Improved flexural–torsional stability analysis of thin-walled composite beam and exact stiffness matrix

A simple but efficient method to evaluate the exact element stiffness matrix is newly presented in order to perform the spatially coupled stability analysis of thin-walled composite beams with symmetric and arbitrary laminations subjected to a compressive force. For this, the general bifurcation-type buckling theory of thin-walled composite beam is developed based on the energy functional, which is consistently obtained corresponding to semitangential rotations and semitangential moments. A numerical procedure is proposed by deriving a generalized eigenvalue problem associated with 14 displacement parameters, which produces both complex eigenvalues and multiple zero eigenvalues. Then the exact displacement functions are constructed by combining eigenvectors and polynomial solutions corresponding to non-zero and zero eigenvalues, respectively. Consequently exact element stiffness matrices are evaluated by applying member force–displacement relationships to these displacement functions. As a special case, the analytical solutions for buckling loads of unidirectional and cross-ply laminated composite beams with various boundary conditions are derived. Finally, the finite element procedure based on Hermitian interpolation polynomial is developed. In order to verify the accuracy and validity of this study, the numerical, analytical, and the finite element solutions using the Hermitian beam elements are presented and compared with those from ABAQUS's shell elements. The effects of fiber orientation and the Wagner effect on the coupled buckling loads are also investigated intensively.