Transient impact response analysis of an elastic-plastic beam

A hybrid, numerical-analytical model is presented to investigate the transient response of a simply supported elastic-plastic beam subjected to impact of a sphere. The model couples a finite difference model based on the Rayleigh's beam theory with a theoretical contact model, named refined Stronge's model. The elastic-plastic transient impact responses of the beam and the wave propagation are solved by the finite difference model. The local elastic-plastic contact behavior is analyzed by the refined Stronge's model. The presented model is verified by the experiments. The comparisons of the numerical results with the experimental results show that the presented model is valid and can predict accurately the transient impact response and impact-induced wave propagation. The comparison of the calculating efficiency with the 3D finite element model shows that the presented model is highly efficient and suitable for parametric study. The effects of the various impact parameters, such as impactor mass, velocity, plasticity and impact location on the impact response, the energy loss and the coefficient of restitution are investigated. It has been found that the impact-induced wave propagation influences significantly the impact force response, the contact time, the energy loss and the coefficient of restitution. A jumping phenomenon of the energy loss and the Newton coefficient of restitution has been found, and it is resulted from the impact-induced wave propagation. The presented model appears to be suitable and convenient for the impact response analysis of elastic-plastic beam, especially for the study of impact-induced wave effects.