Torsional analysis of hollow members with sandwich wall

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical formulation for torsional analysis of thin-walled and moderately thick-walled hollow members with sandwich wall. The sandwich rod can have a complicated cross-section including straight and curved edges. The material and thickness of the two faces of the sandwich are assumed the same. Prandtl’s stress function is used to formulate the problem for faces and core, while the continuity and compatibility conditions at the face–core interfaces are also used to complete the formulation. By the presented method, it is possible to find the torsional stiffness and the shearing stress in the cross-section. By presenting several numerical examples, the accuracy of the presented method is demonstrated. The accuracy of the solutions resulting from the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the results with accurate solutions obtained from the finite element method with a fine mesh. The effects of different geometrical and material parameters on the accuracy of the solutions are studied too. The presented formulation is quite practical and is employable for analyzing the torsion of thin- and moderately tick-walled sandwich members.