Constrained Finite Strip Method for Thin-Walled Members with General End Boundary Conditions

Abstract

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to provide the theoretical background and illustrate the capabilities of the constrained finite strip method (cFSM) for thin-walled members with general end boundary conditions. Based on the conventional finite strip method (FSM), cFSM provides a mechanical methodology to separate the deformations of a thin-walled member into those consistent with global, distortional, local, and other (e.g., shear and transverse extension) modes. For elastic buckling analysis, this enables isolation of any given mode (modal decomposition) or quantitative measures of the interactions within a given general eigenmode (modal identification). Existing cFSM is only applicable to simply supported end boundary conditions. In this paper, FSM is first extended to general end boundary conditions, including simply–simply, clamped–clamped, simply–clamped, clamped–guided, and clamped–free. Next, with the conventional FSM for general end boundary conditions in place, the derivation of the constra...