Nam-Il Kim
The Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 23, no. 2, pp.475-488, 2009

Abstract : The exact solutions for the spatially coupled deflection and the normal stress at an arbitrary location of a crosssection of the thin-walled Timoshenko curved beam with symmetric and non-symmetric cross-sections with and without two types of elastic foundations are newly presented using series solutions for the displacement parameters. The equilibrium equations and the force-deformation relations are derived from the elastic strain energy including the effects of shear deformation and the axial-flexural-torsional coupling, and the strain energy considering the foundation effects. The explicit expressions for displacement parameters are derived by applying the power series expansions of displacement components to the simultaneous ordinary differential equations. Next, the element stiffness matrix is determined by using the force-deformation relationships. The normal stress at any arbitrary location of the cross-section for a curved beam is evaluated from the stiffness matrix. To verify the validity and the accuracy of this study, the displacements and the normal stresses of curved beams are presented and compared with the analytical solutions, the finite element results using the isoparametric curved beam elements based on the Lagrangian interpolation polynomial, and the detailed three-dimensional analysis results using the shell elements of SAP2000.

Keyword : Thin-walled; Curved beam; Stiffness matrix; Shear deformation; Elastic foundation