A Steadily Moving Load on an Elastic Beam Resting on a Tensionless Winkler Foundation

An infinitely long Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on a tensionless Winkler foundation is considered. Steady-state solutions are obtained for a downward directed concentrated force moving with constant speed. First, the critical load necessary to initiate separation of the beam from the foundation is determined for a range of speed. For loads greater than critical, one or more regions of noncontact can be expected to occur. Closed-form solutions of the differential equations are obtained in terms of local coordinate systems which significantly reduces the coupling among the various regions. The extent and location of the noncontact regions, as well as the corresponding beam deflections, are then determined for a range of force and speed. The results show that many solutions are possible and the final determination is based on an energy criterion.