A meshfree unit-cell method for effective planar analysis of cellular beams

Novel method for planar analysis of cellular beams, as a precursor to accurate local buckling analysis of web components.Proposal of a unit-cell approach, taking advantage of identical cells along beam.Adoption and enhancement of Element Free Galerkin method for application around irregular plates with openings.Development of novel unit-cell super-element formulation utilising flexibility concepts.Realisation of considerable modelling and computational benefits, paving the way for direct application in design. This paper presents a novel approach for accurate and efficient planar response analysis of cellular beams, which provides the necessary input for local out-of-plane buckling analysis of web components. The proposed approach utilises the super-element concept defined for unit-cells, achieving further efficiencies through an enhanced Element-Free Galerkin (EFG) approach for establishing the planar super-element response. Several examples are presented, firstly at the level of unit-cells, where the computational benefits of the EFG method are highlighted, and finally at the overall level of cellular beams, where the superior performance of the unit-cell approach with virtually no compromise in accuracy is demonstrated.

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