Large deflections and large‐amplitude free vibrations of straight and curved beams

This paper is concerned with the large‐deflection (bending and free vibration)analysis of thin elastic curved beams by conventional and mixed finite element methods. The conventional finite element method is based on the total potential energy expression, whereas the mixed method is based on a Reissner‐type variational statement and involves the bending moments and deflections as primary dependent variables. Incremental and direct formulations are presented for both methods. The nonlinearity is included in the numerical method via an iterative procedure (i.e. the in‐plane force due to the large deflection is not treated as constant but included under the integral in the energy expression). In the case of vibrations, the transverse shear and rotary inertia effects are also included. A number of numerical examples of beams with various edge conditions are analysed for deflections and natural frequencies, and the results are compared with those reported in the literature. Copyright © 1981 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Large deflections and large‐amplitude free vibrations of straight and curved beams Academic Article