Curved beam elements based on strain fields

Abstract

Two curved beam elements with two nodes and three nodes are designed based on strain fields. At the element level, curvature and membrane strain fields are approximated independently and shear strain fields are incorporated into the formulation by the equilibrium equations. The displacement fields are obtained by integrating the assumed strain fields. Two examples are given to verify the formulations and demonstrate the numerical performance of the two curved beam elements. Analysis results obtained reveal that the elements describe the curved beam behaviour correctly and show exceptional accuracy throughout a wide slenderness range.