The study aims to investigate the low-velocity impact (LVI) on the surface of a beam with a changeable cross-sectional area. In the study “LVI on a beam with a changeable cross-sectional area and clamped-free boundary conditions”, the effect of changes in the cross-section are on the contact force, the beam displacement, the impactor displacement and the impactor velocity are investigated.
To obtain the motion equations, first, a field of displacements of the beam is written using third-order shear deformation of beams, including the exponential shear–strain function, and then the energy method is used. By combining Hamilton’s approaches and Ritz’s method, finally, the equations of motion are extracted. Using ABAQUS finite element code, validation of the theoretical approach is carried out. In this study, the beam with changeable cross-sectional area is considered in such a way that the height of the beam is constant, but the width of the beam changes linearly.
The results show that assuming the width of the beam in the clamped support is constant, an increase in the width of the beam in the free support leads to an increase in the peak contact force and the residual velocity of the impactor, also, the peak displacement of the beam and the impactor are decreased.
It can be shown from the analysis of LVI on beams with nonuniform cross-sectional area that the important influence on the contact force, impactor residual velocity, beam displacement and impactor displacement is achieved.
