Non-linear stability analysis of imperfect thin-walled composite beams

The static non-linear behavior of thin-walled composite beams is analyzed considering the effect of initial imperfections. A simple approach is used for determining the influence of imperfection on the buckling, prebuckling and postbuckling behavior of thin-walled composite beams. The fundamental and secondary equilibrium paths of perfect and imperfect systems corresponding to a major imperfection are analyzed for the case where the perfect system has a stable symmetric bifurcation point. A geometrically non-linear theory is formulated in the context of large displacements and rotations, through the adoption of a shear deformable displacement field. An initial displacement, either in vertical or horizontal plane, is considered in presence of initial geometric imperfection. Ritz's method is applied in order to discretize the non-linear differential system and the resultant algebraic equations are solved by means of an incremental Newton-Rapshon method. The numerical results are presented for a simply supported beam subjected to axial or lateral load. It is shown in the examples that a major imperfection reduces the load-carrying capacity of thin-walled beams. The influence of this effect is analyzed for different fiber orientation angle of a symmetric balanced lamination. In addition, the postbuckling response obtained with the present beam model is compared with the results obtained with a shell finite element model (Abaqus).     

Theory of open thin-walled composite and prestressed beams

Summary Composite and prestressed beams having open thin-walled cross-sections involving concrete as an aging linear viscoelastic material, prestressing steel with relaxation property, and two other steel members as elastic materials are considered. The expressions for stresses and generalized displacements referring to any given open thin-walled composite cross-section and to any compliance function of concrete are developed without mathematical neglects. In the framework of the theory of composite and prestressed open thin-walled beams there exists only one approximate solution based on the approximate algebraic stress-strain relation for concrete where the prestressing steel is introduced as an elastic material. The exact theory is significant because on the basis of it is possible to create approximate calculating methods and because we can verify whether approximate methods are sufficiently accurate for the engineering practice.

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Theorie dünnwandiger, offner und vorgespannter Verbundträger

Übersicht Behandelt werden vorgespannte Verbundträger mit beliebigem dünnwandigen, offenen Profil. Der Verbund besteht aus alterndem, linear-viskoelastischen Beton, relaxierendem Saannstahl und zwei weiteren elastischen Stahlstegen. Die Ausdrücke für die Spannungen und verallgemeinerten Verschiebungen werden ohne Einschränkung der Nachgiebigkeitsfunktion des Betons hergeleitet. Im Rahmen der Theorie existiert bisher nur eine Näherungslösung; sie beruht auf einer Näherungsbeziehung zwischen den Spannungen und Verzerrungen des Betons, wobei der Spannstahl als elastisch eingeführt wird. Die exakte Theorie ist deshalb bedeutsam, weil man mit ihr näherungsweise Berechnungsmethoden entwickeln kann und prüfen kann, ob Näherungsmethoden hinreichend genau sind für ingenieurmäßige Zwecke.

     

Nonlinearly coupled vibrations of thin-walled elastic beams of open section

An account of certain subharmonic vibrations as observed during a resonant testing of thin-walled beams of monosymmetric open section for coupled torsional and bending vibrations is presented. The phenomenon can be described in terms of the vibrational modes of the beam. When the beam is excited at the resonant frequency of a higher mode, there is a tendency for the lowest mode to be excited, resulting in a high-order subharmonic oscillation. It is found that when such phenomenon occurs, the high-mode frequency is a multiple or near multiple of the fundamental frequency of the beam. Under such condition, the response of the beam consists of a superposition of the response of the high mode (harmonic response) and that of the fundamental mode (subharmonic response). The amplitude of the subharmonic motion is generally much larger than that of the harmonic response.     

Free vibration and dynamic stability of rotating thin-walled composite beams

The dynamic stability behavior of thin-walled rotating composite beams is studied by means of the finite element method. The analysis is based on Bolotin’s work on parametric instability for an axial periodic load. The influence of fiber orientation and rotating speeds on the natural frequencies and the unstable regions is studied for symmetrically balanced laminates. The regions of instability are obtained and expressed in non-dimensional terms. The “modal interchange” phenomenon arising in rotating beams is described. The dynamic stability problem is formulated by means of linearizing a geometrically nonlinear total Lagrangian finite element with seven degrees of freedom per node. This finite element formulation is based on a thin-walled beam theory that takes into account several non-classical effects such as anisotropy, shear flexibility and warping inhibition.     

A generalized Adadorov theory for anisotropic thin-walled beams

This paper presents a generalized Adadorov theory for anisotropic thin—walled beams. The theory takes account of the shear strain of the middle surface, which exerts a significant influence on the anisotropic thin-walled beams. A new approach is established to solve the governing equations, which have the same form for both open and closed section beams. The numerical examples show that the effects of the shear strain cannot be neglected for this class of beams.This work was part of research project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

开口薄壁杆件结构稳定分析的精确单元和两步求解算法

从控制微分方程的通解出发,构造受偏心压力作用开口薄壁杆件的精确形函数,建立用于开口薄壁杆件结构稳定性分析的精确有限元,得到了单元刚度矩阵和几何刚度矩阵的显式表达,提出了计算给定区间内各阶临界荷载以及相应失稳模态的两步计算方法。计算结果表明,与常规单元相比,采用精确单元无需进行网格细分就可以获得精确的数值结果,结合本文的两步求解算法,可以准确获得给定区间内全部临界荷载和失稳模态。     

A new finite element of spatial thin-walled beams

Based on the theories of Timoshenko＇s beams and Vlasov＇s thin-walled members, a new spatial thin-walled beam element with an interior node is developed. By independently interpolating bending angles and warp, factors such as transverse shear deformation, torsional shear deformation and their Coupling, coupling of flexure and torsion, and second shear stress are considered. According to the generalized variational theory of Hellinger-Reissner, the element stiffness matrix is derived. Examples show that the developed model is accurate and can be applied in the finite element analysis of thinwalled structures.     

A semi-analytical approach for the nonlinear two-dimensional analysis of fluid-filled thin-walled pliable membrane tubes

Pliable tubes are tubular membranes of low rigidity and may collapse or substantially deform easily. The governing equations of these tubes are nonlinear because the tube shape depends on the internal pressure and the deformation of the tube can be very large. In the present study, a semi-analytical approach for the nonlinear analysis of the fluid-filled thin-walled pliable tubes with different load distributions and boundary conditions is developed. Both geometric and equilibrium relations of the tube element are used to obtain the tube profile in explicit closed form. Several applications of the pliable tubes are considered and the equilibrium shape and wave propagation velocity in these tubes are also obtained. The validity of the present semi-analytical approach is confirmed by comparing the results with those obtained from the literature. It is shown that the present formulation is an appropriate method and a new approach to predict the nonlinear behavior of the pliable tubes with a good accuracy.     

Free vibration and spatial stability of non-symmetric thin-walled curved beams with variable curvatures

An improved formulation for free vibration and spatial stability of non-symmetric thin-walled curved beams is presented based on the displacement field considering variable curvature effects and the second-order terms of finite-semitangential rotations. By introducing Vlasov’s assumptions and integrating over the non-symmetric cross-section, the total potential energy is consistently derived from the principle of virtual work for a continuum. In this formulation, all displacement parameters and the warping function are defined at the centroid axis and also thickness-curvature effects and Wagner effect are accurately taken into account. For F.E. analysis, a thin-walled curved beam element is developed using the third-order Hermitian polynomials. In order to illustrate the accuracy and the practical usefulness of the present method, numerical solutions by this study are presented with the results analyzed by ABAQUS’ shell elements. Particularly, the effect of arch rise to span length ratio is investigated on vibrational and buckling behaviour of non-symmetric curved beams.     

Linear viscoelastic analysis of straight and curved thin-walled laminated composite beams

This paper is devoted to study the behavior, in the range of linear viscoelasticity, of shear flexible thin-walled beam members constructed with composite laminated fiber-reinforced plastics. This work appeals to the correspondence principle in order to incorporate in unified model the motion equations of a curved or straight shear-flexible thin-walled beam member developed by the authors, together with the micromechanics and macromechanics of the reinforced plastic panels. Then, the analysis is performed in the Laplace or Carson domains. That is, the expressions describing the micromechanics and macromechanics of a plastic laminated composites and motion equations of the structural member are transformed into the Laplace or Carson domains where the relaxation components of the beam structure (straight or curved) are obtained. The resulting equations are numerically solved by means of finite element approaches defined in the Laplace or Carson domains. The finite element results are adjusted with a polynomial fitting. Then the creep behavior is obtained by means of a numerical technique for the inverse Laplace transform. Predictions of the present methodology are compared with experimental data and other approaches. New studies are performed focusing attention in the flexural–torsional behavior of shear flexible thin-walled straight composite beams as well as for thin-walled curved beams and frames.     

Dynamic behavior of braced thin-walled beams

The present paper considers the dynamic behavior of beams with open thin-walled cross-sections along their length with bracings (connecting beams and truss). The effect of the constrained torsion warping, rotary inertia, and flexural-torsion coupling due to nonsymmetric cross-sections is included. In the case of simply supported beams, closed-form solutions for determining coupled natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes are newly derived. The frequency equation, given in a determinantal form, is expanded in an explicit analytical form and then solved using the Mathcad 2001 Professional symbolic computing package. Some illustrative examples on the application of the present theory are given for coupled bending-torsion vibrations of braced thin-walled beams. As compared with FEM, numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method Published in Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 43, No. 11, pp. 129–143, November 2007.     

Dynamic stability analysis of shear-flexible composite beams

Dynamic stability behavior of the shear-flexible composite beams subjected to the nonconservative force is intensively investigated based on the finite element model using the Hermitian beam elements. For this, a formal engineering approach of the mechanics of the laminated composite beam is presented based on kinematic assumptions consistent with the Timoshenko beam theory, and the shear stiffness of the thin-walled composite beam is explicitly derived from the energy equivalence. An extended Hamilton’s principle is employed to evaluate the mass-, elastic stiffness-, geometric stiffness-, damping-, and load correction stiffness matrices. Evaluation procedures for the critical values of divergence and flutter loads of the nonconservative system with and without damping effects are then briefly introduced. In order to verify the validity and the accuracy of this study, the divergence and flutter loads are presented and compared with the results from other references, and the influence of various parameters on the divergence and flutter behavior of the laminated composite beams is newly addressed: (1) variation of the divergence and flutter loads with or without the effects of shear deformation and rotary inertia with respect to the nonconservativeness parameter and the fiber angle change, (2) influence of the internal and external damping on flutter loads whether to consider the shear deformation or not.     

Effect of local stiffeners and warping constraints on the buckling of symmetric open thin-walled beams with high warping stiffness

Meccanica - Local stiffeners affect the behaviour of thin-walled beams (TWBs). An in-house code based on a one-dimensional model proved effective in several instances of compressive buckling of...     

Dynamic stability analysis and DQM for beams with variable cross-section

The present paper deals with the dynamic behaviour of a clamped beam subjected to a sub-tangential follower force at the free end. The aim of this work is to obtain the frequency–axial load relationship for a beam with a variable circular cross-section. In this way, one can identify both divergence critical loads – where the frequency goes to zero – and the flutter critical load – in correspondence with two frequencies coalescence. The numerical approach adopted for solving the partial differential equation of motion is the differential quadrature method (henceforth DQM). This method was proposed by Bellmann and Casti [Bellmann, R.E., Casti, J., 1971. Differential quadrature and long-term integration. J. Math. Anal. 34, 235–238] and has been employed recently in the solution of solid mechanics problems by Bert and Malik [Bert, C.W., Malik, M., 1996. Differential quadrature method in computational mechanics: a review. Appl. Mech. Rev., ASME, 49 (1), 1–28] and Chen et al. [Chen, W., Stritz, A.G., Bert, C.W., 1997. A new approach to the differential quadrature method for fourth-order equations. Int. J. Numer. Method Eng. 40, 1941–1956]. More precisely, a modified version of this method has been used, as proposed by De Rosa and Franciosi [De Rosa, M.A., Franciosi, C., 1998a. On natural boundary conditions and DQM. Mech. Res. Commun. 25 (3), 279–286; De Rosa, M.A., Franciosi, C., 1998b. Non classical boundary conditions and DQM. J. Sound Vibrat. 212(4), 743–748] to satisfy all the boundary conditions.Some frequencies–axial loads relationships are reported in order to show the influence of tapering on the critical loads.     

Bending and stability analysis of gradient elastic beams

The problems of bending and stability of Bernoulli–Euler beams are solved analytically on the basis of a simple linear theory of gradient elasticity with surface energy. The governing equations of equilibrium are obtained by both a combination of the basic equations and a variational statement. The additional boundary conditions are obtained by both variational and weighted residual approaches. Two boundary value problems (one for bending and one for stability) are solved and the gradient elasticity effect on the beam bending response and its critical (buckling) load is assessed for both cases. It is found that beam deflections decrease and buckling load increases for increasing values of the gradient coefficient, while the surface energy effect is small and insignificant for bending and buckling, respectively.