Weak form quadrature element analysis of spatial geometrically exact composite beams with torsional warping

Abstract

Spatial thin-walled laminated composite beams under large deformations with torsional warping effects are studied. A novel two-dimensional cross-section model for composite beams with shear and torsion-warping deformations is proposed wherein the three-dimensional warping and coupling effects caused by inhomogeneous anisotropic materials are considered. A weak form quadrature element formulation is established for nonlinear analysis of geometrically exact composite beams with torsional warping and shear deformations. By combining the two-dimensional cross-section model and the nonlinear one-dimensional beam model, the three-dimensional stress and strain fields can be obtained. Numerical examples are provided to investigate the torsional warping effects and verify the effectiveness of the present formulation. Results of the present beam formulation which are achieved at a significantly lower computational cost are in excellent agreement with those of shell and solid models of commercial codes.