Nonlinear elastic analysis of composite beams curved in-plan

A novel 3D elastic total Lagrangian formulation is developed for the numerical analysis of steel–concrete composite beams which are curved in-plan. Geometric nonlinearities are considered in the derivation of the strain expressions, and the partial interaction at the interface in the tangential direction as well as in the radial direction due to flexible shear connectors is incorporated in the unique proposed formulation, which is derived from considerations of fundamental engineering mechanics. Examples are presented to illustrate the effects of initial curvature, geometric nonlinearity and partial interaction on the behaviour of composite curved beams, which are compared with those based on more sophisticated but computationally less efficient ABAQUS shell element models and experiments reported in the literature. The results demonstrate that the developed formulation is accurate and effective in capturing the behaviour of composite beams curved in-plan, providing a highly efficient finite element.