A new beam element for analyzing geometrical and physical nonlinearity

Based on Timoshenko＇s beam theory and Vlasov＇s thin-walled member theory, a new model of spatial thin-walled beam element is developed for analyzing geometrical and physical nonlinearity, which incorporates an interior node and independent interpolations of bending angles and warp and takes diversified factors into consideration, such as traverse shear deformation, torsional shear deformation and their coupling, coupling of flexure and torsion, and the second shear stress. The geometrical nonlinear strain is formulated in updated Lagarange （UL） and the corresponding stiffness matrix is derived. The perfectly plastic model is used to account for physical nonlinearity, and the yield rule of von Mises and incremental relationship of Prandtle-Reuss are adopted. Elastoplastic stiffness matrix is obtained by numerical integration based on the finite segment method, and a finite element program is compiled. Numerical examples manifest that the proposed model is accurate and feasible in the analysis of thin-walled structures.     

Static analysis of ultra-thin beams based on a semi-continuum model

A linear semi-continuum model with discrete atomic layers in the thickness direction was developed to investigate the bending behaviors of ultra-thin beams with nanoscale thickness.The theoretical results show that the deflection of an ultra-thin beam may be enhanced or reduced due to different relaxation coefficients.If the relaxation coefficient is greater/less than one,the deflection of micro/nano-scale structures is enhanced/reduced in comparison with macro-scale structures.So,two opposite types of size-dependent behaviors are observed and they are mainly caused by the relaxation coefficients.Comparisons with the classical continuum model,exact nonlocal stress model and finite element model (FEM) verify the validity of the present semi-continuum model.In particular,an explanation is proposed in the debate whether the bending stiffness of a micro/nano-scale beam should be greater or weaker as compared with the macro-scale structures.The characteristics of bending stiffness are proved to be associated with the relaxation coefficients.     

An advanced higher-order theory for laminated composite plates with general lamination angles

This paper proposes a higher-order shear deformation theory to predict the bending response of the laminated composite and sandwich plates with general lamination configurations.The proposed theory a priori satisfies the continuity conditions of transverse shear stresses at interfaces.Moreover,the number of unknown variables is independent of the number of layers.The first derivatives of transverse displacements have been taken out from the inplane displacement fields,so that the C 0 shape functions are only required during its finite element implementation.Due to C 0 continuity requirements,the proposed model can be conveniently extended for implementation in commercial finite element codes.To verify the proposed theory,the fournode C 0 quadrilateral element is employed for the interpolation of all the displacement parameters defined at each nodal point on the composite plate.Numerical results show that following the proposed theory,simple C 0 finite elements could accurately predict the interlaminar stresses of laminated composite and sandwich plates directly from a constitutive equation,which has caused difficulty for the other global higher order theories.     

Analysis of Thin Beams and Cables Using the Absolute Nodal Co-ordinate Formulation

The purpose of this paper is to present formulations for beam elements based on the absolute nodal co-ordinate formulation that can be effectively and efficiently used in the case of thin structural applications. The numerically stiff behaviour resulting from shear terms in existing absolute nodal co-ordinate formulation beam elements that employ the continuum mechanics approach to formulate the elastic forces and the resulting locking phenomenon make these elements less attractive for slender stiff structures. In this investigation, additional shape functions are introduced for an existing spatial absolute nodal co-ordinate formulation beam element in order to obtain higher accuracy when the continuum mechanics approach is used to formulate the elastic forces. For thin structures where bending stiffness can be important in some applications, a lower order cable element is introduced and the performance of this cable element is evaluated by comparing it with existing formulations using several examples. Cables that experience low tension or catenary systems where bending stiffness has an effect on the wave propagation are examples in which the low order cable element can be used. The cable element, which does not have torsional stiffness, can be effectively used in many problems such as in the formulation of the sliding joints in applications such as the spatial pantograph/catenary systems. The numerical study presented in this paper shows that the use of existing implicit time integration methods enables the simulation of multibody systems with a moderate number of thin and stiff finite elements in reasonable CPU time.     

Elastically restrained Bernoulli-Euler beams applied to rotary machinery modelling

Facing the lateral vibration problem of a machine rotor as a beam on elastic supports in bending,the authors deal with the free vibration of elastically restrained Bernoulli-Euler beams carrying a finite number of concentrated elements along their length.Based on Rayleigh's quotient,an iterative strategy is developed to find the approximated torsional stiffness coefficients,which allows the reconciliation between the theoretical model results and the experimental ones,obtained through impact tests.The mentioned algorithm treats the vibration of continuous beams under a determined set of boundary and continuity conditions, including different torsional stiffness coefficients and the effect of attached concentrated masses and rotational inertias, not only in the energetic terms of the Rayleigh's quotient but also on the mode shapes,considering the shape functions defined in branches.Several loading cases are examined and examples are given to illustrate the validity of the model and accuracy of the obtained natural frequencies.     

形状记忆合金的本构模型及其有限元实施

基于塑性力学中屈服面的概率以及Liang和Brinson提出的马氏体体积百分量和应力,温度间的关系,提出了适用于描述多信形状记忆合金的形状记忆效应和伪弹性效应的本构模型,并用T．T．法对该本构模型进行了非线性有限元实施,算例表明该本构模型与实验结果比较吻合,且只需对现有非线性有限元程度稍做修改就可得到实施,简单易行,有一定的实用价值。     

薄壁杆系结构的梁元分析模型

本文导出了用于薄壁杆系结构弹性分析的薄壁梁元分析模型，在空间梁元分析模型^[3]的基础上，采用了一种改进的位移模式，考察了薄壁杆件可能发生的拉压，剪切，弯曲，扭转和翘曲等各变形形式以及它们的耦合效应，得出了相应的单元形函数，同时从工程应变的定义出发，采用Taylor级数展开的方法，建立了单元的五阶近似正交变表达式，并建立了相应的薄壁单元刚度方程，从而得出了局部坐标系下单元刚度矩阵的显式，根据本文所导出的薄壁梁元分析模型，编制了相应的结构计算程序，通过算例验证了本文所推导的单元刚度矩阵，同时通过与传统空间梁元计算模型计算结果的比较，阐述了截面翘曲对薄壁杆系结构的影响。     

压电曲梁单元及其形状控制

航空航天等领域对结构形状要求非常严格,利用压电材料的逆压电效应控制结构变形是现代空间结构形状控制中一个很好的选择。本文基于一般曲梁单元,推导了空间压电曲梁单元的方程表达式,主体壳结构与压电单元之间利用约束方程连接。在此基础上进一步采用最小二乘法得到了压电控制单元上的最优电压,实现了压电曲梁单元的变形控制。数值算例表明了...     

Stochastic response of an axially loaded composite Timoshenko beam exhibiting bending–torsion coupling

A spectral finite element method is proposed to investigate the stochastic response of an axially loaded composite Timoshenko beam with solid or thin-walled closed section exhibiting bending–torsion materially coupling under the stochastic excitations with stationary and ergodic properties. The effects of axial force, shear deformation (SD) and rotary inertia (RI) as well as bending–torsion coupling are considered in the present study. First, the damped general governing differential equations of motion of an axially loaded composite Timoshenko beam are derived. Then, the spectral finite element formulation is developed in the frequency domain using the dynamic shape functions based on the exact solutions of the governing equations in undamped free vibration, which is used to compute the mean square displacement response of axially loaded composite Timoshenko beams. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated by its application to a specific example to investigate the effects of bending–torsion coupling, axial force, SD and RI on the stochastic response of the composite beam.     

An investigation on multilayer shape memory polymers under finite bending through nonlinear thermo-visco-hyperelasticity

This study presents a semi-analytical solution to describe the behavior of shape memory polymers(SMPs) based on the nonlinear thermo-visco-hyperelasticity which originates from the concepts of internal state variables and rational thermodynamics. This method is developed for the finite bending of multilayers in a dual-shape memory effect(SME) cycle. The layer number and layering order are investigated for two different SMPs and a hyperelastic material. In addition to the semi-analytical solution...     

Inelastic axial-flexure–shear coupling in a mixed formulation beam finite element

In this paper a beam element that accounts for inelastic axial-flexure–shear coupling is presented. The mathematical model is derived from a three-field variational form. The finite element approximation for the beam uses shape functions for section forces that satisfy equilibrium and discontinuous section deformations along the beam. No approximation for the beam displacement field is necessary in the formulation. The coupling of the section forces is achieved through the numerical integration of an inelastic multi-axial material model over the cross-section. The proposed element is free from shear-locking. Examples confirm the accuracy and numerical robustness of the proposed element and showcase the interaction between axial force, shear, and bending moment.     

Nonlinear finite element analysis of inflatable beams made from orthotropic woven fabric

This paper was devoted to the three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis of inflatable beams. The beams under consideration are made of modern textile materials and can be used as a load-bearing beams or arches when inflated. A 3D Timoshenko beam with a homogeneous orthotropic woven fabric (OWF) was proposed. The model took into account the geometric nonlinearities and the follower force resulting from the inflation pressure. The use was made of the usual total Lagrangian form of the virtual work principle to perform the nonlinear equilibrium equations which were discretized by the finite element method. Two kinds of solutions were then investigated: finite elements solutions for linearized problems which were obtained by the means of the linearization around the prestressed reference configuration of the nonlinear equations and nonlinear finite element solutions which were performed by the use of an optimization algorithm based on the Quasi-Newton method. As an example, the bending problem of a cantilever inflated beam under concentrated load was considered and the deflection results improve the existing theoretical models. As these beams are made from fabric, the beam models were validated through their comparison with a 3D thin-shell finite element model. The influence of the material effective properties and the inflation pressure on the beam response was also investigated through a parametric study. The finite elements solutions for linearized problems were found to be close to the theoretical results existing in the literature. On the other hand, the results for the nonlinear finite element model were shown to be close to the results for the linearized finite elements model in the case of high mechanical properties and the nonlinear finite element model was used to improve the linearized model when the mechanical properties of the fabric are low.     

Force-displacement characteristics of simply supported beam laminated with shape memory alloys

As a preliminary step in the nonlinear design of shape memory alloy(SMA) composite structures,the force-displacement characteristics of the SMA layer are studied.The bilinear hysteretic model is adopted to describe the constitutive relationship of SMA material.Under the assumption that there is no point of SMA layer finishing martensitic phase transformation during the loading and unloading process,the generalized restoring force generated by SMA layer is deduced for the case that the simply supported beam vibrates in its first mode.The generalized force is expressed as piecewise-nonlinear hysteretic function of the beam transverse displacement.Furthermore the energy dissipated by SMA layer during one period is obtained by integration,then its dependencies are discussed on the vibration amplitude and the SMA’s strain(Ms-Strain) value at the beginning of martensitic phase transformation.It is shown that SMA’s energy dissipating capacity is proportional to the stiffness difference of bilinear model and nonlinearly dependent on Ms-Strain.The increasing rate of the dissipating capacity gradually reduces with the amplitude increasing.The condition corresponding to the maximum dissipating capacity is deduced for given value of the vibration amplitude.The obtained results are helpful for designing beams laminated with shape memory alloys.     

Construction of n-sided polygonal spline element using area coordinates and B-net method

In general, triangular and quadrilateral elements are commonly applied in two-dimensional finite element methods. If they are used to compute polycrystalline materials, the cost of computation can be quite significant. Polygonal elements can do well in simulation of the materials behavior and provide greater flexibility for the meshing of complex geometries. Hence, the study on the polygonal element is a very useful and necessary part in the finite element method. In this paper, an n-sided polygonal element based on quadratic spline interpolant, denoted by PS2 element, is presented using the triangular area coordinates and the B-net method. The PS2 element is conforming and can exactly model the quadratic field. It is valid for both convex and non-convex polygonal element, and insensitive to mesh distortions. In addition, no mapping or coordinate transformation is required and thus no Jacobian matrix and its inverse are evaluated. Some appropriate examples are employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed element.     

Geometric nonlinear dynamic analysis of curved beams using curved beam element

Instead of using the previous straight beam element to approximate the curved beam,in this paper,a curvilinear coordinate is employed to describe the deformations,and a new curved beam element is proposed to model the curved beam.Based on exact nonlinear strain-displacement relation,virtual work principle is used to derive dynamic equations for a rotating curved beam,with the effects of axial extensibility,shear deformation and rotary inertia taken into account.The constant matrices are solved numerically utilizing the Gauss quadrature integration method.Newmark and Newton-Raphson iteration methods are adopted to solve the differential equations of the rigid-flexible coupling system.The present results are compared with those obtained by commercial programs to validate the present finite method.In order to further illustrate the convergence and efficiency characteristics of the present modeling and computation formulation,comparison of the results of the present formulation with those of the ADAMS software are made.Furthermore,the present results obtained from linear formulation are compared with those from nonlinear formulation,and the special dynamic characteristics of the curved beam are concluded by comparison with those of the straight beam.     

A non-local implicit gradient-enhanced model for unstable behaviors of pseudoelastic shape memory alloys in tensile loading

In this paper, a gradient-enhanced 3-D phenomenological model for shape memory alloys using the non-local theory is developed based on a 1-D constitutive model. The method utilizes a non-local field variable in its constitutive framework with an implicit gradient formulation in order to achieve results independent of the finite element discretization. An efficient numerical approach to implement the non-local gradient-enhanced model in finite element codes is proposed. The model is used to simulate stress drop at the onset of transformation, and its performance is evaluated using different experimental data. The potential of the presented numerical approach for behavior of shape memory alloys in eliminating mesh-dependent simulations is validated by conducting various localization problems. The numerical results show that the developed model can simulate the observed unstable behaviors such as stress drop and deviation of local strain from global strain during nucleation and propagation of martensitic phase.     

Shape recovery behaviour of NiTi strips in bending: experiments and modelling

We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of the bending recovery performances for a commercial NiTi shape memory alloy strip. We evaluate the mechanical properties and the shape setting parameters and estimate the evolution of the curvature during heating in an Ethylene Glycol-based water solution. To model the strip bending response, we use a one-dimensional phenomenological constitutive equation for the shape memory material, based on the introduction of (twinned and detwinned) martensite and austenite volume fractions as internal variables. Under the assumption of uniform bending, we calculate a quasi-closed-form solution for the stress and martensite fraction distributions in a shape memory beam during bending and subsequent shape recovery. Using our characterisation data as input parameters of the model, we find that the theoretical curvature evolution is in good agreement with experimental data.     

Development and implementation of a beam theory model for shape memory polymers

In this paper we focus on the development of a beam theory for a small strain continuum model of thermoviscoelastic shape memory polymers (SMP). Rather than a history integral model that is common for viscoelastic materials, a thermodynamically based state evolution model developed by Ghosh and Srinivasa (2011a) is used as the basis for the beam model based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. An example of a three-point bend test is simulated using the beam theory model. The numerical solution is implemented by using an operator split technique that utilizes an elastic predictor and dissipative corrector. The key idea is that the elastic predictor is based on the solution to a beam theory boundary value problem while the dissipative corrector is entirely local (and hence can be parallelized) and is applied by considering the beam as a two or three dimensional body. This enables a very rapid solution of the problem yet maintaining fidelity of the distribution of inelastic strains across the cross-section. A displacement based convergence criterion is used in each time step. This algorithm is validated by using a three-point bending experiment for three different material cases: elastic, plastic and thermoplastic response. Time step convergence and mesh density convergence studies are carried out for the thermoviscoelastic FEM model. Finally, we implement and study this model for a SMP beam undergoing three-point bending strain recovery and stress recovery thermomechanical loading.     

基于CUDA的有限元矩阵并行装配算法研究

构建航天飞行器的结构有限元模型是准确模拟飞行仿真、完成飞行器在轨飞行阶段结构故障监测和诊断的基础。采用细长体飞行器简化梁模型，提出新的基于CUDA（Compute Unified Device Architecture）的有限元单元刚度矩阵生成和总刚度矩阵组装算法。依据梁单元矩阵的对称性，结合GPU硬件架构提出并行生成算法并进行改进。为有效减少装配时间，在装配过程中采用着色算法，提出了基于GPU（Graphics Processing Unit）共享内存的非零项组装策略，通过在不同计算平台下算例对比，验证了新算法的快速性。数值算例表明，本文算法的求解效率较高，针对一定计算规模内的模型可满足快速计算与诊断的实时性要求。     

Analysis of bending and buckling of pre-twisted beams: A bioinspired study

Twisting chirality is widely observed in artificial and natural materials and structures at different length scales. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the effect of twisting chiral morphology on the mechanical properties of elas- tic beams by using the Timoshenko beam model. Particular attention is paid to the transverse bending and axial buckling of a pre-twisted rectangular beam. The analytical solution is first derived for the deflection of a clamped-free beam under a uniformly or periodically distributed transverse force. The critical buckling condition of the beam subjected to its self- weight and an axial compressive force is further solved. The results show that the twisting morphology can significantly improve the resistance of beams to both transverse bending and axial buckling. This study helps understand some phenomena associated with twisting chirality in nature and provides inspirations for the design of novel devices and structures.