Archive of posts on Nov 13, 2022
An example of non-uniform elements: heavy elastic rope
To illustrate the concept about non-uniform elements, we study a simple problem: suppose a uniform heavy elastic rope has mass $m$, original length $L_0$, and stiffness $k$, and find the mass distribution and length of it when hung vertically. We can use the element method to solve this problem, but the elements are non-uniform in terms of length. The elements add up to get the total length $L=\frac{mg}{2k}+L_0$.
- Categories: physics
- Tags: from zhihu