EQUIVALENT BEAM ANALYSIS OF THIN-WALLED BEAM STRUCTURES

The equivalent beam method is widely used for the stress analysis of structures incorporating solid or thick-walled beam elements. Its attraction derives from the ease with which even complex structures may be idealized and rapidly solved by desk-top computers of modest capacity. The method is extended to the analysis of thin-walled beam structures by the addition of an extra degree of freedom representing the action of warping restraint. The development of two similar beam elements is described, one for straight beams, the other for circularly curved beams. The application of the equivalent beam method is demonstrated in the computer analysis of two very different engineering structures.