OSCILLATION OF A BILINEAR ELASTIC BEAM

A beam structure characterized by a bilinear relationship between moment and curvature is shown to have only one mode of vibration in which cyclic motion takes place. This mode is equivalent to the fundamental mode of a linear beam, but has different amplitudes in the flexible and the stiff phase of bending. Modes similar to the higher modes of a linear structure are found to exist only when there are no changes of sign of the curvature. However, this is not compatible with cyclic motion. /TRRL/