INVESTIGATION OF SLENDER ELASTIC STRUCTURES WITH SLIGHTLY VARYING RADIUS CURVATURE - A CLASSIFICATION OF ASYMPTOTIC MODELS

In the framework of classical elasticity, we study the asymptotic beha viour of slender structures with planar medium line and weakly varying radius curvature, for any loading condition. After scaling the three- dimensional problem, two small parameters appear: the first one epsilo n corresponds to the inverse of the slenderness, and the second one et a is related with to the curvature of the medium line. Depending on th e order of magnitude of the curvature: eta = eta(0) epsilon(P)( eta(0) > 0), we consider several situations from which we present a classifi cation of the different asymptotic models. For certain structures, we bring to the fore the inextensional displacements of the medium line a nd the coupling between bending, traction, and torsion effects. (C) Ac ademie des Sciences/Elsevier, Paris.