Theory of Thin-Walled, Pretwisted Composite Beams with Elastic Couplings

Abstract

In this work, the structural response of thin-walled composite beams with pretwist angle is investigated by using a mixed beam approach that combines the stiffness and flexibility methods in a unified manner. The Reissner's semi-complimentary energy functional is used to derive the stiffness matrix that approximates the beam in an Euler–Bernoulli level for extension and bending and Vlasov level for torsion. The bending and torsion-related warpings induced by the pretwist effects are derived in a closed form. The developed theory is validated with available literature and detailed finite element structural analysis results using the MSC/NASTRAN. Pretwisted composite beams with rectangular solid and thin-walled box sections are illustrated to validate the current approach. Acceptable correlation has been achieved for cases considered in this study. The effects of pretwist and fiber orientation angles on the static behavior of pretwisted composite beams are also studied.