New Consistent Numerical Modelling of a Travelling Accelerating Concentrated Mass

This paper deals with vibrations of structures subjected to moving inertial loads. In literature structures are usually subjected to massless forces. In numerical applications, however, the direct influence of the inertia of a moving object is usually neglected since the characteristic matrices, although simple, can not be easily derived. The paper presents a direct, non-iterative treatment of the motion of a mass along the finite element edge. The general characteristic matrices of finite elements that carry an inertial particle are given and can be applied directly to almost all types of structures. Numerical tests and a comparison with examples from the literature and especially with analytical results, prove the efficiency and accuracy of our analysis.