Effects of Cable on the Dynamics of a Cantilever Beam with Tip Mass

The dynamic effects of cable attachment on a cantilever beam with tip mass are investigated by an improved Chebyshev spectral element method. The cabled beam is modeled as a double-beam system connected by springs at several discrete locations. By utilizing high order Chebyshev polynomials as basis functions and meshing the system at the locations of connections, precise numerical results of the natural frequencies and mode shapes can be obtained using only a few elements. The accuracy of this method is validated through comparing the results of finite element method and those of spectral element method in literature. The validated method is implemented to investigate the effects of parameters, including spring stiffness, number of connections, density, and Young’s modulus of cable. The results show that the mode shapes of the cabled beam system can be classified into two types: beam mode shapes and cable mode shapes, according to their main deformation. Their corresponding natural frequencies change in very different ways with the variation of system parameters. This work can be applied to optimize the dynamic characteristics of precise spacecraft structures with cable attachments.