Non-prismatic thin-walled beams: critical issues and effective modeling

Abstract

This work aims at highlighting critical issues that occurs in the modeling of mono-symmetric non-prismatic thin walled beams. In particular, even considering the simplified assumption of planar behavior, it is possible to demonstrate that the shear stress distribution within non-prismatic beams is substantially different from the one that occurs in prismatic beams. Furthermore, such a difference can not be neglected also in tapered beams with extremely smooth variation of the cross-section geometry. First, the work provides an accurate literature review, continues with the synopsis of a recently proposed enhanced strategy for the reconstruction of the stress distributions, and, finally, demonstrates its capabilities through a simple numerical example.