Consideration of the problem of shearing and torsion of thin-walled beams with arbitrary cross-section

In structural analysis it is often necessary to determine the geometrical properties of cross-sectional areas. The location of the shear center is of greater importance for a thin-walled cross-section. The purpose of this paper is the computation of the shear center of arbitrary thin-walled cross-sections using the finite element method. The coupling problem of shearing and torsional deformation of thin-walled beams based on Saint Venantʹs theory is considered. This problem of coupled shearing and torsional deformation was analyzed using the finite element method in which the matrix of shear rigidity and torsional rigidity were determined. The shear center can be obtained by determining the coordinate axes so as to eliminate the nondiagonal terms. Then, applying the stiffness matrix of shear rigidity and torsional rigidity obtained in the above, the stiffness matrix of the space framework elements in which the shear deformation is taken into consideration is developed.