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

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

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.

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

Thin beam
# elem. 1 point 0.750 0.938 0.984 0.996

from TJR Hughes, The finite element method.

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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