A coupled FE-BIE model for the static analysis of Timoshenko beams bonded to an orthotropic elastic half-plane

Interface displacements, surface tractions and stresses of a flexible beam bonded to an elastic orthotropic half-plane are analysed by means of a Finite Element-Boundary Integral Equation (FE-BIE) method. Numerical results are obtained by using locking-free shear deformable beams and piecewise constant interfacial reactions. Making use of the generalised Green's function for the half-plane, the mechanical behaviour of fully bonded or detached beams subjected to force, couple or thermal load is investigated. The special cases of a beam in bilateral frictionless contact with the half-plane and a beam having a vanishing bending rigidity (thin film) are considered also. In particular, the maximum bending moment of beams subjected to a vertical point force are compared with some closed-form solutions of the contact problem of a rigid indenter and with the solution of an infinite Euler–Bernoulli beam in bilateral frictionless contact with an isotropic substrate.