Steady state motion of a shear deformable beam in contact with a traveling surface

A shear deformable beam moving along a straight path is considered as an idealization of the problem of stationary operation of a belt drive. The partial contact with a traveling surface results in the shear deformation of the beam. The tangential contact force grows near the end of the contact zone. Assuming perfect adhesion of the lower fiber of the beam to the traveling surface (no slip), we analytically demonstrate the necessity of accounting for concentrated contact forces and jump conditions, which is important for modeling the belt–pulley interaction. Along with dynamic effects, we further consider a frictional model with zones of stick and slip contact and demonstrate its convergence to the results with perfect adhesion at growing maximal friction force.