The setting of a looped drive belt on two equal pulleys is considered. The belt is modelled as a Cosserat rod, and a geometrically nonlinear model with account for tension and transverse shear is applied. The pulleys are considered as rigid bodies, and the belt-pulley contact is assumed to be frictionless. The problem has two axes of symmetry; therefore, the boundary value problem for the system of ordinary differential equations is formulated and solved for a quarter of the belt. The considered part consists of two segments, which are the free segment without the loading and the contact segment with the full frictionless contact. The introduction of a dimensionless material coordinate at both segments leads to a ninth-order system of ordinary differential equations. The boundary value problem for this system is solved numerically by the shooting method and finite difference method. As a result, the belt shape including the rotation angle, forces, moments, and the contact pressure are determined. The contact pressure increases near the end point of the contact area; however, no concentrated contact force occurs. Mathematics Subject Classification

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Dynamics of a belt drive is analyzed using a nonlinear model of an extensible string at contour motion, in which the trajectories of particles of the belt are predetermined. The equations of string dynamics at the tight and slack spans are considered in a fixed domain by transforming into a spatial frame. Assuming the absence of slip of the belt on the surface of the pulleys, we arrive at a new model with a discontinuous velocity field and concentrated contact forces. Finite difference discretization allows numerical analysis of the resulting system of partial differential equations with delays. Example solution for the acceleration of a belt drive and an investigation of its frequency response depending on the velocity are presented and discussed.

The drive belt set on two pulleys is considered as a nonlinear elastic rod deforming in plane. The modern equations of the nonlinear theory of rods are used. The static frictionless contact problem for the rod is derived. The nonlinear boundary value problems for the ordinary differential equations are solved by the finite differences method and by the shooting method by means of computer mathematics. The belt shape and the stresses are determined in the nonlinear formulation which delivers the contact reaction and the contact area. The developed method allows performing calculations for any set of geometrical and stiffness parameters.

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.