Behaviour Of Thin-walled Members Research Articles

Iterative global-local procedure for the analysis of thin-walled composite laminates

This paper presents a finite element procedure based on Bridging multi-scale method (BMM) in order to incorporate the effect of local/cross-sectional deformations (e.g., flange local buckling and web crippling) on the global behaviour of thin-walled members made of fibre-reinforced polymer composite laminates. This method allows the application of local shell elements in critical regions of an existing beam-type model. Therefore, it obviates the need for using computationally expensive shell elements in the whole domain of the structure, which is otherwise necessary to capture the effect of the localized behaviour. Consequently, highly accurate analysis results can be achieved with this method by using significantly smaller finite element model, compared to the existing methods. The proposed method can be used for composite polymer laminates with arbitrary fibre orientation directions in different layers of the material, and under various loading conditions. Comparison with full shell-type finite element analysis results are made in order to illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed technique.

Multi-Scale Overlapping Domain Decomposition to Consider Local Deformations in the Analysis of Thin-Walled Members

Thin-walled members that have one dimension relatively large in comparison to the cross-sectional dimensions are usually modelled by using beam-column type finite element formulations. Beam-column elements however, are based on the assumption of rigid cross-section, thus they cannot consider the cross-sectional deformations such as local buckling and only allows considerations of the beam axis behaviour such as flexural or lateral-torsional buckling. Shell-type finite elements can be used to model the structure in order to consider these local deformation effects. Based on the Bridging multi-scale approach, this study proposes a numerical technique that is able to split the global analysis, which is performed by using simple beam-type elements, from the local analysis which is based on more sophisticated shell-type elements. As a result, the proposed multi-scale method allows the usage of shell elements in a local region to incorporate the local deformation effects on the overall behaviour of thin-walled members without necessitating a shell-type model for the whole member.

Bridging multi-scale approach to consider the effects of local deformations in the analysis of thin-walled members

Thin-walled members that have one dimension relatively large in comparison to the cross-sectional dimensions are usually modelled by using beam-type one-dimensional finite elements. Beam-type elements, however, are based on the assumption of rigid cross-section, thus they only allow considerations associated with the beam axis behaviour such as flexural-, torsional- or lateral-buckling and cannot consider the effects of local deformations such as flange local buckling or distortional buckling. In order to capture the local effects of this type shell-type finite element models can be used. Based on the Bridging multi-scale approach, this study proposes a numerical technique that is able to split the global analysis, which is performed by using simple beam-type elements, from the local analysis which is based on more sophisticated shell-type elements. As a result, the proposed multi-scale method allows the usage of shell elements in a local region to incorporate the local deformation effects on the overall behaviour of thin-walled members without necessitating a shell-type model for the whole member. Comparisons with full shell-type analysis are provided in order to illustrate the efficiency of the method developed herein.

Some recent research on thin-walled members at the University of Strathclyde

Details of some recent research projects on thin-walled structural members carried out at the University of Strathclyde are given in this paper. The projects are, in the main, short duration programmes carried out by students to examine various aspects of the behaviour of thin-walled members under various loadings. The topics consist of the effects of end fixity on plain channel column behaviour, the effects of transverse impact on struts and the damaged strut capacity and the large deflection behaviour of slender rings under diametrically opposed point loads.