Study of insertion task of a flexible beam into a hole

Abstract

Discusses the task of inserting a flexible beam into a hole when the friction force is large enough to buckle the beam. The authors analyze the buckle shape of the beam and external forces and moments loaded on the beam during the insertion task, under the condition that the potential energy of the beam is minimized. Then, the authors find that the buckling shape has two buckling modes and the modes are changed by varying the orientation angle of the end of the beam. The authors propose a method of performing the insertion task, based on an analysis of the relation between the external forces and friction coefficient. Finally, the authors present experimental results which confirm their analysis.