Structural elements with thin-walled open cross-sections are common in metal and composite structures. These thin-walled beams have generally a good flexural strength with respect to the axis of greatest inertia, but a low flexural stiffness in relation to the second principal axis and a low torsional stiffness. These elements generally have an instability, which leads to a flexural-flexural-torsional coupling. The same applies to the vibration modes. Many of these structures work in a nonlinear regime, and a nonlinear formulation that takes into account large displacements and the flexural-flexural-torsional coupling is required. In this work a nonlinear beam theory that takes into account large displacements, warping and shortening effects, as well as flexural-flexural-torsional coupling is adopted. The governing nonlinear equations of motion are discretized in space using the Galerkin method and the discretized equations of motion are solved by the Runge-Kutta method. Special attention is given to the nonlinear oscillations of beams with low torsional stiffness and its influence on the bifurcations and instabilities of the structure, a problem not tackled in the previous literature on this subject. Time responses, phase portraits and bifurcation diagrams are used to unveil the complex dynamic.
Analysis of tapered composite structures using a refined beam theory
