Tapered beams on an elastic foundation and related problems: A study of engineering methods of analysis. Part I

The analysis of a beam with variable stiffness on an elastic foundation amounts to the solution of an ordinary linear differential equation of the fourth order with variable coefficients. The investigation is concerned with finding what methods of numerical analysis can be recommended for routine application in design or stress engineering. Several methods are described. From a number of sample computations on a desk calculator, it is concluded that none of the methods which were tried is entirely satisfactory. Further work with a high-speed digital computer will be reported in Part II.