On Timoshenko-like modeling of initially curved and twisted composite beams

A generalized, finite-element-based, cross-sectional analysis for nonhomogenous, initially curved and twisted, anistropic beams is formulated from geometrically nonlinear, three-dimensional (3-D) elasticity. The 3-D strain field is formulated based on the concept of decomposition of the rotation tensor and is given in terms of one-dimensional (1-D) generalized strains and a 3-D warping displacement that is obtained from the formulation, not assumed. The warping is found in terms of the 1-D strains via the variational asymptotic method (VAM). In this paper a Timoshenko-like model is presupposed for a beam with cross-sectional characteristic length h, wavelength of deformation given by 1, and the magnitude of the radius of initial curvature and/or twist is taken to be of the order R. First, a solution for the asymptotically correct refinement of classical anisotropic beam theory for initially curved and twisted beams through O(h(2) / R-2) is obtained. Next, the O(h(2)/l(2)) correction is computed. It is known that Timoshenko-like theory is not capable of capturing all the O(h(2)/l(2)) corrections for generally anisotropic beams. However, if all the O(h(2)/l(2)) terms are known, then the corresponding Timoshenko-like theory is uniquely defined. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the trends of the various classical (extension-twist, bending-twist, and extension-bending) and nonclassical couplings (extension-shear, bending-shear, and shear-torsion) as the initial twist and curvatures are varied. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.