An efficient beam element for the analysis of laminated composite beams of thin-walled open and closed cross sections

A condensed fully coupled beam element for thin-walled laminated composite beams having open or closed cross sections is presented. An analytical technique is used to derive the cross-sectional stiffness of the beam in a systematic manner considering all the deformation effects and their mutual couplings. An efficient finite element approximation is adopted for the transverse shear deformation, which has helped to conveniently implement the C1 continuous formulation required by the torsional deformation due to incorporation of warping deformation. The performance of the element is tested through the solution of numerical examples involving open section I and channel (C) beams and closed section box beams under different loading conditions, and the obtained results are compared with model as well as experimental results available in literature.