Spatial stability of shear deformable curved beams with non-symmetric thin-walled sections. II: F. E. solutions and parametric study

In the companion paper, an improved formulation for spatial stability analysis of shear deformable thin-walled curved beams with non-symmetric cross-sections is presented based on the displacement field considering both constant curvature effects and the second-order terms of semi-tangential rotations. Thus the elastic strain energy and the potential energy due to initial stress resultants are consistently derived. Also closed-form solutions for in-plane and lateral-torsional buckling of curved beams subjected to uniform compression and pure bending are newly derived for mono-symmetric thin-walled curved beams under simply supported and clamped end conditions. In this paper, F. E. procedures are developed by using curved and straight beam elements with non-symmetric cross-sections. Analytical and numerical solutions for spatial buckling of shear deformable thin-walled circular beams are presented and compared in order to illustrate the accuracy and the practical usefulness of this study. In addition, the extensive parametric studies are performed on spatial stability behavior of curved beams. Particularly transition and crossover phenomena of buckling mode shapes with change in curvature and length of beam on buckling for curved beams are investigated for the first time.