Nonlinear free vibration analysis of thin-walled curved beam with non-symmetric open cross section

Abstract

A finite element formulation was presented for the nonlinear free vibration of thin-walled curved beams with non-symmetric open across section. The kinetic and potential energies were derived by the virtual principle. The energy function includes the effect of flexural-torsional coupling, the torsion warping and the shear centre location. For finite element analysis, cubic polynomials were utilized as the shape functions of the two nodal thin-walled curved elements. Each node possesses seven degrees freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The nonlinear eigenvalue problem was solved by the direct iteration technique. The results are compared with those for straight beams as available in the literature. The results for nonlinear free vibration analysis of curved beams for various radii and subtended angle are presented.