On the uniqueness of large deflections of a uniform cantilever beam under a tip-concentrated rotational load

The problem of a uniform cantilever beam under a tip-concentrated load, which rotates in relation with the tip-rotation of the beam, is studied in this paper. The formulation of the problem results in non-linear ordinary differential equations amenable to numerical integration. A relation is obtained for the applied tip-concentrated load in terms of the tip-angle of the beam. When the tip-concentrated load acts always normal to the undeformed axis of the beam (the rotation parameter, β=0β=0) there is a possibility of obtaining non-unique solution for the applied load. This phenomenon is also observed for other rotation parameters less than unity. When the tip-concentrated load is acting normal to the deformed axis of the beam (β=1)(β=1), many load parameters are obtained for a tip-angle with different deformed configurations of the beam. However, each load parameter corresponds to a tip-angle, which confirms the uniqueness on the solution of non-linear differential equations.