Belt–pulley interaction: role of the action line of friction forces

A simplified model of the belt motion with small strains is proposed. The main purpose of the modeling is to show the effects arising when the line of action of friction forces is shifted to the belt’s middle axis. The prestressed shearable model of the belt is used in this study. The differential equations of the steady state motion are integrated and combined together with the boundary conditions into two nonlinear systems of algebraic equations corresponding to the different cases of the belt behavior: presence and absence of a sliding segment. The nonlinearity results from the fact that the boundaries of the contact segments are a priori unknown. The case without sliding requires introduction of a concentrated force at the point where the belt leaves the pulley. Considerable effects of the assumptions of contact characterization on the simulation results are demonstrated.