Finite Element Formulation for Beams - Handout 2 Dr Fehmi Cirak (fc286@)
Completed Version
Review of Euler-Bernoulli Beam
Physical beam model
midline
Beam domain in three-dimensions
Midline, also called the neutral axis, has the coordinate Key assumptions: beam axis is in its unloaded configuration straight Loads are normal to the beam axis
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Kinematics of Euler-Bernoulli Beam -1
Assumed displacements during loading
deformed configuration reference configuration
Kinematic assumption: Material points on the normal to the midline remain on the normal during the deformation
Slope of midline:
The kinematic assumption determines the axial displacement of the material points across thickness
Note this is valid only for small deflections, else
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Kinematics of Euler-Bernoulli Beam -2
Introducing the displacements into the strain equations of threedimensional elasticity leads to
Axial strains
Axial strains vary linearly across thickness
All other strain components are zero
Shear strain in the
Through-the-thickness strain (no stretching of the midline normal during deformation)
No deformations in
and
planes so that the corresponding strains are zero
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Weak Form of Euler-Bernoulli Beam
The beam strains introduced into the internal virtual work expression of three-dimensional elasticity
with the standard definition of bending moment:
External virtual work Weak work of beam equation
Boundary terms only present if force/moment boundary conditions present
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Stress-Strain Law
The only non-zero stress component is given by Hookes law
This leads to the usual relationship between the moment and curvature
with the second moment of area
Weak form work as will be used for FE discretization
EI assumed to be constant
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Finite Element Method
Beam is represented as a (disjoint) collection of finite elements
On each element displacements and the test function are interpolated using shape functions and the corresponding nodal values
Number of nodes per element Shape function of node K Nodal values of displacements Nodal values of test functions
To obtain the FE equations the preceding interpolation equations are introduced into the weak form
Note that the integrals in the weak form depend on the second order derivatives of u3 and v
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Aside: Smoothness of Functions
A function f: is of class Ck=Ck() if its derivatives of order j, where 0 j k, exist and are continuous functions
For example, a C0 function is simply a continuous function For example, a C function is a function with all the derivatives continuous C0-continuous function
C1-continuous function
The shape functions for the Euler-Bernoulli beam have to be C1-continuous so that their second order derivatives in the weak form can be integrated
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differentiation
Hermite Interpolation -1
To achieve C1-smoothness Hermite shape functions can be used
Hermite shape functions for an element of length
Shape functions of node 1
with
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Hermite Interpolation -2
Shape functions of Node 2
with
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Element Stiffness Matrix
According to Hermite interpolation the degrees of freedom for each element are the displacements and slopes at the two nodes
Interpolation of the displacements
Test functions are interpolated in the same way like displacements
Introducing the displacement and test functions interpolations into weak form gives the element stiffness matris
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Element Load Vector
Load vector computation analogous to the stiffness matrix derivation
The global stiffness matrix and the global load vector are obtained by assembling the individual element contributions
The assembly procedure is identical to usual finite elements
Global stiffness matrix Global load vector All nodal displacements and rotations
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Stiffness Matrix of Euler-Bernoulli Beam
Element stiffness matrix of an element with length le
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Kinematics of Timoshenko Beam -1
Assumed displacements during loading
deformed configuration reference configuration
Kinematic assumption: a plane section originally normal to the centroid remains plane, but in addition also shear deformations occur
Rotation angle of the normal: Angle of shearing: Slope of midline:
The kinematic assumption determines the axial displacement of the material points across thickness
Note that this is only valid for small rotations, else
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Kinematics of Timoshenko Beam -2
Introducing the displacements into the strain equations of threedimensional elasticity leads to
Axial strain
Axial strain varies linearly across thickness
Shear strain
Shear strain is constant across thickness
All the other strain components are zero
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Weak Form of Timoshenko Beam
The beam strains introduced into the internal virtual work expression of three-dimensional elasticity give
Hookess law Introducing the expressions for strain and Hookes law into the weak form gives
virtual displacements and rotations: shear correction factor necessary because across thickness shear stresses are parabolic according to elasticity theory but constant according to Timoshenko beam theory shear correction factor for a rectangular cross section shear modulus
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External virtual work similar to Euler-Bernoulli beam
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Euler-Bernoulli vs. Timoshenko -1
Comparison of the displacements of a cantilever beam analytically computed with the Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories
Bernoulli beam
Governing equation: Boundary conditions:
Timoshenko beam
Governing equations: Boundary conditions:
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Euler-Bernoulli vs. Timoshenko -2
Maximum tip deflection computed by integrating the differential equations
Bernoulli beam Timoshenko beam Ratio
For slender beams (L/t > 20) both theories give the same result For stocky beams (Lt < 10) Timoshenko beam is physically more realistic because it includes the shear deformations
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Finite Element Discretization
The weak form essentially contains test functions
and the corresponding
C0 interpolation appears to be sufficient, e.g. linear interpolation
Interpolation of displacements and rotation angle
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Element Stiffness Matrix
Shear angle
Curvature
Test functions are interpolated in the same way like displacements and rotations Introducing the interpolations into the weak form leads to the element stiffness matrices
Shear component of the stiffness matrix
Bending component of the stiffness matrix
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Review: Numerical Integration
Gaussian Quadrature
The locations of the quadrature points and weights are determined for maximum accuracy
nint=1 nint=2 nint=3 Note that polynomials with order (2nint-1) or less are exactly integrated
The element domain is usually different from [-1,+1) and an isoparametric mapping can be used
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Stiffness Matrix of the Timoshenko Beam -1
Necessary number of quadrature points for linear shape functions
Bending stiffness: one integration point sufficient because Shear stiffness: two integration points necessary because
is constant is linear
Element bending stiffness matrix of an element with length le and one integration point
Element shear stiffness matrix of an element with length le and two integration points
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Limitations of the Timoshenko Beam FE
Recap: Degrees of freedom for the Timoshenko beam
Physics dictates that for t0 (so-called Euler-Bernoulli limit) the shear angle has to go to zero ( )
If linear shape functions are used for u3 and
Adding a constant and a linear function will never give zero! Hence, since the shear strains cannot be arbitrarily small everywhere, an erroneous shear strain energy will be included in the energy balance
In practice, the computed finite element displacements will be much smaller than the exact solution
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Shear Locking: Example -1
Displacements of a cantilever beam
TWO integration points
Influence of the beam thickness on the normalized tip displacement Thick beam
# elem. 1 2 4 8 2 point 0.0416 0.445 0.762 0.927 1 2 4 8
Thin beam
# elem. 2 point 0.0002 0.0008 0.0003 0.0013
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from TJR Hughes, The finite element method.
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Stiffness Matrix of the Timoshenko Beam -2
The beam element with only linear shape functions appears not to be ideal for very thin beams The problem is caused by non-matching u3 and interpolation
For very thin beams it is not possible to reproduce
How can we fix this problem?
Lets try with using only one integration point for integrating the element shear stiffness matrix Element shear stiffness matrix of an element with length le and one integration points
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Shear Locking: Example -2
Displacements of a cantilever beam
ONE integration point
Influence of the beam thickness on the normalized displacement Thick beam
# elem. 1 2 4 8 1 point 0.762 0.940 0.985 0.996 1 2 4 8
Thin beam
# elem. 1 point 0.750 0.938 0.984 0.996
from TJR Hughes, The finite element method.
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Reduced Integration Beam Elements
If the displacements and rotations are interpolated with the same shape functions, there is tendency to lock (too stiff numerical behavior) Reduced integration is the most basic engineering approach to resolve this problem
Shape function order Quadrature rule
Linear One-point
Quadratic Two-point
Cubic Three-point
Mathematically more rigorous approaches: Mixed variational principles based e.g. on the Hellinger-Reissner functional
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