Analytical solution for arbitrary large deflection of geometrically exact beams using the homotopy analysis method

Abstract

Beam-like compliant elements have found wide-ranging application in many fields of engineering and science often where 3D large deflections can be of concern such as soft robotics, DNA mechanics and helicopter/wind turbine rotor blades. The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is used for the first time to obtain a novel analytical solution in converged series form for the arbitrary large deflection of geometrically exact beams subject to both conservative and follower loading scenarios. The homotopy analysis method, which offers desirable characteristics such as being free from small or large parameters, coupled with auxiliary parameters controlling convergence, is applied directly to the intrinsic governing equations of a geometrically exact beam theory. The system of first-order differential governing equations of geometrically exact beams with intrinsic formulation is free from rotation and displacement variables, and offers a low degree of nonlinearity (quadratic at most) and compact mathematical form, making it suitable for analytical solutions. Due to the relatively poor convergence of the original HAM algorithm, the iterative HAM technique is employed which is known to accelerate convergence and to improve the computational efficiency of the homotopy analysis method. The obtained homotopy series offers a number of novel features in the context of the analytical solutions for the large deflection of beams, including (a) the direct calculation of internal forces and moments which is significant for engineering design purposes, (b) being able to capture 3D deflections, (c) considering transverse shear effects which can be important for thicker beams or when the Young’s modulus to shear modulus ratio is significant (such as composite materials) and (d) considering conservative and follower tip and distributed loads, in a unified framework. In order to investigate the efficacy, applicability and accuracy of the proposed method, a number of numerical examples are considered in which a cantilever beam subject to tip or distributed loads undergoes large deflection. Large deflection results for both conservative and follower loads are compared against those of less comprehensive analytical solutions as well as against numerical methods including finite element and Chebyshev collocation methods where good agreement is observed. These results demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of HAM for the large deflection analysis of geometrically exact beams.