analytical solution. Figs. 8 and 9
show the stress wave before the rst reection at the clamped end. It may be observed that the

Fig. 9. Stress wave at t = 3.49  10 5 s, 70 modes:numerical result; theoretical result.

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J. Escalona et al. / Mechanism and Machine Theory 34 (1999) 765780

Fig. 10. Stress wave at t = 3.491  10 5 s, 70 modes:numerical result; theoretical result.

length of the rod that is not reached by the elastic wave is kept at rest. Fig. 10 presents an
instant after this rst reection. All are obtained with 70 mode shapes calculated from 100
elements. As a consequence of the contact stress, the values of the stress in the numerical
simulation are smaller than those values from the analytical results and a characteristic
frequency of the elements appears in the stress wave.

Fig. 11. Reaction at clamped end, 40 modes:numerical result; theoretical result.

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779

Fig. 11 shows the stress reaction at the clamped end which presents the same characteristics
as the contact stress. It is obtained using 40 modes. There is no reaction until the arrival of the
elastic wave.

7. Summary and Conclusions


In this investigation, numerical simulation of impacts on exible bodies is studied taking as
reference the classical St. Venant's solution to the axial impact on a cantilever beam. The
classical approximation of the impact load on rigid bodies in which the period of contact is
neglected is not valid in exible bodies at least when the colliding body masses have the same
order. Actually, as is shown in Section one, the duration of contact in the kind of impacts
treated here is not short. The relative duration of this phenomenon is found when compared
with the characteristic time associated with the mechanical system under consideration. In this
example, this time may be considered as the time spent by the elastic waves on covering the
length of the beam, the duration of contact in this example is longer than this.
The phenomenon of succession of impacts, which is well known in transversal impacts on
beams, may happen during the axial impact as it has been proven theoretically. However, in
this particular example, the severity of the second impact is quite small compared to the rst
one, hence it may be neglected without changing substantially the subsequent dynamic
behaviour of the system.
A numerical technique is developed to be included in a nite element simulation. A contact
element is not needed since the same velocity is associated with the colliding nodes when
contact occurs. This velocity as well as the contact stress is continuously evaluated analysing
the elastic wave which is arriving at the contact surface. To do so, a method is developed
which is able to identify the dierent waves which travel along the solid, taking advantage on
the knowledge of the relation between stress and velocity waves. The numerical solution
demonstrates the validity of the technique presented.
A nite element simulation is done using eigenvectors of the cantilever beam without the
concentrated mass attached to its end. There is no change in the set of eigenvectors when the
kinematic structure of the system changes due to the collision. However, the free end-clamped
end eigenvectors, which only agree with the geometrical boundary conditions when contact
occurs, appear to describe properly the dynamic behaviour of the rod. The displacement
history of the free end of the rod presents an excellent agreement with the theoretical results,
even when only a few eigenvectors are used. There is good agreement between the numerically
and theoretically evaluated contact force, as well as the contact duration. However, the
maximum peaks are not achieved in the simulation and some high frequency alterations of the
contact stress due to the reection of the elastic waves at the element boundaries are found.
The same characteristic of the contact stress appear when the stress wave and the reaction
force at the clamped end are analysed. According to the second period of contact, this is not
always numerically found since the higher rigidity of the nite element model over the
continuous model results in a higher velocity of the concentrated mass after the rst impact.
Eigenvectors describe very well the wave propagation; this is observed in the numerical
simulation when the length of the rod which is not reached by the wave keeps at rest.

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Moreover, the reaction at the clamped end has zero value until the arrival of the compression
wave.
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