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Failure analysis of highly predeformed beams used as flexure hinges
Author(s) -
Kern Dominik,
Rösner Malte,
Seemann Wolfgang
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.201210095
Subject(s) - hinge , cantilever , beam (structure) , discretization , structural engineering , boundary value problem , ritz method , deformation (meteorology) , buckling , energy method , potential energy , mathematics , mathematical analysis , engineering , physics , classical mechanics , meteorology
The trend to extend the working ranges of flexure hinges implies large deformations during operation. To conduct a failure analysis the total deformation is decomposed into desired deformation and deviations. In particular, a flexure hinge of leaf‐spring type is examined. It is modeled by the theory of elastica. The resulting boundary value problem is solved numerically for the static case by Ritz's method. It is discretized into trial functions and their free coefficients are determined from the minimum of potential energy by optimization methods. The crucial point is that the elastic energy stored in the beam is formulated intrinsically, while the potential of external conservative loads is formulated in a space‐fixed coordinate system. The well‐known special case of buckling of a straight cantilever beam is used for verification. (© 2012 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)