Linear, straight and untwisted anisotropic beam section properties from solid finite elements

Abstract The paper shows how to recover the elastic properties and stresses of a complex linear anisotropic beam section from a beam slice modelled with standard solid finite elements, having a single element with two nodes along the beam depth. The formulation is derived from a comprehensive specialised approach for the analysis of straight and untwisted beams. Thanks to the extension developed in this work, complex composite beam sections can be analysed within any standard finite element program, without any undue approximation and without the need to develop special elements. The results obtained by implementing the method into NASTRAN are compared with those of a specialised program, i.e. ANBA-2, to demonstrate the soundness of the approach.