A Finite Element Analysis for a Rotating Cantilever Beam

Abstract

A finite element analysis for a rotating cantilever beam is presented in this study. Based on a dynamic modeling method using the stretch deformation instead of the conventional axial deformation, three linear partial differential equations are (derived from Hamilton's principle. Two of the linear differential equations show the coupling effect between stretch and chordwise deformations. The other equation is an uncoupled one for the flapwise deformation. From these partial differential equations and the associated boundary conditions, two weak forms are derived: one is for the chordwise motion and the other is fur the flptwise motion. The weak farms are spatially discretized with newly defined two-node beam elements. With the discretized equations or the matrix-vector equations, the behaviors of the natural frequencies are investigated for the variation of the rotating speed.