A class of higher-order C-0 composite and sandwich beam elements based on the Refined Zigzag Theory

摘要

Based on the Refined Zigzag Theory (RZT), a class of efficient higher-order C-0-continuous beam elements is formulated and numerically assessed. The attention is mainly on the choice of shape functions that allow for free shear locking effects in slender beams. For this purpose, interdependent/anisoparametric interpolations are adopted to approximate the four independent kinematic variables. To achieve simpler (with a reduced number of nodal dais) elements, a constraint condition on the axial variation of the effective transverse shear strain is adopted, which consists in reducing the polynomial degree of the shear strain measure (or, equivalently, the shear force), by one order.