Finite element analysis on vibration of a flexible single-link manipulator moved translationally

The objectives of this study are to formulate the equation of motion of a flexible single-link manipulator system and to develop computational codes by a finite-element method in order to perform dynamics simulation on vibration of the manipulator system. The system used in this research consist of an aluminium beam as a flexible link, a clamp-part to hold the link, a DC motor and a lead screw set to move the link translationally. Computational codes on time history responses and FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) processing were developed to calculate dynamic behaviour of the link. The simulation result show the dynamic behaviour of the system on free vibration and forced vibration by excitation force due to the translational motion of the single-link manipulator system.