LARGE-AMPLITUDE VIBRATION OF HORIZONTALLY CURVED BEAMS - A FINITE-ELEMENT APPROACH

Large amplitude free flexural vibrations of horizontally circular curv ed beams have been investigated for the first time. Numerical solution s have been obtained by the finite element method. A three-noded horiz ontally curved isoparametric beam element has been chosen for this pur pose. A non-linear stiffness matrix has resulted due to bending-membra ne coupling. The non-linear eigenvalue problem has been solved by the direct iteration technique. As no existing results are available for t he problem at hand, large amplitude frequencies obtained for curved be ams having large radius and small included angle are first compared wi th straight beams for varying parameters having different support cond itions. A large number of results for the non-linear frequencies of ho rizontally curved beams having varying included angles, radii, amplitu de ratios and support conditions have been evaluated.