On the hybrid-mixed formulation of \(C^ 0\) curved beam elements (Q1082146)

Two \(C^ 0\) curved beam elements based on the hybrid-mixed formulation are studied in the form of membrane-shear locking, mesh convergence, and stress predictions. At the element level, both the displacement and stress fields are approximated separately. The stress parameters are then eliminated from the stationary condition of the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle so that the standard stiffness equations are obtained. The stress functions are chosen from two important considerations: (i) kinematic deformation modes must be avoided, and (ii) the constraint index counting of the element, when applied to limiting cases, must be equal to or greater than one. Based on these considerations, two curved beam elements are derived by including the effect of shear deformation and with linear and quadratic displacement fields. The elements are found to be lock-free for thin-walled beams. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the performance of the two curved elements.