A modified beam theory for bending and twisting of open-section composite beams — Numerical verification

Abstract

A modified beam theory for bending and twisting of open-section anisotropic composite material beams was proposed in an earlier paper in which the fundamental assumptions of the theory and the implications of its use were presented. The current paper is an extension of the earlier paper and addresses a number of unresolved issues of that paper. Most importantly, the current paper presents results of numerical experiments which verify the accuracy of the theory for use in the preliminary design of composite beams. Numerical experiments are described in which the predictions of overall beam deformations obtained by the proposed analytical one-dimensional theory are compared with those obtained by finite element analysis. The finite element analysis was performed with a general purpose commercially available finite element code (NISA) and used general laminated shell elements to model the beam. The current paper also presents a refined method for calculating the rate-of-twist of anisotropic thin-walled beams when subjected to transverse loading. The method depends of a geometric procedure for locating the center-of-twist in the cross-sectional plane. The lateral deflection of thin-walled anisotropic beams subjected to transverse loading, not described in the earlier paper, is also addressed in the current paper.