Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg.

200 (2011) 1671–1690

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Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg.

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cma

A nonlinear Hu–Washizu variational formulation and related finite-element

implementation for spatial beams with arbitrary moderate thick cross-sections
J. Wackerfuß a,b,⇑, F. Gruttmann b
a
Emmy-Noether-group MISMO, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstrasse 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
b
Division of Solid Mechanics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstrasse 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A nonlinear three-dimensional finite beam element based on a Hu–Washizu variational formulation is
Received 20 August 2010 presented. In addition to the standard beam strains, based on kinematic assumptions, further deforma-
Received in revised form 7 December 2010 tion modes are introduced. These additional modes allow for (a) the consideration of a complete
Accepted 9 January 2011
three-dimensional stress field, providing an interface for arbitrary three-dimensional material models,
Available online 21 January 2011
and (b) the consideration of cross-section warping, whose shape might shift during the elastic or inelastic
deformation. Beside the fact that the resulting finite element formulation is locking free (full Gauss inte-
Keywords:
gration in length direction) and remarkable robustness (even for very large load steps), these additional
Hu–Washizu variational formulation
Three-dimensional beam theory
degrees of freedom do not increase the total number of global unknowns of a beam structure. Each ele-
Arbitrary cross-sections ment node exhibits the common 3 translational and 3 rotational degrees of freedom. The additional
Finite element method degrees of freedom are eliminated on element level via static condensation. As a consequence, e.g. a
Three-dimensional constitutive laws bi-moment can not be applied at a free end. This restricts the applicability of the formulation to a class
Large load steps of problems where the influence of the bi-moment is negligible. It is shown that global acting polynomial
ansatz functions are not suitable to describe warping of cross-sections with an arbitrary shape. For this
reason a new concept based on local ansatz functions is presented. The general criteria to design the
warping ansatz functions are discussed in detail. Several examples with moderate thick cross-sections
are investigated.
Ó 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Numerous papers have been published on finite beam ele-

The analysis of load carrying capacities of spatial beam struc-
tures requires the implementation of constitutive equations for
inelastic material behaviour into finite beam elements. Classical
beam theories use a reduced stress space which accounts for the
assumption that the transverse normal stresses are much smaller
than the axial normal stresses and the transverse shear stresses.
Based on this the application of general three-dimensional nonlin-
ear material models, using the full stress space, is connected auto-
matically with the elimination of certain stress components (using
iterative procedures, see e.g. [20]). Thus beam models with an
interface to arbitrary three-dimensional constitutive relations are
more advantageous, since then the computationally expensive
elimination process is not necessary anymore. Based on a previous
paper [1], where this interface has been realized for rectangular
cross-sections, we now extend the formulation to arbitrary shaped
cross-sections.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Emmy-Noether-group MISMO, Technische Universität
Darmstadt, Hochschulstrasse 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany.
E-mail address: jens@wackerfuss.de (J. Wackerfuß).
ment formulations (FE). In the following the main aspects of
FE techniques for spatial beams subjected to static loading are
discussed. The so-called co-rotational formulation, where the ri-
gid body motions are separated from the total deformation, was
suggested in [2–6] among others. Within the alternative
Lagrangean formulation the tensor components usually refer to
the initial undeformed configuration, e.g. [9–24]. Beams with
thin-walled cross-sections are especially addressed in [7,8,24].
Cross-section deformation is accounted for in [24]. Some ele-
ment formulations, e.g. [13,18,20,5,6,26], use seven nodal de-
grees of freedom at each node. These are three displacement
degrees of freedom, three rotations and one quantity which is
related to the torsion–warping deformation. Often the warping
function is a priori determined within the elastic torsion theory.
Several element formulations are based on mixed variational
principles. When using the Hellinger–Reissner functional, inde-
pendent displacements and stress resultants are introduced.
Within the Hu–Washizu principle, the beam strains are addition-
ally independent tensorial quantities. Here, we refer to e.g.
[25,26,1,27]. In [20] an interface is derived for the use of arbi-
trary 3D-material laws in context of beam and shell elements.

0045-7825/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cma.2011.01.006
1672 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690

For this purpose a local iteration algorithm is required to con-
dense an arbitrary 3D-material law with respect to zero-stress
conditions. The iteration algorithm acts at each integration point
on the element level. A solid-like finite element formulation for
geometrically nonlinear 3D frames is presented in [29]. Nonlin-
ear composite beams are addressed in [28].
The essential aspects of the previous paper [1] are summarized
as follows: the used beam strains, based on a standard kinematic
assumption including shear deformation, are conform with the
strains in Ref. [11], see also [30]. A variational formulation with
independent displacements, rotations, stress resultants and beam
strains is derived from the field equations and boundary condi-
tions. The Euler–Lagrange equations include corresponding equa-
tions for higher order stress resultants. The introduction of
independent strains allows the consideration of cross-section
warping and transverse contraction. Thus the complete three-
dimensional strain state is described. With this approach an inter-
face to arbitrary three-dimensional constitutive laws is realized.
Due to the applied global polynomial interpolation functions the
formulation is restricted to rectangular cross-sections. Since the
independent stress resultants and beam strains are discontinu-
ously interpolated across the element boundaries, the stress and
strain parameters can be eliminated on the element level. The
mixed hybrid element possesses six degrees of freedom at each
node, which allows the consideration of standard displacement
boundary conditions. The correct rank of the element stiffness
matrix is given. The applicability of the developed formulation is
discussed by means of several examples with moderate thick
cross-sections.
The new developments of the present paper are:
describe warping are introduced. The finite element formulation
is developed in Section 4. The element residuum vector and the
stiffness matrix are stated explicitly. In Section 5 the effectiveness
and robustness of this method is demonstrated by means of several
numerical examples. The paper closes with an assessment of the
results.
2. Basic equations
2.1. Strong form of the boundary value problem
A beam with reference configuration B0 and current configura-
tion B according to Fig. 1 is considered. The initial basis system is
denoted by
e1 ¼ ½1; 0; 0T ; e2 ¼ ½0; 1; 0T ; e3 ¼ ½0; 0; 1T : ð1Þ
For the reference configuration an orthogonal basis system Ti with
local coordinates {n1, n2, n3} is introduced. The axis of the beam is
initially aligned along T1 with the arc length parameter S = n1 2
[0, L] of the spatial curve. Assuming arbitrary shaped cross-sections
the centroid S with coordinates {s2, s3} and the center of shear M
with coordinates {m2, m3} are independent of the reference point
0, see Fig. 2. The cross-sections of the beam lie in planes described
by the basis vectors {T2, T3}. Accordingly the frame ti is defined
in the current configuration which is characterized by the time

(i) In contrast to [1], where global polynomial functions have

been used to approximate cross-section warping, now local
bi-linear functions are introduced. Certain orthogonality
conditions are exploited to obtain a proper coupling with
the global deformation of the beam. As mentioned above
the additional degrees of freedom can be eliminated on ele-
ment level via static condensation. As a consequence, e.g. a
bi-moment can not be applied at a free end. This restricts
the applicability of the formulation to a class of problems
where the influence of the bi-moment is negligible. Within
the new approach arbitrary, moderate thick shaped cross-
sections can be considered.
(ii) In order to permit a three-dimensional strain state inside the Fig. 1. Initial and current configuration of the beam.
beam, we consider warping and transversal contraction of
the cross-section. By contrast to the specific approach, intro-
duced in [1], a modification of this approach is presented in
this paper. The main advantage of this new approach is a sig-
nificant reduction of the number of internal unknown
required. Thus, the numerical effort for the elimination of
these unknowns on the element level via a static condensa-
tion is reduced.
(iii) The element behaviour is tested by several examples with
moderate thick cross-sections. The development of plastic
zones in beams is computed and compared with alternative
formulations. Furthermore, the load carrying behaviour of a
spatial beam structure is calculated.
(iv) A remarkable robustness of the new element formulation is
observed in applications with finite deformations. In com-
parison with usual displacement elements, very large load
steps are possible.

The paper is organized as follows: in Section 2 the strong form

of the boundary value problem is presented. Additionally the
associated weak form and the linearization is derived. Subse-
quently, in Section 3, appropriate interpolation functions to Fig. 2. Definition of load point P, center of gravity S and center of shear M.
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1673

parameter t. The basis vectors Ti and ti follow from orthogonal In the following the relation of E to the independent beam strains:
transformations:  
e1
Ti ðSÞ ¼ R0 ðSÞei ; ti ðS; tÞ ¼ RðS; tÞei with R0 ; R 2 SOð3Þ: ð2Þ
e¼ ð9Þ
e2
The position vectors of arbitrary cross-section points are given is specified. The first part e1 contains the strain e, the shear strains
with: ca, the twist # and the curvatures ja of the reference axis
Xðn2 ; n3 ; SÞ ¼ X0 ðSÞ þ n2 T2 ðSÞ þ n3 T3 ðSÞ; e1 ¼ ep ¼ ½e; c2 ; c3 ; #; j2 ; j3 Tp . The subscript p indicates physical
ð3Þ strains. The second part e2 2 RM contains further components which
xðn2 ; n3 ; S; tÞ ¼ x0 ðS; t Þ þ n2 t2 ðS; tÞ þ n3 t3 ðS; tÞ:
are not related to the kinematic assumption. The parameter M is
With Eq. (3)2 the standard assumption on plane cross-sections in specified in Section 4. Following [1] the relation of E to e can be
the deformed configuration is incorporated. The kinematic quanti- written as:
ties of the reference curve are summarized in v = [u, R]T, where h i
e e;
E¼A e¼ A
A e 1; A
e2 ; ð10Þ
u = x0  X0 and R(x) = ti  ei denote the displacement vector and
the rotation tensor as function of the rotation vector x of the refer-
with
ence curve, respectively. The beam is subjected to loads f 2 ½0; L 2 3 2~ 3
acting at the coordinates {p2, p3}, see Fig. 2. The vector of the loading 1 þ 12 eT1 AT A
a w1 0 0 0 0
6 7 6 0
point in the current configuration reads xp = x0 + rp with 6 0 7 6 w2 0 0 0 7
7
rp = p2t2 + p3t3. Boundaries with prescribed displacements and rota- 6 7 6 7
6 0 7 6 0 0 w2 0 0 7
e 6 7 e
tions are denoted by S u , and boundaries that are loaded by stress A1 ¼ 6 7 ; A2 ¼ 6
6 0
7 ;
resultants are denoted by S r . We consider boundary forces ^f,
6
6

a2 7
7 6 0 0 ~ 1;2
w 0 7
7
6 7 6 7
boundary stress couple resultants m ^ on S r and prescribed displace- 4 3
a 5 4 0 0 0 ~ 1;3
w 0 5
ments u ^ and rotations x ^ on S u , respectively. 0 0 0 0 0 w3
66 6M
Based on the kinematic assumption (3) the beam strains
ð11Þ
eg ¼ ½e; c2 ; c3 ; #; j2 ; j3 Tg have been derived in [1]
  i ¼ eTi A and
whereas a
e  e
eg :¼  0 ; ð4Þ 1
a
23 2
1 0 0 0 n3 n2
3
j  j0
6 7 6 7
A ¼ 4a2 5 ¼ 4 0 1 0 n 3 0 0 5: ð12Þ
where the index g denotes geometrical strains which are related to
3
a 0 0 1 n2 0 0
the derivatives of the displacement field. The strain vector and cur-
vature vector of the current configuration and the reference config- The components of the vectors a 1 ; a
2 and a e 1 are con-
3 of matrix A
uration read: form with the kinematic assumptions (3)2 (i.e. plane cross-sections
2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 and neglecting the transverse contractions). The term 12 eT1 AT A ac-
x00  t1 t02  t3 X00  T1 T02  T3
counts for nonlinear effects like the Wagner term 12 n22 þ n23 #2 ,
e ¼ 6 7
4 x00  t2 5; j ¼ 6 7
4 t03  t1 5; e0 ¼ 6 0 7
4 X0  T 2 5; j 0 ¼ 6 0 7
4 T3  T1 5; (see discussion in [1]).
x00  t3 t01  t2 X00  T3 T01  T2 The term A e 1 e1 in (10) describes three non-vanishing compo-
ð5Þ nents of E related to the standard beam theory, whereas the term
e 2 e2 can be interpreted as an enhancement of E. This enhancement
A
0
where () denotes differentiation with respect to S. is required in order to describe the complete three-dimensional
strain state within the cross-section. The matrix A e 2 considers
Kinematically admissible variations are introduced by
transverse contraction of the cross-section. As can be seen in
n o (11), the strain components E22, E33 and E23 are described indepen-
V :¼ dv ¼ ½du; dxT : ½0; L ! R3 j dv ¼ 0 on S u : ð6Þ
dently from each other by the vectors w2 2 RM2 and w3 2 RM3 ,
respectively. Following the global concept, introduced in [1], we
with virtual displacements du = dx0 and virtual rotations dx. Hence define:
the variation of (4) yields:
wa :¼ ½p0 ; p1 ; . . . ; pna ; ð13Þ
2 3
t1  dx00 þ x00  dt1 whereas a = 2, 3. The sub-vectors pi are defined by
6 t2  dx0 þ x00  dt2 7
6 0 7 p0 :¼ ½P00 ;
6 7
6 t3  dx00 þ x00  dt3 7
deg ¼ 6 7: ð7Þ p1 :¼ ½P10 ; P01 ;
6 t  dt0 þ t02  dt3 7
6 3 2 7 p2 :¼ ½P20 ; P11 ; P02 ;
6 7
4 t1  dt03 þ t03  dt1 5
p3 :¼ ½P30 ; P21 ; P12 ; P03 ;
t2  dt01 þ t01  dt2 p4 :¼ ½P40 ; P31 ; P22 ; P13 ; P04 ;
p5 :¼ ½P50 ; P41 ; P32 ; P23 ; P14 ; P05 ; ð14Þ
The variation of the basis vector dti is related to dx, see [18].
Next the Green–Lagrangean strain tensor E = EijGi  Gjwith p6 :¼ ½P60 ; P51 ; P42 ; P33 ; P24 ; P15 ; P06 ;
components Eij ¼ 12 ðg ij  Gij Þ is introduced. Here, Gi denote the con- p7 :¼ ½P70 ; P61 ; P52 ; P43 ; P34 ; P25 ; P16 ; P 07 ;
travariant base vectors of the reference configuration defined in a p8 :¼ ½P80 ; P71 ; P62 ; P53 ; P44 ; P35 ; P26 ; P 17 ; P08 ;
standard way by Gi  Gj ¼ dji with the covariant base vectors Gi. Fur- p9 :¼ ½P90 ; P81 ; P72 ; P63 ; P54 ; P45 ; P36 ; P 27 ; P18 ; P09 ;
thermore, Gij = Gi  Gjand gij = gi  gj denote the covariant metric
.. ..
coefficients of the reference configuration and current configura- . .
tion, respectively. The components of E are organized in a vector
like: with the polynomial functions:

E ¼ ½E11 ; E22 ; E33 ; 2E12 ; 2E13 ; 2E23  : T

ð8Þ Pnm ¼ nn2 nm
3: ð15Þ
1674 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690

The parameters n2 and n3 in (13) denote the highest order of the c ðCÞ is a strain energy density as function of the right Cauchy-
where W
polynomial functions considered in w2 and w3, respectively. Green tensor C and d W c ðCÞ ¼ ðAdeÞT 2oC W
c ðCÞ ¼ 2dET oC W c ðCÞ in (20)
e 2 considers the warping of the cross-section.
Additional matrix A we define a vector of the stress resultants:
The strain components E11, E12, and E13 are described by the vector Z    
A1 oe1 W
~ 1 2 RM1 and its derivatives. In [1] the vector w
w ~ 1 has been con- oe W :¼ S dA ¼ : ð21Þ
structed by (global) polynomial ansatz functions as well, similar A A2 oe2 W
to (13): c ðCÞ denotes the Second Piola–Kirchhoff
Here, S ¼ Sij Gi  Gj ¼ 2oC W
  stress tensor. The contravariant components are arranged in a vec-
~1 ¼ p
w ~ 2; . . . ; p
~ n1 ; ð16Þ
tor, work conjugate to (18):
with the sub-vectors p ~ i (the orthogonal version of pi, see [1]); the
h iT
parameter n1 is used to denote the highest order of the polynomial S ¼ S11 ; S22 ; S33 ; S12 ; S13 ; S23 : ð22Þ
functions in w~ 1 . However, as it is shown in Section 3, these polyno-
mial functions can not describe the warping of arbitrary cross- The first part in (21) contains 6 components, the standard stress
sections. Hence, a new concept is introduced in this paper, where resultants of a three-dimensional beam, where the second part con-
the warping is described by local ansatz functions. The construction tains higher order stress resultants.
of these local ansatz functions is discussed in Section 3 in detail. Finally we summarize the static field equations, the geometric
The enhancement of the Green–Lagrangean strains E by matrix field equations, the constitutive equations and an equation for
e 2 ensures the correct description of the warping and the trans-
A the higher order stress resultants as follows:
verse contraction of the cross-section. This has been verified by a 9
f þ f ¼ 0 >
0
multiplicity of numerical investigations. With respect to the struc- >
>
ture of matrix A e 2 , the related beam formulation is denoted by ‘E1-  ¼ 0>
m0 þ x00  f þ m >
>
=
model’ (‘E’ for enhancement). eg  ep ¼ 0 > in ½0; L ð23Þ
Before continuing, an alternative beam formulation based on a >
oep W  r ¼ 0 > >
>
modified matrix A e 2 is presented, which is denoted by ‘E2-model’. > ;
~ 1 in the first
oe2 W ¼ 0
Numerical investigations have shown that the vector w
row of this matrix is not needed for a correct representation of the with m  ¼ rp  f . The static field Eq. (23)1 and (23)2 may be found
three-dimensional strain state in the beam. We obtain the reduced e.g. in [30]. Here f and m are related to the independent stress resul-
matrix: tants by
2 3 2 3 2 3
0 0 0 0 " # F1 M1
6w 0 0 0 7 RT f 6 7 6 7
6 2 7 r :¼ ; RT f ¼ 4 F 2 5; RT m ¼ 4 M 2 5; ð24Þ
6 7 RT m
6 0 w2 0 0 7 F3 M3
e
A2 ¼ 6 7 : ð17Þ
6 0 0 ~
w1;2 0 7
6 7 where, F1 is the normal force, F2 and F3 the shear forces, M1 (= MT)
6 7
4 0 0 ~ 1;3
w 0 5
the torsional moment, M2 and M3 the bending moments, respec-
0 0 0 w3 6M  tively. The geometric field equations (23)3 describe the equivalence
A further non-consideration of the terms w ~ 1;2 and w
~ 1;3 would lead of the geometric and physical beam strains. The constitutive Eq.
to a wrong representation of the torsion behaviour of the beam. (23)4 are written in terms of ep and r. Finally, the higher order stress
More precisely, in case of elasticity it can be shown that the relation resultants oe2 W are set to zero within the Euler–Lagrange Eq. (23)5.
between the torsional moment MT and the twisting # is described The strong form of the boundary value problem is completed by
incorrectly by the polar moment of inertia IP, instead of the Saint– static and geometric boundary conditions:
Venant torsion stiffness IT; i.e. MT = GIT#. Therefore, the contribution f  ^f ¼ 0 on S r
~ 1;2 and w
of w ~ 1;3 is still needed in matrix Ae 2 . The section parameter IT
mm ^ ¼ 0 on S r ð25Þ
can be derived from the presented formulation, as demonstrated in
[1]; MT denotes the torsional moment. In comparison with the E1- v  v^ ¼ 0 on S u
model, the E2-model yields a substantial reduction of the total where v ^ T .
^; x
^ ¼ ½u
number of the internal degrees of freedom; thus in a computation-
ally more efficient numerical method. In the E2-model the total Remark. Within the finite element formulation in Section 4 the
number of columns of matrix A e 2 is denoted by M .
strains e2 are condensed out on element level. Therefore, e.g. a
We continue with the variation of the Green–Lagrangean strain warping restraint and as reaction a bi-moment can not be applied
E. We obtain: at a boundary. The consequence of the elimination is that the
dE ¼ Ade; de ¼ ½de1 ; de2 T ; A ¼ ½A1 ; A2 ; ð18Þ higher order stress resultants must be set to zero in the Euler–
Lagrange Eq. (23)5. This restricts the applicability of the formula-
with
2 3 tion to a class of problems where the influence of the bi-moment is
1 þ eT1 AT A
a negligible.
6 7
6 0 7
6 7
6 0 7
6 7 e 2: 2.2. Weak form of the boundary value problem and linearization
A1 ¼ 6 7; A2 ¼ A ð19Þ
6 2
a 7
6 7
6 3 7 The weak form of the boundary value problem has been derived
4 a 5
in [1] with h :¼ [v, r, e]T and admissible variations of the
0
displacements, rotations, stress resultants and beam strains
e 2 does not depend on e the relation A2 ¼ A
Since A e 2 is obvious. dh :¼ [dv, dr, de]Tas:
Continuing with the internal virtual work of the beam: Z h i
 
Z Z Z g ðh; dhÞ ¼ ~ Þ þ drT eg  ep þ deTg r dS  g ext ðv ; dv Þ ¼ 0;
de T ð oe W  r
dW i ¼ c ðCÞdAdS ¼
dW deT oe WdS; ð20Þ
S

S A S ð26Þ
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1675

~ :¼ ½r; 0M T . The virtual work of the external loads reads:

with r 1
Z Nej ¼ ð1 þ gj gÞð1 þ fj fÞ; ð32Þ
  h i 4
g ext ðv ; dv Þ ¼  f  dxp dS  duT ^f þ dxT m
^ ð27Þ
S Sr with j = 1, . . . , 4 and (j, gj, fj) = {(1, 1, 1), (2, 1, 1), (3, 1, 1),
(4, 1, 1)}. Before we derive the components H e I in (30), we intro-
with dxp = du + p2dt2 + p3dt3. The geometric boundary conditions duce the cross-section functions HI. Based on the locally acting ele-
have to be fulfilled as constraints. ment shape functions N ej , we define HI as follows:
For the subsequent finite element formulation we need to de-
[
N X
4
rive the linearization. Assuming conservative loads one obtains: HI ¼ HeI ; HeI ¼ dIJ Nej ; ð33Þ
e¼1 j¼1
L½g ðh; dhÞ; Dh :¼ g ðh; dhÞ þ Dðg int þ g ext Þ  Dh;
Z
 T   whereas I = 1, 2, . . . , M; and the Kronecker Delta function dIJ . We as-
Dg int  Dh ¼ ~ Þ þ drT Deg  Dep
de ðDDe  Dr
S sume that the numbering of I is associated to the numbering of the
i ð28Þ cross-section nodes. The capital index J indicate the global number
þdeTg Dr þ DdeTg r dS;
Z of the cross-section node (global numbering), which are associated
Dg ext ðv ; dv Þ  Dv ¼  f  ðp2 Ddt2 þ p3 Ddt3 ÞdS: with the local element node j (local numbering) of the considered
S element e. The relation between the local and global node number-
ing is directly given by the connectivity list related to the underly-
The linearization of the stress resultants (21) applying the product
ing cross-section discretization; i.e. the relation between the
rule leads to:
element number e and the global numbers of the 4 element nodes
Z  " #
S11 AT A 0 j, denoted here by J. The considerations above automatically yield
D¼ b dA;
AT CT A þ G b¼
G : ð29Þ the fact that for each single cross-section node one individual func-
A 0 0
tion HI is defined. By contrast to the global concept with polynomial
The matrix CT = dS/dE is in general an output of a library for three- functions Pnm, in the local concept the functions HI exhibit kinks at
dimensional constitutive laws. Two large strain material models are the boundaries of the cross-section elements.
given in Appendix A and C and are used in the numerical examples. Because of two reasons the functions HI are not appropriate
The integration over the cross section in (21) and (29) is performed components for the vector w ~ 1 . First, they yield a linear dependency
in matrix A,e and second they yield false stress resultants. In order
numerically using a Gauss integration scheme.
to circumvent this problems, the functions HI have to fulfill two
additional conditions, which are discussed in the Sections 3.2 and
3. Construction of appropriate warping functions
3.3. For the sake of clarity, we distinguish between the functions HI,
introduced in this section, and the modified functions H e I , which
3.1. Cross-section warping – local concept
will be derived in the Sections 3.2 and 3.3.

According to Section 2.1 the cross-section warping is considered

3.2. Elimination of the linear dependency – rigid body motions
in (10) by the vector w~ 1 . As we shall see in Section 3.4, for specific
shapes of the cross-section, the description of the warping using e2
~ 1 of matrix A
The consideration of the functions HI in vector w
polynomial functions (‘global concept’) is not appropriate. For this e This is caused by the fact
leads to a linear dependency of matrix A.
reason we introduce a new concept (‘local concept’). It is empha- 1 can be constructed by a linear
e 2 , which are related to trans- that the 3 components of vector a
sized that the terms of the matrix A
combination of the local functions HI, as shown by the following
verse normal strains (i.e. the vectors w2 and w3) are furthermore
equations:
described with the global concept. The new local concept is related
to the cross-section warping, i.e. the vector w ~ 1 2 RM1 . We define: X
M X
M X
M

h i 1¼ HI ; n2 ¼ n2I HI ; n3 ¼ n3I HI ; ð34Þ

w e 1; H
~ 1 :¼ H e 2; . . . ; H
eM ; ð30Þ I¼1 I¼1 I¼1
1

whereas n2I and n3I represent the cross-section coordinates of node

whereas each component H e I , with I = 1, . . . , M1, represents an inde-
pendent function, depending on the cross-section coordinates n2
and n3. The multiplication of one of these functions with an associ-
ated internal degree of freedom yields a contribution of the overall
cross-section warping. In the global concept the functions are de-
fined by globally acting polynomial functions, see (15). By contrast,
now – in the local concept – the functions are defined locally. For
this reason the starting point of the new local concept is the discret-
ization of the cross-section area X with N finite elements:
e can be interpreted from a
I. This linear dependency of the matrix A
mechanical point of view: The cross-section exhibits 3 rigid body
motions: 1 axial motion in n1-direction and 2 rotational motions
around the axis n2 and n3, respectively. Remember, the functions
HI describe the warping of the cross-section, which is defined in
length-direction. Therefore, the other 3 rigid body motions, occur-
ring in the three-dimensional space, must not be considered in
the process of eliminating the linear dependency of the matrix A.e
Thus, the total number of linear independent functions is:

X
N
X  Xh ¼ Xe ;
e¼1
each element Xe exhibiting nel nodes. The total number of cross-
section nodes is denoted by M. On the basis of this discretization
element-wise standard Lagrangean shape functions Nj(g, f) can be
defined, with g, f 2 [1, 1]. The small index j indicates the local
number of the nel element nodes (local numbering); i.e.
j = 1, . . . , nel. For the sake of simplicity and without loss of the gen-
erality, we use 4-node finite elements with bi-linear shape
functions:
M1 ¼ M   3: ð35Þ
ð31Þ
On the basis of the mechanical interpretation, it is possible to elim-
e by excluding an appro-
inate the linear dependency of the matrix A
priate set of 3 functions HI. This procedure is visualized in Fig. 3
using the example of a L-shaped cross-section, which is discretized
by N = 3 cross-section elements and total number of M = 8 cross-
section nodes. In order to prevent the 3 rigid body motions of the
cross-section plane, the functions H1, H2 and H8 are eliminated.
According to (35) the total number of independent functions HI is
M1 = 5. It should be emphasized that it is important to choose
those 3 functions HI, which are able to prevent all rigid body
1676 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690

motions. E.g. the elimination of the functions H1, H2 and H3 do not e I ¼ HI þ aI þ b n2 þ c n3 :

H ð37Þ
I I
prevent all rigid body motions; the rotation around the axis n2 is
still possible. In the context of the numerical implementation it is Inserting (37) in (36) leads to the following system of equation:
2 3 2 3 2 3
verified that no rigid body motions occur; in case one or more are Z 1 n2 n3 aI Z HI
indicated they are automatically eliminated. 6n n22 n2 n3 7 6 7 6 7
4 2 5dA4 bI 5 ¼  4 n2 HI 5dA; ð38Þ
It should also be mentioned that in the global concept the rigid A A
body motions are a priori prevented by choosing only such polyno-
n3 n2 n3 n23 cI n3 HI
mial functions in vector w 1 ;
~ 1 , which are not represented in vector a in order to determine the unknowns aI, bI and cI for each compo-
see Eq. (16). nent HI separately, see also [1].

3.3. Impact on the stress resultants – orthogonalization 3.4. Global concept vs. local concept

As can be seen in (10), the components E11, E12 and E13 of the The aim of this subsection is to make clear the difference be-
Green–Lagrangean strains E depend not only on matrix A, but also tween the global and the new local concept. For this purpose the
on vector w~ 1 . In order to ensure that the part of the normal strain warping functions P e nm (global concept) and He I (local concept) of
E11, which results from the vector w ~ 1 , has no impact on the related the L-shaped cross-section (pictured in Fig. 3) are compared with
stress resultants F1 (normal force), M2 and M3 (bending moments), each other. In Figs. 4 and 5 these functions are illustrated by means
the following conditions have to be fulfilled: of contour plots. In Fig. 4 the functions associated to the first 6
Z Z Z components Pnm ¼ nn2 nm 3 (associated to the polynomial functions
~ 1 dA ¼ 0;
1w ~ 1 dA ¼ 0;
n2 w ~ 1 dA ¼ 0:
n3 w ð36Þ up to the order of 2) are plotted. In Fig. 5 all functions H e I , with
A A A
I = 1, . . . , M1 are presented. Five possible local functions are shown
Eq. (36) ensures the orthogonality of the vector w~ 1 w.r.t. the three for the given discretization (N = 3 elements and M = 8 nodes).
non-vanishing components of the vector a 1 . In order to fulfil (36) As defined in Section 3.2, the total number of independent local
for each component, we introduce: functions H e I is M1 = M  3. It should be pointed out that the initial

Fig. 3. L-shaped cross-section: left: geometry; middle: discretization (initial node numbering), right: discretization after the elimination of the 3 rigid body motions, marked
with additional boundary symbols (new node numbering).

e nm (listed in vector w
Fig. 4. Illustration of all global warping ansatz-functions P ~ 1 ) for n1 = 2.
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1677

e I (listed in vector w
Fig. 5. Illustration of all local warping ansatz-functions H ~ 1 ) for the given cross-section discretization presented in Fig. 3 with 3 bi-linear elements and 8
nodes. The numbering is associated to this discretization.

locally restricted functions exhibit now a global character, which is torsion problem can be considered as a special case of the general
caused by the orthogonalization process, described in Section 3.3. beam formulation presented in this paper. In case of a pure torsion
After the presentation of these qualitative differences of the problem both theories merge. Of course, this holds for arbitrary-
global and the local concept, we focus now on the quantitative shaped cross-sections as well, as described below.
differences. For this purpose their ability to describe correctly the We continue with the calculation of IT for four different (non
Saint–Venant torsion stiffness IT has been investigated. As pointed rectangular) cross-section shapes: cell-profile, L-profile, Z-profile
out in [1] in the context of the global concept, IT mainly depends on and hat-profile. As already mentioned in Section 3.1, in order to de-
the components of vectors w ~ 1;3 and w e 2 ; or more pre-
~ 1;3 in matrix A scribe correctly the warping of specific shapes of the cross-section,
cisely, on the order n1 of the polynomial functions P e nm . By contrast, the local concept is more suitable than the global concept. This
in the local concept, it can be expected that IT directly depends on statement will be shown by the following parameter study. For this
the way the cross-section is discretized. The following parameter purpose these cross-section shapes have been modified, as can be
study investigates this dependency, while the influence of the seen in Fig. 6. On the basis of this modification, the influence of the
cross-section shape is investigated as well. slenderness of the cross-section member (starting with a compact
We start with a rectangular-shaped cross-section. In Table 1 the and ending with slender cross-section) can be investigated. For the
convergence behaviour of IT for a rectangular cross-section (with calculations based on the local concept a fine cross-section dicret-
h/b = 2; width b and the height h), w.r.t. the total number of the ization is used. The numerical results are presented in Fig. 6 by
functions of vector w ~ 1 , is presented. The non-dimensional param- means of 4 different diagrams, showing the dependency of the
eter IT/(hb3) is listed in dependency of the total number of warping Saint–Venant torsion stiffness IT (normalized by the ‘exact’ IT ) on
degrees, already introduced as M1. The results of the two different the different cross-section shapes. The ‘exact’ value IT has been cal-
approaches are compared. For both, the global and the local ap- culated numerically on the basis of a very fine cross-section dis-
proach holds: The Saint–Venant torsion stiffness IT converges with cretization, using the code [32]. The results obtained with the
an increasing number M1 towards the analytical solution. Addi- local concept match with the ‘exact’ solution and are independent
tionally, these results are compared to those obtained by an 2D on both the shape and the slenderness of the cross-section. By con-
Saint–Venant torsion problem, solved in the context of the finite trast, the results obtained by the global concept strongly depend
element method, e.g. [32]. Here the total number of unknowns is on the shape and the slenderness of the underlying cross-section.
N = M  1. It can be seen that for a given dicretization of the For example, in case of the hat-profile, the results are completely
cross-section, the local concept and the 2D Saint–Venant problem wrong. Even if polynomial functions up to the order of n1 = 9 are
leads to the same torsion stiffness IT. Thus, the 2D Saint–Venant used, for the slender cross-section the value of IT is false by a factor
of more than 2. Sole exception in this study is the cell-profile,
Table 1 where even the global concept (for n1 P 3) leads, independent of
Rectangular cross-section: Dependency of the Saint–Venant torsion stiffness IT/(hb3) the slenderness, to correct results.
on the total number of warping degrees of freedom M1 and N, respectively.
In order to investigate the influence of the cross-section discret-
Global concept [1] Local concept (present) 2D torsion problem [32] ization of the hat-profile on the numerical results (local concept),
n1 M1 3
IT/(hb ) Mesh M1 3
IT/(hb ) Mesh N IT/(hb3) four different element meshes (for each of the four slenderness ra-
0 0 0.417 11 1 0.267 11 3 0.267
tios selected) have been considered. First: very coarse meshes
2 3 0.267 24 12 0.247 24 14 0.247 (‘mesh 1’) with 4, 12, 12, and 9 elements respectively, second:
4 12 0.230 48 42 0.234 48 44 0.234 coarse meshes (‘mesh 2’) with 24, 41, 48, and 12 elements,
6 25 0.230 8  16 150 0.230 8  16 152 0.230 respectively, third: fine meshes (‘mesh 3’) with 60, 99, 92, and 48
elements, respectively, and fourth: very fine meshes (‘mesh 4’)
Analytical: 0.229
with 216, 183, 186, and 108 elements, respectively. The results of
1678 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690
Fig. 6. Global vs. local concept; Saint–Venant torsion stiffness for different shapes of the cross-section.
this investigation are presented in Fig. 6 as well: Even in the case of
the coarse mesh (mesh 2) the predictions of the torsion stiffness
with the local concept are significant better than those obtained
by the global concept with highest polynomial degrees (n1 = 9).
The quality of the numerical results are more or less independent,
with respect to the slenderness of this hat-profile.
This parameter study makes clear that a correct and general
description of the torsion behaviour can only be obtained if the
cross-section warping is described by locally acting ansatz func-
tions. The local concept is required for arbitrary-shaped cross-
sections. In the parameter study, presented in this subsection, a
pure elastic material behaviour has been assumed. As shown in
Section 5, the local concept also works in the context of an inelastic
material behaviour.
Another difference between the global and local concept is re-
lated to their ability to fulfill precisely the local equilibrium within
the beam cross-section and its boundary. As pointed out in Section
5.6, the equilibrium is violated with the global concept in some
areas on the cross-section boundary. By contrast, in the local con-
cept the equilibrium is essentially better fulfilled.
4. Finite element formulation
Applying the isoparametric concept, the following kinematic
variables are interpolated using standard Lagrangean shape func-
tions NI(n), where n 2 [1, +1] represents the local coordinate of
the finite beam element. Within a typical element the position vec-
tors of the reference configuration and of the current configuration
are interpolated by
X
nel X
nel
Xh0 ¼ NI ðnÞXI ; xh0 ¼ NI ðnÞðXI þ uI Þ:
I¼1 I¼1
Here nel denotes the number of nodes of the element, XI the nodal
position vector and uI the nodal displacement vector. The basis sys-
tems of the reference configuration and of the current configuration
are approximated using the same interpolation functions:
X
nel X
nel
Thm ¼ NI ðnÞTmI ; thm ¼ NI ðnÞtmI : ð40Þ
I¼1 I¼1
With (40) orthogonality of the basis systems Thm and thm is only ful-
filled at the nodes. Numerical investigations however show that
with mesh refinement correct solutions are approximated. The ini-
tial basis system TmI is generated within the input of the finite ele-
ment mesh, whereas the current basis system at the finite element
nodes is computed using the so-called Rodrigues formula.
The independent field of stress resultants r is approximated as
follows:
(
166 for nel ¼ 2
rh ¼ Nr r^ ; Nr ¼  
N1 166 ; . . . ; Nðnel1Þ 166 for nel P 3;
ð41Þ
whereas the matrix 166 denotes the 6  6 unity matrix. The vector
r^ 2 RL , with L ¼ 6ðnel  1Þ, contains the independent parameters of
the interpolated stress field. In case of a two-node element (nel = 2),
the vector r ^ contains 6 parameters describing constant stress resul-
tants within the element. In case of a three-node element (nel = 3),
the vector r ^ contains 12 parameters, whereas N1 and N2 are stan-
dard shape functions describing a linear interpolation. Thereby
the parameters r ^ represent values which are related to the element
and not to the element nodes. Thus, the stress field rh exhibits
discontinuities at the element boundaries. In order to ensure the
stability of the proposed element formulation, the total number of
ð39Þ stress parameters has to be greater than (or equal) to the number
of displacement parameters (equal to 6 nel), minus the number of
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1679

the possible rigid body motions (equal to 6). Based on this, we de- [18], and B and Kr are specified in [1]. The vector of the external
signed the interpolation (41). This approach yields a necessary con- loads fa corresponds to the one of a standard displacement
dition to ensure the stability of the FE-formulation, but it is not formulation. Since the stress resultants and beam strains are inter-
sufficient in terms of the LBB-condition. Nevertheless, on the basis polated discontinuously across the element boundaries the param-
of a multiplicity of numerical examples the stability of the pre- eters D^e and Dr
^ can be eliminated from the set of equations. One
sented FE-formulation has been verified. obtains:
The interpolation of the independent beam strains e consists of
two parts. The first part with  L parameters corresponds to the h i numel
X 
interpolation of the stress resultants (41). The second part contains L gðhh ; dhh Þ; Dhh ¼ dv T KeT Dv þ ^f e ; ð48Þ
e¼1
a total number of M parameters. We define:
  " #
^e1 N11
e 0 with the tangential element stiffness matrix KeT and the element
eh ¼ Ne ^e; ^e ¼ ; Ne ¼ 22
; ð42Þ residual vector ^f e .
^e2 0 Ne
The integrals in (47) are computed numerically using nel Gauss
whereas ^e1 2 RL and ^e2 2 RM and integration points per element. This leads to a locking free element
2 3 formulation. The element stiffness matrix possesses the correct
N01 0 0 0 rank. The global matrices are obtained by standard assembly pro-
6 7
6 0 N2 0 0 7 cedures. The update of the nodal displacements is performed in a
6 7
11
Ne ¼ Nr ; 22
Ne ¼6
6 0 0 N2 0 7
7 ; ð43Þ standard way on the structural level, whereas the stress and strain
6 7 parameters are updated on the element level. For this purpose the
4 N1 0 0 0 5
matrices which are necessary for the update have to be stored for
0 0 0 N3 MM
each element. Further details concerning the introduced matrices
with the submatrices: are given in [1].
  In the presented FE-formulation the cross-section integrals are
N1 ¼ N1 1M1 M1 ; N2 1M1 M1 ; not required as input data; solely the coordinates of section-ele-
 
N01 ¼ N01 1M1 M1 ; N02 1M1 M1 ; ments w.r.t. the reference axis are needed. Furthermore, the pre-
ð44Þ
N2 ¼ 1M2 M2 ; calculation of the torsion warping function is not required, as e.g.
N3 ¼ 1M3 M3 ; in [18,20,5,6].

Those parameters of the vector e2, related to the vector w ~ 1 , have to

be approximated at least linearly variable, because the derivation of 5. Examples
these parameters w.r.t. the arc length S, is required as well, see (43).
By contrast, those parameters related to the vectors w2 and w3 are The derived FE-formulation has been implemented in an ex-
approximated constantly within the finite element. From (43) and tended version of the general purpose finite element program
(44) we obtain in the E1-model: M ¼ 2ðM1 þ M2 Þ þ M 3 . FEAP, see Taylor [31]. The numerical examples have been chosen
In the E2-model, related to (17), the matrix N22 to demonstrate the accurate behaviour of the proposed element.
e changes:
2 3 One purpose of the numerical examples is to show that the ele-
N2 0 0 0 ment approximates correctly the elastic and inelastic constitutive
6 0 N2 0 0 7 behaviour. Another purpose is to demonstrate the stability and
6 7
N22
e ¼6 7 ; N1 ¼ 1M1 M1 ; ð45Þ robustness of the element formulation in the regime of large load
4 0 0 N1 0 5
increments. All FE-simulations are characterized by a quadratic
0 0 0 N3 M M
convergence rate of the Newton–Raphson scheme. The parameters
whereas all parameters of vector e2 are approximated constantly n2 and n3, introduced in (13), have been chosen to 3 and 2,
within the finite element. From (45) we obtain in the E2-model respectively.
M ¼ M1 þ 2M2 þ M 3 .
Inserting the interpolations for the displacements, stresses and
5.1. Z-shaped beam subjected to twisting moment
strains into the linearized variational Eq. (28) yields the finite ele-
ment approximation:
The aim of the first example is to evaluate the proposed beam
2 3 T 82 T
32 3 2 i 39 element under pure twisting conditions. For this purpose a bar
h i numel dv > < Kg G 0 Dv f f >
a
=
X 6 ^7 6 76 ^ 7 6 7
L gðhh ; dhh Þ; Dhh ¼ 4 dr 5 4 G 0 FT 54 Dr 5 þ 4 fs 5 ;
with a Z-shaped cross-section, as illustrated in Fig. 7, has been
e¼1
>
: e
>
; investigated. The geometrical and material data are shown as well.
d^e e 0 F H D^e f e An elastic-perfect-plastic material behaviour is assumed (Young’s
ð46Þ modulus E, Poisson’s ratio m, initial yield stress y0, linear hardening
modulus 1 = 0, and the exponential hardening parameters y1 = y0
where numel denotes the total number of finite beam elements to and . = 0, see Appendix B). The beam is loaded until the fully plas-
discretize the problem. Here the following element matrices are tic moment is reached.
used: For the geometrical linear FE-simulation the bar is discretized
by two equidistant two-node beam elements, located on the cent-
R i R
Kg ¼ S ðKr þ PÞdS f ¼ S BT rh dS ¼ GT r^ roidal axis of the bar. In order to investigate the influence of the
R T e R T cross-section discretization on the structural response, three dif-
H ¼ S Ne DNe dS f ¼ S Ne oe WdS þ Fr ^
R T R T h ð47Þ ferent meshes (mesh 1: coarse; mesh 2: middle; mesh 3: fine),
e r dS
F ¼  S Ne N
s T
f ¼ S Nr eg dS þ F ^e shown in Fig. 8, have been considered. The external load is applied
R T by means of a rotation controlled procedure, whereas the rotation
G ¼ S Nr BdS;
^ at the node on the free end is prescribed, leading to a constant
/
e r ¼ ½Nr ; 0  T . The matrix P follows from the finite
with N ^
twist # ¼ /=L in the bar. The load is increased incrementally up
LM
element approximation of the linearized external virtual work, see to /^ ¼ 0:5.
1680 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690
Fig. 7. Z-shaped beam under torsion: geometry and material data.
Fig. 8. Z-shaped beam under torsion: cross-section geometry and 3 different
discretizations: mesh 1 (N = 7 cross-section elements), mesh 2 (28) and mesh 3
(112).
The numerical results of the FE-simulations are presented by
means of a torque-rotation diagram, shown in the first diagram
of Fig. 9. The curves increase linearly (elastic regime) until the elas-
tic limit is reached. Thereafter the curves start to become nonlinear
(marking the begin of the inelastic regime) and finally the curves
approach a horizontal asymptote. The numerical results show a
converging behaviour with an increasing number of cross-section
elements. For the calculation using mesh 3 the ultimate torque mo-
ment is approximately 1440 kNcm. In order to prove our numerical
results, we perform the analysis of a 2D Saint–Venant torsion prob-
lem, see [34]. For this purpose the same discretizations (see Fig. 8)
have been used. The results of this analysis, which are also pre-
sented in the diagram of Fig. 9, coincide perfectly with our results.
^ curves. Left: dependency on the underlying cross-section mesh (see Fig. 8). Right: dependency on the size
Fig. 9. Z-shaped beam under torsion: Load-moment MT-rotation /
of the load steps.
In Fig. 10 the von Mises stress rv for four selected deformation
states are presented by means of contour plots. The fact that for the
given boundary value problem the only non-vanishing stress com-
ponents are the shear stresses S12 and S13, has been confirmed by
our FE-simulations.
pffiffiffi Thus, the von Mises stress is given by
rv ¼ 3js^j with s^ ¼ ½S12 ; S13 T . The first contour plot (/^ ¼ 0:01) pre-
sents a pure elastic state, whereas all other plots show the different
states of the plastification, starting from the outer part of the cross-
section and propagating to the inner part. The fully plastic region is
characterized by rv = y0. The correctness of the contour plot asso-
ciated to the fully plastic state ð/ ^ ¼ 0:5Þ can be verified by the
sand-heap analogy [33]. It should be mentioned that the symmetry
of the boundary value problem w.r.t. the center of gravity is cor-
rectly represented by our numerical results as can be seen in all
contour plots.
We finally show the efficiency of the present FE-formulation in
the context of large load increments. For this purpose we focus on
the transition between the elastic and the full-plastic state. We
stepwise increase the load increments (i.e. decrease the total num-
ber of load steps) until the twist of / ^ ¼ 0:3 is reached. For all sim-
ulations we use the fine discretization of the cross-section (mesh
3). We start our FE-simulation with 30 load steps and we end by
one single load step. The numerical results of this investigation is
presented in the second diagram of Fig. 9. It states that only 2 load
steps are required in order to simulate correctly the transition from
the initial unloaded state ð/ ^ ¼ 0Þ to the fully plastic state (/^ ¼ 0:3).
The result of the calculation with one single load step yields an
error of approximately 3%.
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1681

Fig. 10. Z-shaped beam under torsion: transition from an elastic to a quasi fully plastic cross section, illustrated by means of the von Mises stress rv for four different axial
^ (112 cross section elements).
rotation /

5.2. Bathe’s circular cantilever be seen that with the proposed beam formulation only one single
load step is required to get the correct final deformation state of
The aim of the second example is to validate the proposed the beam. The number of Newton–Raphson iterations required
three-dimensional beam formulation. For this purpose a classical for this load step yields 9. The CPU-time (Intel Core Duo,
benchmark proposed by Bathe and Belourchi [10] is used. This 1.40 GHz) of the FE-simulation yields 0.48 s.
problem is defined by a circular cantilever (radius R), as illustrated
in Fig. 11. The shape of the cross-section is assumed to be quadratic
(width b). One principal axis of the cross-section coincides with the
direction of the axis x3. The external load F (in the direction of the
axis x3) is applied at the end of the cantilever. The material of the
curved cantilever was assumed to be isotropic linear elastic. The
geometry and the material data are listed in Fig. 11 as well.
For the FE-simulation the cantilever is discretized by 20 equi-
distant two node finite elements. The cross-section is discretized
by 22 elements. The external load F is applied incrementally up
to the value of 600. The numerical results of the FE-simulation
are presented in Fig. 12 by means of load deflection curves. The left
diagram shows that the numerical results of the proposed beam
formulation coincide with the results presented in [10]. The three
nonlinear curves represent the three components u1, u2 and u3 of
the tip deflection. The right diagram shows the results of a param-
eter study where the number of load steps has been varied. It can Fig. 11. Bathe’s circular cantilever: geometry and material data.
1682 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690
Fig. 12. Bathe’s circular cantilever: load–deflection-curves.
Fig. 13. Crisfield’s elbow cantilever: geometry and material data.
In order to evaluate this CPU-time, the problem has additionally
been performed with the beam formulation presented by [18]. By
contrast to the beam formulation presented above, now the exter-
nal load F has to be applied at least in 5 load steps. In this case, the
total number of Newton–Raphson iterations required is 49, and the
CPU-time yields 0.83 s. Remark: A FE-simulation with a reduced
number of load steps (e.g. one single load step as before) leads to
a divergence of the Newton–Raphson iteration.
5.3. Crisfield’s elbow cantilever
The aim of the third example is to show the frame invariance of
the proposed beam formulation. For this purpose the classical
Fig. 14. Crisfield’s elbow cantilever: maximal tip deflection (per revolution) over the 100 revolutions (left); and deformed meshes (right).
benchmark presented by Jelenić and Crisfield [35] is used, see also
[36,29]. This problem is defined by an elbow cantilever (illustrated
in Fig. 13), which is initially placed in a horizontal plane (spanned
by the axis x1 and x2). The frame consists of two straight members
of the length L. In order to perform the numerical integration of the
proposed beam formulation, the shape of the cross-section has to
be assumed. We choose a square with width b, which does not lead
to the original stiffness parameters in Ref. [35]. The frame is
clamped at one end and subjected to vertical single load F = 5 (in
the opposite direction of the axis x3) at the other end. Additionally,
a rotation w around the axis x2 is imposed at the clamped end of
the cantilever. This rotation describes a total of 100 revolutions
(= 200p). Each revolution is divided into 40 intervals. The rotation
w does not change, neither the direction nor the value of the ap-
plied external load F (dead load). The material of the elbow canti-
lever was assumed to be isotropic linear elastic. The geometry and
the material data are listed in Fig. 13 as well.
For the FE-simulation both members of the cantilever are dis-
cretized by 20 equidistant two node finite elements. The cross-
section is discretized by 2  2 elements. The external load F is ap-
plied in one single load step. The rotation w is imposed in 4000
steps, each single step with Dw = p/20.
The numerical results of the FE-simulation are presented in
Fig. 14. The diagram on the left side shows the maximal values
of the three components u1, u2 and u3 of the tip deflection per rev-
olution for all 100 revolutions. The three curves are constant, indi-
cating the frame invariance of the proposed beam formulation. On
the right side of Fig. 14 the deformed meshes of the elbow cantile-
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1683

Fig. 15. Cross-shaped beam under bi-axial loading: Geometry and material data, cross-section, and discretization.

Fig. 16. Cross-profile: load–deflection curves for different size of the load steps. Left: elastic; right: elasto-plastic material behaviour.

ver during the 100 revolutions are shown. The deformed meshes
qualitatively verify the periodicity of the numerical results.
Additionally, the FE-simulations have been executed, where the
number of intervals per revolution has been reduced from 40 to
only 4; i.e. one revolution is accomplished by 4 equal steps of
Dw = p/2. Even though the load increments have been multiplied
tenfold, the Newton–Raphson scheme is still stable (quadratic con-
vergence) leading to the correct numerical results by a fraction of
the computational time.
5.4. Cross-shaped beam under bi-axial loading
The aim of the fourth example is to show the robustness of the
beam formulation under highly nonlinear conditions and very
large load increments. For this purpose a clamped beam of the
length L is rolled up to a circle. The shape of the cross-section is
a symmetric cross with the characteristic length of a, see Fig. 15.
The external load is applied at the end of the beam by means of
two equivalent bending moments M, b related to the cross-section
coordinates n2 and n3, respectively. First, we consider an elastic
material behaviour (St.Venant–Kirchhoff material, with Young’s
modulus E, Poisson’s ratio m). Additionally, in a second series of
simulations, we assume an elasto-plastic material behaviour with
linear hardening (Young’s modulus E, Poisson’s ratio m, initial yield
stress y0, 1, linear hardening modulus y1 = y0 and the exponential
hardening parameter . = 0, see Appendix C). The geometry and the
material data are listed in Fig. 15 as well.
For the FE-simulation the beam is discretized by ten equidistant
two-node beam elements, located at the centroidal axis of the
beam. The cross-section is discretized by 20 elements as shown
on the right hand side of Fig. 15. The external loads are applied
incrementally up to the state where the beam is completely rolled
Table 2
Cross-profile: residuum norm for all iteration steps during the FE-simulation with one
single load step.

Iteration No. Residual norm

Elastic calculation Elasto-plastic calculation
1 5.9016775E+06 3.3158551E+02
2 7.1245117E+06 7.6749067E+02
3 3.4296991E+05 4.1499947E+04
4 9.2843131E+03 1.6518859E+04
5 3.3178244E+00 1.3947810E+04
6 2.3521879E07 5.4482894E+03
7 6.2577975E+02
8 4.5034779E+01
9 1.2846039E+00
10 8.1538189E02
11 4.8876294E04
Fig. 17. Cross-profile: deformed meshes for the four selected load steps, labeled in 12 2.1464082E08
Fig. 16.
1684 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690

up to a circle; different sizes of load increments have been
investigated.
The numerical results of the FE-simulation are presented by
means of load–deflection curves (Fig. 16), the associated deformed
meshes (Fig. 17), a convergence study of the residuum norm (Table
2), and contour plots of all stress components for the final defor-
mation state (Fig. 18). In Fig. 16 the deflection d is plotted over
the external bending moment M b (see Fig. 15). The curve, obtained
by a FE-simulation with 32 equidistant load increments, shows a
highly nonlinear course, which can be traced back to the geomet-
rical and physical nonlinearities of the underlying boundary value
problem. The deflection d represents the displacement at the end of
the beam in the direction of the n2-axis. The deformation process is
discussed below. In order to demonstrate the robustness and the
stability of the FE-formulation in the context of large load incre-
ments, the load increments are successively doubled (i.e. the total
number of load steps are divided in halves: 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1). The
numerical results of this investigation is presented in the diagrams
as well. It shows that the results agree with the calculation using
the small load increments (32 load steps). Finally one single load
step is applied in order to simulate the complete deformation pro-
cess (form the initial straight line to the closed circle). Even for this
large load step the Newton–Raphson scheme is stable! As expected
for the hyper-elastic material behaviour the numerical results are
completely independent on the size of the load steps. Only in the
elasto-plastic case a small variance can be observed, as shown in
the diagram. In Table 2 the convergence rate or the residuum norm
for this 1-step-simulation is presented: In case of the elastic mate-

Fig. 18. Cross-profile: stress components Sij [kN/cm2] in case of elastic (upper plots) and elasto-plastic deformation (lower plots).
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690
Fig. 19. Slotted circular ring: geometry and material data.
rial behaviour a total of six iteration steps are required to find the
equilibrium state, whereas in the case of the elasto-plastic material
behaviour a total of 12 iterations steps are required; the conver-
gence rate near the equilibrium state is quadratic. This example
shows clearly the robustness of the presented beam formulation.
It should be mentioned that both the E1-model and the E2-model
lead to the same numerical results.
In Fig. 17 the deformed configurations of the FE-mesh for 4 se-
lected load states, labeled in Fig. 16, are presented. It shows that
each deformation state represents a segment of a circle. The final
state represents a closed circle with a diameter of approximately
L/p. The numerical results are verified by the fact that due to the
homogenous deformation state (w.r.t. the beam length) each single
finite element underlies the same loading state. Due to the symme-
try of the cross-section and the applied bi-axial bending moment
at the end, we expect a deformation, which occurs only in a plane,
spanned by the bisector line between the axis n2 and n3 and the
axis n1. It is emphasized that for all FE-calculations, even for those
with one sole load step, the deformations are restricted to that
plane.
Finally in Fig. 18 all stress components of the vector S for the fi-
nal deformation state are presented by means of contour plots (E1-
model). In the elastic case, the normal stress component S11 is the
one with the highest values, as expected. The values of the other
components are more than three orders of magnitude smaller,
but they do not vanish due to the transversal contraction. By con-
trast to this, in the inelastic case, the difference between the S11
and the other components decreases up to the order of the magni-
tude of one. The symmetry of all contour plots w.r.t. the bisecting
line between axis n2 and n3 is conform with the symmetry of the
underlying boundary value problem.
5.5. I-shaped slotted circular ring under general loading
The aim of the fifth example is to evaluate the proposed beam
element under general loading conditions. For this purpose a slot-
ted circular ring, made of a rubber-like material, is investigated un-
der the condition of large deformations. The ring with the radius R
is located in the x1–x2 plane, see Fig. 19. The apex angle, represent-
ing the gap between the two ends of the ring, is 1° (the gap in
Fig. 19 is not drawn to scale). Because of the slenderness of the
ring, it can be considered as a beam-like structure. The cross-
section of this beam exhibits an I-shape, where the characteristic
length a is introduced, see Fig. 19; the height is 4a. The length to
height ratio of the circular beam is approximately 20. One end of
the ring is clamped, whereas at the other end a single load (acting
1685
in x3-direction) is applied. This load induces, especially under large
deformation scenarios, a general loading condition within the
beam. The material behaviour of the ring is described by a
hyper-elastic material model (Neo–Hooke model: shear modulus
l, Lamé constant K, summation parameter n = 1, see Appendix
A). Two cases have been considered: a compressible material with
m ¼ 2ðKKþl1 Þ ¼ 0:4 and a quasi-incompressible material with
m = 0.4995. The geometry data and material parameter are listed
in Fig. 19 as well. The external load is applied incrementally in a
displacement controlled process.
For the FE-simulation two different strategies have been pur-
sued: Following the first strategy the ring is discretized by beam
elements (‘beam model’), whereas in the second strategy brick ele-
ments have been used (‘brick model’). Considering the beam mod-
el, for all FE-simulations the ring is discretized by 29 equidistant
two-node beam elements. For the discretization of the cross-
section three different meshes, pictured in Fig. 20, have been con-
sidered. Mesh 1 consists of N = 20 cross-section elements and
M = 33 cross-section nodes, mesh 2 of N = 80 and M = 105,
respectively, and finally mesh 3 of N = 320 and M = 369, respec-
tively. It has to be emphasized that for the beam model the discret-
ization in the longitudinal and transversal (cross-section) direction
is independent from each other. As the total number of global un-
knowns of the beam models does not depend on the number of the
cross-section elements, we obtain for all meshes the same number
of global unknowns, namely 174.
In order to prove the numerical results obtained by the pro-
posed beam formulation (beam model), we compare these results
with a second FE-model. Due to the fact that classical beam models
are not able to consider arbitrary three-dimensional material
models (like the hyper-elastic material model assumed in this
Fig. 20. Slotted circular ring: Cross-section discretizations: mesh 1 (20 elements),
mesh 2 (80), mesh 3 (320).
1686 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690
Fig. 21. Slotted circular ring: load–displacement curves. Brick model vs. beam model (left); and dependency on the size of the chosen load increments for the beam model
(right).
example), a second FE-model, consisting of brick elements with 8
nodes (brick model), has been investigated. Analogue to the beam
model, in the brick model we consider 3 different discretizations.
By contrast to the beam model, the discretization of the brick mod-
el has been varied in longitudinal direction as well; this was neces-
sary in order to prevent poor aspect ratios of the individual brick
elements. For the discretization in the transversal direction
(cross-section) the same numbers of elements as in the beam mod-
el have been considered, see Fig. 20. Mesh 1 consists of 800 brick
elements (40 elements in longitudinal direction and 20 in the
cross-section plane), mesh 2 consists of 3200 brick elements (80
and 80, respectively), and finally mesh 3 consists of 51200 brick
elements (116 and 320, respectively). The total number of global
unknowns (taken boundary conditions into account) is: mesh 1:
3959, mesh 2: 25199 and mesh 3: 128411.
The numerical results of the FE-simulations are presented in
Fig. 21 by means of different load–displacement curves, represent-
ing the global structural response of the mechanical problem. The
value of Poisson’s coefficient employed in these calculations is 0.4.
The direction of the load F and the displacement ^ d coincide, as indi-
cated in Fig. 19. The curves in all diagrams of Fig. 21 show qualita-
tively the same global structural response: the slope of the curves
increases with the increasing external load. This nonlinear behav-
iour can be traced back mainly on the geometrical nonlinearities of
the underlying boundary value problem. The strong rise of the
slope can be interpreted by the fact that for small external loads
the structure represents a bending-dominated problem, whereas
for large external loads it is represented by a tension-dominated
problem. The structural stiffness in case of the former is much
weaker (w.r.t. the transfer of the load) than the stiffness in case
of the latter.
The first diagram in Fig. 21 shows the dependence of the
numerical results on the chosen discretization. The numerical re-
sults of both the beam and the brick model show a converging
behaviour for an increasing number of elements. Comparing the
two converged curves (mesh 3, each) with each other, solely small
deviations occur. The associated deformation process of the entire
slotted circular ring is shown in Fig. 22 by means of four selected
deformed FE-meshes. Both the brick model (left) and the beam
model (right) are pictured. The pictures show that the deformed
meshes of both models qualitatively match. The torsion of the
cross-section during the deformation process is visualized by the
three-dimensional brick model. A large torsional movement can
be observed between the third and the fourth load step.
The second diagram in Fig. 21 shows the numerical results of
another investigation where the load increments have been varied.
The diagram indicates that the total number of equidistant load
steps required can be reduced to the number of merely 6. All FE-
simulations are characterized by a stable and robust behaviour;
the convergence rate of the Newton–Raphson scheme in each load
step is quadratic. The maximum number of iteration steps required
(for the 6-load-step-calculation) is 5. Our FE-simulations have
shown that for very larger external loads (^ d > 600 cm) smaller load
increments are required in order to ensure the convergence of the
underlying Newton–Raphson scheme.
In Fig. 23 the numerical results of two further investigations are
presented. The first diagram shows that the E1-model and the E2-
model lead to the same results. In the second diagram the results of
a calculation assuming compressible elastic material behaviour
(m = 0.4) is contrasted with those assuming quasi-incompressible
elastic material behaviour (m = 0.4995). As can be seen, both curves
match qualitatively, whereas the value of their slopes don’t. It have
to be emphasized that the robustness and the stability of the pro-
posed FE-formulation is not affected by the modified material
behaviour; the convergence rate for the quasi-incompressible case
is still quadratic.
Finally, the brick model and the beam model are compared
with each other w.r.t. to their applicability in real engineering
structures: the total number of global unknowns of the brick
model is significantly higher than in a beam model (in case of
mesh 3: 128411 vs. 174). This plays a major role when consider-
ing complex beam structures consisting of a very large number of
members. Additionally, the process to discretize a spatial beam
structure (consisting of members with non-rectangular cross-sec-
tions) with 3-dimensional brick elements, needs additional time
compared to the disretization with 1-dimensional beam ele-
ments. On the other hand, in the beam model the elimination
of the internal unknowns has to be considered; this process de-
pends directly on the fineness of the chosen cross-section
discretization.
5.6. Local equilibrium - local vs. global concept
According to Section 3.4, in this section another advantage of
the local concept compared to the global concept is shown. For
this purpose the numerical investigation of Section 5.1 has been
repeated (with the same material values), whereas now the
I-shaped cross-section of Section 5.5 (see Fig. 19) is considered.
The external load is applied by means of the rotation / ^ ¼ 1 at
the end of the beam. For the FE-simulation the bar is discretized
by 2 equidistant beam elements; the cross-section is dicretized
as shown in Fig. 20 (mesh 3). The numerical results of the
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1687

Fig. 22. Slotted circular ring: deformed FE-meshes for the four selected load steps, labeled in Fig. 21. Left: 3D-model with 3200 brick elements (25199 global degrees of
freedom), right: 1D-model with 29 beam-elements (174 global dof).

Fig. 23. Slotted circular ring: load–displacement curves. Comparison between the E1-model and the E2-model (left); and comparison between compressible and quasi-
incompressible elastic material behaviour (right).

FE-calculation are presented in Fig. 24 by means of four plots:
the upper
pffiffiffi two contour plots show the von Mises stress
rv ¼ 3js^j within the cross-section, whereas the associated
shear stress vectors s ^ ¼ ½S12 ; S13 T are shown in the lower plots.
The two plots on the left side belong to the calculation based
on the global concept, whereas those on the right side belong
to the calculation based on the local concept. For both ap-
proaches the values of the contour plots indicate that the beam
is still in the elastic regime; i.e. rv < y0. All plots show a double
symmetric character, verifying the numerical results. The length
of the arrows in the lower plots marks the magnitude of the
shear stress vector. On the boundary of the cross-section all
shear stress vectors have to be parallel to the boundary in order
to fulfill the boundary conditions. In the global concept the equi-
librium is not fulfilled in certain areas along the boundary, espe-
cially in the area marked by the circle, see Fig. 24. By contrast, in
the local concept at each point of the boundary conditions are
apparently fulfilled. These results again demonstrate that the
new local concept is required in the context of arbitrary-shaped
cross-sections.
1688 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690

Fig. 24. I-shaped profile under pure elastic torsion: left: global concept (n1 = 9): right: local–global concept (mesh 3). In the first row the von Mises stress, and in the second
row the shear stress vector s
^ is shown.

6. Conclusion Acknowledgement

In this paper a nonlinear Hu–Washizu variational formulation The authors thank our student Arthur Henrique Coppola Rupp
for beams with arbitrary cross-sections and an interface for the for his support in performing the parameter studies in this paper.
application of three-dimensional material laws has been devel-
oped. A new approach for the consideration of additional deforma- Appendix A. Hyper-elastic material model
tion modes (warping and transversal contraction of the
cross-section) is presented. This approach is computationally more c is given by
Following [37,38] the strain energy function W
efficient than the one presented in [1], because the number of
n 
X 
internal degrees of freedom can significantly be reduced. That c¼ lr  
W ka1r þ ka2r þ ka3r  3  lr lnðJÞ
means that the number of columns of the matrix A2 can be re- r¼1
ar
duced. Furthermore a new concept has been introduced in order K 2
to extend the existing beam formulation to consider arbitrary, þ J  1  2 lnð JÞ ; ð49Þ
4
moderate thick cross-sections. This so-called ‘local concept’ is P
mainly based on locally acting ansatz functions, which are associ- where lr and ar are constants which fulfil r lr ar ¼ 2l. The relation
ated with the discretization of the cross-section. The construction of the Lamé constant K to shear modulus l and to Poisson’s ratio m
2lm
of appropriate functions is one of the main contributions of this pa- reads K ¼ 12 m. The exponents ar may take any nonzero real value.
per, and is discussed in detail. It has been verified by means of sev- The summation on r extends over as many terms as are necessary
eral numerical examples that the application of the new concept to characterize a particular material. The model includes, as a spe-
guarantees the correct description of the torsion behaviour for cial case, a compressible Neo-Hooke material (n = 1) and a com-
arbitrary shaped cross-sections. This is not the case if the existing pressible Mooney–Rivlin material (n = 2). The determinant of the
‘global concept’, using a reasonable number of polynomial terms, is material deformation gradient J = detF can be evaluated from
applied. The resulting mixed hybrid finite beam element, with six J = k1k2k3, where the principal stretches ki are obtained solving the
nodal degrees of freedom per node, is characterized by a remark- eigenvalue problem:
able robustness within nonlinear applications. It allows very large  
C  k2A 1 NA ¼ 0; ð50Þ
load increments in comparison with other element formulations.
A
Thus, the developed element can effectively be used to analyze with A = 1, 2, 3. Here, N denotes the eigenvector and C = 2E + 1 the
the load carrying capacities of spatial beam structures. right Cauchy-Green tensor, respectively. For a large value K can be
 J. Wackerfuß, F. Gruttmann / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 200 (2011) 1671–1690 1689

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