• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.385-392
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• 2002

Derivation procedures of exact elastic element stiffness matrix of thin-walled curved beams are rigorously presented for the static analysis. An exact elastic element stiffness matrix is established from governing equations for a uniform curved beam element with nonsymmetric thin-walled cross section. First this numerical technique is accomplished via a generalized linear eigenvalue problem by introducing 14 displacement parameters and a system of linear algebraic equations with complex matrices. Thus, the displacement functions of displacement parameters are exactly derived and finally exact stiffness matrices are determined using member force-displacement relationships. The displacement and normal stress of the section are evaluated and compared with thin-walled straight and curved beam element or results of the analysis using shell elements for the thin-walled curved beam structure in order to demonstrate the validity of this study.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.88-93
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• 2010

Many pipes that are arranged longitudinally in ships have loops at intervals to prevent the failure of the pipes as they absorb large portions of the axial load caused by the bending of the hull girder and/or thermal loads when the pipes are carrying very hot fluids. Since the loops are curved at corners, an efficient method for conducting the structural analyses of these curved portions is required. In this paper, a pipe loop was analyzed by an analytical method and by the finite-element method in four different ways, i.e., based on straight-beam elements, curved-beam elements, 2-D shell elements, and 3-D solid elements. The results of the five analyses were compared to check the validity of the current curved-beam theory. The paper includes some suggestions on how to analyze the pipe loops efficiently.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.6
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• pp.765-778
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• 2023

This study investigates the free vibration and buckling analyses of isotropic curved plate structures fixed at all ends. The Kirchhoff-Love Plate Theory (KLPT) and Finite Element Method (FEM) are employed to model the curved structure. In order to perform the finite element analysis, a four-node quadrilateral element with 5 degrees of freedom (DOF) at each node is utilized. Additionally, the drilling effect (θ_z) is considered as minimal to satisfy the DOF of the structure. Lagrange's equation of motion is used in order to obtain the first ten natural frequencies and the critical buckling values of the structure. The effects of various radii of curvatures and aspect ratio on the natural frequency and critical buckling load values for the single-bay and two-bay curved frames are investigated within this scope. A computer code based on finite element analysis is developed to perform free vibration and buckling analysis of curved plate frames. The natural frequency and critical buckling load values of the present study are compared with ANSYS R18.2 results. It has been concluded that the results of the present study are in good agreement with ANSYS results for different radii of curvatures and aspect ratio values of both single-bay and two-bay structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2023

An accurate and highly efficient inverse element labelled iPCB is developed based on the inverse finite element method (iFEM) for real-time shape estimation of plane-curved structures (such as arch bridges) utilizing onboard strain data. This inverse problem, named shape sensing, is vital for the design of smart structures and structural health monitoring (SHM) procedures. The iPCB formulation is defined based on a least-squares variational principle that employs curved Timoshenko beam theory as its baseline. The accurate strain-displacement relationship considering tension-bending coupling is used to establish theoretical and measured section strains. The displacement fields of the isoparametric element iPCB are interpolated utilizing nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) basis functions, enabling exact geometric modelling even with a very coarse mesh density. The present formulation is completely free from membrane and shear locking. Numerical validation examples for different curved structures subjected to different loading conditions have been performed and have demonstrated the excellent prediction capability of iPCBs. The present formulation has also been shown to be practical and robust since relatively accurate predictions can be obtained even omitting the shear deformation contributions and considering polluted strain measures. The current element offers a promising tool for real-time shape estimation of plane-curved structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.415-424
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• 1996

This paper presents a newly suggested calculation method in which an arbitrary quadrilateral element with curved sides is transformed to a normal rectangular one by mapping of coordinates, then the two-dimensional spline is adopted to approach the displacement function of this element. Finally the solution can be obtained by the least-energy principle. Thereby, the application field of Spline Finite Element Method will be extended.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2017

A curved beam is one of the basic and important structural elements in structural design. In this paper, the authors formulated the computational algorithm for analyzing the free vibration of curved beams using the finite element-transfer stiffness coefficient method. The concept of the finite element-transfer stiffness coefficient method is the combination of the modeling technique of the finite element method and the transfer technique of the transfer stiffness coefficient method. And, we confirm the effectiveness the finite element-transfer stiffness coefficient method from the free vibration analysis of two numerical models which are a semicircle beam and a quarter circle beam.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.811-819
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• 2005

In this study, we present a new efficient hybrid-mixed composite laminated curved beam element. The present element, which is based on the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle and the first-order shear deformation lamination theory, employs consistent stress parameters corresponding to cubic displacement polynomials with additional nodeless degrees in order to resolve the numerical difficulties due to the spurious constraints. The stress parameters are eliminated and the nodeless degrees are condensed out to obtain the ($6{\times}6$) element stiffness matrix. The present study also incorporates the straightforward prediction of interlaminar stresses from equilibrium equations. Several numerical examples confirm the superior behavior of the present composite laminated curved beam element.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.3003-3009
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• 2000

In this paper, we propose a new efficient hybrid-mixed C(sup)0 curved beam element with the optimal interpolation functions determined from numerical tests, which gives very accurate locking-free two-node curved beam element. In the element level, the stress parameters are eliminated from the stationary condition and the nodeless degrees of freedom are also removed by static condensation so that a standard six-by-six stiffness matrix is finally obtained. The numeri cal benchmark problems show that the element with cubic displacement functions and quadratic stress functions is the most efficient.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2006

Curved beams are more efficient in transfer of loads than straight beams because the transfer is effected by bending, shear and membrane action. The finite element method is a versatile method for solving structural mechanics problems and curved beam problems have been solved using this method by many author. In this study, a new three-noded hybrid-mixed curved beam element is proposed to investigate the in-plane flexural vibration behavior of arches depending on the curvature, aspect ratio and boundary conditions, etc. The proposed element including the effect of shear deformation is based on the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle, and employs the quadratic displacement functions and consistent linear stress functions. The stress parameters are then eliminated from the stationary condition of the variational principle so that the standard stiffness equations are obtained. Several numerical examples confirm the accuracy of the proposed finite element and also show the dynamic behavior of arches with various shapes.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.11
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• pp.263-266
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• 1997

Three dimensional numerical model based on the finite element method(FEM) were developed to predict the mechanical behavior of hip implants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the stress distribution of two types of cementless total hip replacement femoral component -a straight stem and a curved stem, and to compare their effect on the stress shielding between two types by three dimensional finite element method. The authors analyzed von Mises stress in the cortex & stem and compared the stress between the straight and the curved stem. In comparison of stresses between two different design of femoral stem, there was 25% more decrease of stress in straight stem than curved stem in the medial cortex at proximal region. The straight stem had consistently much lower stresses than the curved stem throughout the whole medial cortex with maximum 70% reduction of stress. However, there was little change in stress between nature and 2 implanted femur throughout the lateral cortex. Stress of femoral stem was much higher in the straight stem than the curved stem up to 60%. The straight stem had more chance of stress shielding and a risk of fatigue fracture of the stem compared with the curved stem in noncement hip arthroplasty. In design of femoral stem still we have to consider to develop design to distribute more even stress on the proximal medial cortex.