Modeling a diving board : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

The vibrating beam equation is a fourth order partial differential equation that may be seen in a physics course, such as Mechanics. It models the vertical displacement of any point on a beam after it has been displaced and released. In this paper, we will compare the theoretical model of a beam fixed at one end to actual "diving board" data we collected with a video camera and World in Motion software.