Vibration of a continuous beam excited by a moving mass and experimental validation

The work presented in this paper deals with the vibration of a continuous slender beam excited by a mass moving at various speeds along it. An experimental model is designed and set up to study this problem. This model, which consists of a four-span continuous beam traversed by a moving mass at a constant speed, is used to build a theoretical model for the supporting structure. A series of tests designed to assess the accuracy of the model are carried out. The final section of the paper is dedicated to the numerical and experimental results and discussion.