Off-center impact of an elastic column by a rigid mass

• The governing equations for the off-center impact of an elastic column by a rigid mass are derived.
• The duration of contact between the column and impacting mass is obtained.
• The effects of velocity, weight of impacting mass and off-center distance are studied.

Based on the Timoshenko beam model the equations of motion are obtained for large deflection of off-center impact of a column by a rigid mass via Hamilton's principle. These are a set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. The Newmark time integration scheme and differential quadrature method are employed to convert the equations into a set of nonlinear algebraic equations for displacement components. The equations are solved numerically and the effects of weight and velocity of the rigid mass and also off-center distance on deformation of the column are studied.