TRANSIENT RESPONSE OF AN IMPULSIVELY LOADED PLASTIC STRING ON A PLASTIC FOUNDATION

The problem of an impulsive loading of a long rigid-plastic string resting on a rigid-plastic foundation is studied. A closed form solution is obtained by disregarding the longitudinal motion and considering an arbitrarily large transversal motion. Expressions for the final shape of the string are derived in terms of the magnitude of the applied impulse. It is found that the stress and the foundation reaction force are not uniquely determined, while the shape of the string is.