Compurers & Smctures Vol. 47. No. 6. pp. 1065-1070, 1993 0045-7949193s6.00 + 0.

00
Printed in Great Britain. J.;1993 Pergamon Press Ltd

THIN-WALLED BEAMS WITH OPEN AND CLOSED

CROSS-SECTIONS

A. PROKIt:
K&e Kapetana, 1iOO0Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia

(Received 2 February 1992)

Abstract-A new warping function for thr~-dimensional thin-walled beams is proposed that enables the
analysis of structures made up of members with arbitrary open and closed cross-sections. An updated
Lagrangian formulation is used to give the stiffness matrix. The method is illustrated by examples.

1. INTRODUCTION 2. BASIC THEORY

The classical theory of thin-walled beams with an
arbitrary open cross-section, perfectly rigid in its
plane, is based on Vlasovs assumptions: the shear
strains in the middle surface can be neglected and the
normals to the middle surface remain undeformed
and normal during deformation.
According to these assumptions the displacement
field can be described by three displacement com-
ponents in the plane of the cross-section and the axial
displacement of the cross-section as rigid. Distri-
bution of normal stresses, due to warping, is given by
sectorial coordinates, and is qualitatively the same for
all cross-sections. Shear stresses r, are proportional to
the distance from the mid-line of the cross-section.
Torsion shear stresses, TV,uniformly distributed over
the thickness cannot be calculated directly from the
shear strains. The stresses can be obtained from an
equation of static equilibrium of the beam, as a
function of normal stresses. The consequence of this
is the discrepancy between the strain and stress fields,
namely the strains calculated from the stress com-
ponents do not satisfy compatibility conditions.
However, this theory by reason of its simplicity has
a wide use and for a thin-walled beam with open
cross-sections gives satisfactory results, as is proved
by experiment.
The theory of thin-walled beams with closed cross-
sections is considered separately. Profiles, even in the
case of pure torsion, the shear stresses r,,., are much
greater than 7_ so retaining the above assumptions
is unjustifiable. Therefore, the warping function is
qualitatively described by a function given before-
hand, and the most frequently used is Saint-Venants
function of free-warping for beams with closed cross-
sections.
In this paper a new warping function is proposed
that enables simultaneous analysis of thin-walled
structures with open and closed cross-sections. It has
no need of the above ass~ptions. The shear stresses
can be derived directly from corresponding strains.
Consider a thin-walled beam with an open or
closed multi-cellular cross-section. The mid-line of
the cross-section is idealized by a number of straight
lines connected by discrete points, i = 1,2,. . . , n
(Fig. 1).
The z axis of the rectangular coordinate system
coincides with the longitudinal centroidal axis, and x
and y coincide with the principal axes of the cross-
section.
As well as the usual assumptions of linear theory
of elasticity, further assumptions are adopted: (I) the
cross-section is perfectly rigid in its own plane, (2) the
longitudinal displacements vary linearly between any
two neighbou~ng points, and (3) relative warping of
the section in relation to the mid-line is qualitatively
defined with the solution of Saint-Venants torque.
Starting from the first assumption the in-plane
incremen~i displa~ments Au, and An, of an arbi-
trary point can be defined by three componential
displacements Au, Au and A9 of the centroid, where
the angle of twist is sufficiently small for any incre-
mental load
Au,=Au-~69, Av,=Av+xA$. (1)
longitudinal incremental displacements consist of
two parts. The first represents displacements of the
cross-section as a plane surface
Av, = An+,+ y A$, - x AI,&,, (2)
where Aw, is the translation and A@,vand A$ are the
rotations of the cross-section about the x and y axes.
The second part defines warping
Aw, = Aw; + Aw;, (3)
where
Aw:,=~n(x,y)A~~(z) (4)

1065
1066 A. PROKIk

Fig. 2.
Fig. I.

Notice that from the n + 1 unknowns Aw,, Aw,,

represents warping along the mid-line of the cross-
section. For unknown parameters Aw, we could adopt
displacements of arbitrary points on the mid-line.
Usually these are the nodal points of polygonal
cross-section, the quantity of which determines the
number of unknowns Awi. According to the second
assumption, function R varies linearly between adja-
cent nodal points of the cross-section, and has a
simple geometrical meaning (Fig. 2). Function R
exists only along parts between the point i, where it
takes the value 1, and neighbouring nodals, where it
takes value 0.
The second term on the right-hand side of eqn (3)
represents relative warping
Aw;= --o AA (5)
where Af is a new unknown, and w, in regard to the
third assumption, is
w = h,,e, (6)
Awl,..., Aw, only n are mutually independent. We
can retain all n + 1 unknowns but only with the
introduction of an additional condition:
Normal force from stresses
due to warping is zero (8)
which allows for the separate consideration of axial
and warping deformation.
3. FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION
A typical thin-walled element is shown in Fig. 3.
The element has 6 + n degrees of freedom at each of
the two end nodes A+ Ai+, Aw,~, AtiXir AtiXi, A&,
Awn, Aw,~, . . . , Aw,,~(i = 1,3), while the middle node
has only five degrees of freedom Au,, Au,, AJlr2, A$+
and A&.
A quadratic displacement function is adopted for
incremental displacements Au, Au, AS, A& and A$,
and is linear for incremental displacements Aw, and
Aw, (i = 1,2,. . . , n)

where h, is positive when normal to the mid-line is Au=NAq,

rotating in the positive direction, that is, counter-
Ao = N Aq,
clockwise about the centroid. In order to reduce the
number of unknowns here we took Af = A9, which A9=NAq,
is in accordance with classical theory of thin-walled
structures. The longitudinal incremental displace- Awe = N,. Aqw,
ment then follows from eqns (2)<5)
A+, = N Aq,)

W* =Aw,+yA.I(/,-xA$> AIL, = N Aq,r

+c 0(x, y) Aw,(z) - w A9. (7) Awi= N,,.Aq ,,,,, i = 1,2,. . . , n, (9)

Fig. 3.
 Warping function for thin-walled beams 1067

where the shape functions are where

N=[l-3<+25 45(1-r)
Sn:, = a<, dF
N,.=[l -t Cl

and the nodal incremental parameters are

Aq, = [Au, Au2 AU,] S% = w,, dF

ss
Aq, = [Au, Au, Aq]r
So,, = Sf ovYdF
Aq8 = [As, A& A9JT

Aq, = [AWW Awwl= I,, = x2dF

z, = y2dF

AqW,= [Awi, Aw,J, i = 1,2,. . . , n. (11) za= xRdF

The incremental displacements of an arbitrary

point of the cross-section, using expressions (I), (7), z$li = yni dF
(9) and (1 l), could be obtained in terms of the ss
following nodal incremental displacements

N 0 -yN 0 0 0 0 ... 0

= 0 N xN 0 0 0 0 ... 0

0 0 -oN N,. -xN yN RN,, ... R'N,

Using a well-known updated Lagrangian formulation the linear and geometric stiffness matrices can be
represented. Only the linear stiffness matrix is given here

4, 4 4, 4, 4, A% .. Aq, ..
GFK2 0 -GS,.< K2 0 - GFKS 0 .. GSnjvK7 ..
GFK, -GS,,v K, 0 0 GFK, .. G&i;, K, ..
GZ,K, 0 GS,,.vKS -G&v K, .. G (Iti!, - Z,o!, )K, ..
EFK, 0 0 .. 0
ZXK, + GFK, 0 .. EZdjKs-GS*!v& .*
K, =
E&K2 + GFK, .. &,K, + GSW K, ..

EZnJ&
. . . G (Zm_<,.,
+ Zo:>
I>1)K,
1068 A. hOKI6

E-21000 Kr@m2

Fig. 4.

I
66.7

(6617)

Fig. 5. The results of the classical theory are given in parentheses.

4. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE

A Fortran program has been developed which is

capable of analysing thin-walled space structures
made up of members with open or closed cross-
sections. Linear and geometric nonlinear, pre- and
post-buckling analysis is possible.
Three simple examples of an open and closed
profile have been calculated to show the efficiency of
the method.

I/,= js[(y +;>+(x -$>]dF Example I

Figure 4 shows a simply supported single-celled
beam. The ends of the beam are prevented from
rotating with respect to the z-axis, but free to warp.
The torque M is applied at the middle cross-section.
-0.5 I 2 Table 1 presents rotation at the mid-span for
different numbers of finite elements, and the results
are compared to a classical analytical solution. The
values for shear stresses T,~and 7, are shown in Fig. 5.

Table I
Elements 9
2 0.01384
4 0.01402
0.01419
6 0.01410
8 0.01413
 Warping function for thin-walled beams 1069

Example 2 stresses t, along the mid-line of profile. The results

are presented in Table 2 and Fig. 7.
The same beam is considered as in the first example
but with an open cross-section (Fig. 6).
Example 3
The beam was idealized using 16 equal elements.
Eighteen cross-sectional nodal points were used to Analysis of beams with open and closed
increase the accuracy of the distribution of shear cross-sections is possible; Fig. 8 shows three

C
PB,

+x
_ 2
,:
t=0.005
d
Table 2
1 > .%
18; Classical theory Sixteen elements
1.00 9 1.971 1.979
-+--- wI*-wIB OM4268 0.044265
Fig. 6. b--w13
- 0.026560 -0.026555

Fig. 7.

8 = 0.09829

G&<ji?jj 8= 0.49870

Fig. 8.
1070 A.
simple examples with corresponding rotations of the
middle cross-section of the beam loaded and with
the same boundary conditions as in the first
example.
5. CONCLUSIONS
A new warping function is adopted that allows the
analysis of structures combining members with open
and closed cross-section. This analysis has not been
possible with classical theory. Shear stresses due to
torsion could be calculated directly from correspond-
ing shear strains. Basic notions of classical theory of
thin-walled structures sectorial coordinates and shear
centre are now unnecessary, so all the relevant geo-
metric characteristics of cross-section can easily be
calculated.
hOKI6
REFERENCES
I. 2. P.
Baiant and M. E. Nimeiri, Large-deflectionspatial
buckling of thin-walled beams and frames. J. Engng
Mech. Div., ASCE 99, 10,247~10,281 (1973).
2. V. Z. Vlasov, Thin-walled Elastic Bars (in Russian).
Moscow ( 1963).
3. S. Krenk and B. Jeppesen, Finite elements for beam
cross-sections of moderate wall thickness. Cornput.
Strucr. 5, 1035-1043 (1989).
4. A. Prokic, Thin-walled beams with open-closed cross
section. Ph.D. thesis, University of Belgrade.
5. M. Sekulovic, B. PujeviC and A. Prokic, Contribution to
the nonlinear analysis of thin-walled frames. Proc. Inr.
Conf. on SIeel Structures-Recent Research Advances
and Their Applications to Design. Budva, Yugoslavia
(1986).
6. M. Sekulovic and A. Prokic, Nonlinear analysis of
thin-walled beams with open and closed cross-section
17. Yugoslav Congress of Applied Mechanics, Zadar
(1986).