Study on Geometric Nonlinearity of Spatial Beam Elements

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-793-9_16How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Nonlinear; Beam; Large Displacement

Abstract

The analysis of geometric nonlinearity in structural engineering has gained increasing attention due to the growing complexity of modern structures, such as high-rise buildings, bridges, and aerospace components, which are often subjected to large displacements and rotations under extreme loading conditions. Spatial beam elements, in particular, play a critical role in these systems, yet their behavior remains challenging to model accurately because of the difficulty in distinguishing rigid body motion from actual deformation. This paper investigates the geometric nonlinearity of spatial beam elements, with a specific focus on structures experiencing significant displacements and rotations. To tackle this challenge, a co-rotational coordinate system is employed to isolate and compute the true deformation by subtracting rigid body translations and rotations, while a moving reference point method is introduced to efficiently handle coordinate transformations. Building on this theoretical foundation, a nonlinear structural analysis program (NSAP) was developed and rigorously validated through a test case involving a 45-degree spatial curved beam subjected to concentrated loading. The results demonstrate strong agreement with established commercial software such as ADINA and ANSYS, confirming the accuracy and reliability of the proposed approach. This work not only advances the understanding of geometric nonlinearity in spatial beam elements but also provides a novel and robust framework that can support future research and practical applications in nonlinear structural analysis.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xiuhua Li
AU  - Siyang Li
AU  - Yongyi Yang
AU  - Zhifu Liang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/28
TI  - Study on Geometric Nonlinearity of Spatial Beam Elements
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 8th International Conference on Traffic Transportation and Civil Architecture (ICTTCA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 161
EP  - 173
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-793-9_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-793-9_16
ID  - Li2025
ER  -