Dynamic stability of a slender beam under horizontal–vertical excitations

• Non-linear response and stability of beam under both horizontal and vertical excitations.
• Non-linear inertia and non-linear elastic terms considered.
• Effects of non-linear terms and damping parameter on beam response and stability region.

The dynamic stability of a vertically standing cantilevered beam simultaneously excited in both horizontal and vertical directions at its base is studied theoretically. The beam is assumed to be an inextensible Euler–Bernoulli beam. The governing equation of motion is derived using Hamilton's principle and has a nonlinear elastic term and a nonlinear inertia term. A forced horizontal external term is added to the parametrically excited system. Applying Galerkin's method for the first bending mode, the forced Mathieu–Duffing equation is derived. The frequency response is obtained by the harmonic balance method, and its stability is investigated using the phase plane method. Excitation frequencies in the horizontal and vertical directions are taken as 1:2, from which we can investigate the influence of the forced response under horizontal excitation on the parametric instability region under vertical excitation. Three criteria for the instability boundary are proposed. The influences of nonlinearities and damping of the beam on the frequency response and parametric instability region are also investigated. The present analytical results for instability boundaries are compared with those of experiments carried out by one of the authors.