Thin-Walled Multicell Beam Analysis for Coupled Torsion, Distortion, and Warping Deformations

Abstract

Due to the complicated deformations occurring in thin-walled multicell beams, no satisfactory one-dimensional beam theory useful for general quadrilateral multicells appears available. In this paper, we present a new systematic approach to analyze the coupled deformations of torsion, distortion, and the related warping. To develop a one-dimensional thin-walled multicell beam theory, the method to determine the section deformation functions associated with distortion and distortional warping is newly developed. In order to guarantee the singlevaluedness of the distortional warping function in multicells, distortional shear flows have been utilized. The superior result by the present one-dimensional theory is demonstrated with various examples.