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The study is devoted to mathematical modeling and optimal control design of longitudinal motions of a rectilinear elastic rod. The control inputs are a force, which is normal to the cross section and distributed piecewise constantly along the rod's axis, as well as two external lumped loads at the ends. It is assumed that the intervals of constancy in the normal force have equal length. Given initial and terminal states with a fixed time horizon, the optimal control problem is to minimize the mean mechanical energy stored in the rod. To solve the problem, two unknown functions are introduced: the dynamical potential and the longitudinal displacements. As a result, the initial-boundary value problem is reformulated in a weak form, in which constitutive relations are given as an integral quadratic equation. The unknown functions are both continuous in the new statement. For the uniform rod, they are found as linear combinations of traveling waves. In this case, all conditions on continuity as well as boundary, initial, and terminal constraints form a linear algebraic system with respect to the traveling waves and control functions. The minimal controllability time is found from the solvability condition for this algebraic system. After resolving the system, remaining free variables are used to optimize the cost functional. Thus, the original control problem is reduced to a one-dimensional variational problem. The Euler-Lagrange necessary condition yields a linear system of ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients supplemented by essential and natural boundary conditions. Therefore, the exact optimal control law and the corresponding dynamic and kinematic fields are found explicitly. Finally, the energy properties of the optimal solution are analyzed.