Large deflection elasto-plastic analysis of beams using kinematically exact elements

In this paper we consider a kinematically exact finite beam element in geometrically and materially non-linear structural analysis. The considered isoparametric plane beam element based on Reissner's stress resultant theory is capable of handling finite displacements, finite rotations and finite strains. The solution procedure used in the non-linear equilibrium path detection is based on the arc-length method with Fried's orthogonal trajectory constraint, (Fried I. Orthogonal trajectory accession to the nonlinear equilibrium curve. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 1984; 47:283–297), and with the full Newton–Raphson iteration. The considered isotropically hardening elasto-plastic material model obeys the associative flow rule and a yield criterion expressed in terms of the stress resultants. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.