The vibration and impact dynamics of a periodically forced loosely supported beam are analyzed. The wear work rates at impact points are evaluated. The considered beam is clamped at one end, and constrained against unilateral contact at contact sites, with or without friction, near the other end. In this work, the structure is modeled by a Bernoulli-type beam supported by springs using finite element method. Our model calculations are compared with measurements of contact forces and displacements made on a loosely supported rod that was subjected to harmonic loading. Furthermore, the dynamics of vibro-impacts are characterized by evaluating the impact velocity as a function of harmonic excitation frequency for two idealizations of the aforementioned structure. [S0094-9930(00)01002-7]