Weak form quadrature element analysis of Bickford Beams

In this paper the recently proposed weak form quadrature element method is applied to high order beam analysis. Differing from other numerical methods, only one element is needed in the weak form quadrature element analysis as long as the cross-section of the beam is constant or varies continuously. Flexural, vibrational and eigenbuckling analyses of homogeneous beams are performed based on the Bickford beam theory. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the developed method.