Nonlinear Dynamics (2006) 43: 311327

DOI: 10.1007/s11071-006-8326-7 c Springer 2006

Three-Dimensional Beam Element Based on a Cross-Sectional
Coordinate System Approach
KARI E. DUFVA

, JUSSI T. SOPANEN, and AKI M. MIKKOLA

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Skinnarilankatu 34, P.O. Box 20, FIN 53851
Lappeenranta, Finland;

Author for correspondence (e-mail: Kdufva@lut.; fax: +358-5-621-2499)
(Received: 4 February 2005; accepted: 26 May 2005)
Abstract. In this work, a shear deformable three-dimensional beam element that can be used to model a variety of beam-like
structures in multibody applications is proposed. The absolute nodal coordinate formulation, in which global displacements and
slopes are used as nodal coordinates, is employed for the nite element discretization of the beam. The element employs a cross-
sectional coordinate system for the denition of strains. As shown by numerical examples, the element leads to a computationally
more efcient description of elastic forces compared to the previously introduced shear deformable absolute nodal coordinate-
based beam element. The results imply that the proposed element is capable of modelling highly nonlinear displacements and can
be used in problems where large rotations are considered. The element also captures the effect of the rotation of the cross-section
about the element longitudinal axis under a torsion load.
Key words: absolute nodal coordinate formulation, beam element, large deformation, multibody application
1. Introduction
The absolute nodal coordinate formulation is a recently developed nonincremental nite element ap-
proach that is particularly designed for large deformation multibody applications. This formulation can
be seen as a vectorial approach to large deformation problems since the element orientation is fully
dened using a vector eld. Another, similar vectorial nite element approach to static and dynamic
problems is proposed by Rhim and Lee [1]. In that approach, the cross-section of the three-dimensional
beam element is dened by two vectors that can take warping into account. The absolute nodal coor-
dinate formulation denes the cross-section orientation of the element by slopes (i.e., position vector
gradients) in a global inertial frame of reference. Using the appropriate element shape functions, this
formulation leads to the exact description of rigid body dynamics [2].
In nite element formulations, the use of a coordinate system attached to the beam cross-section
is a commonly used approach to measure a deformation. This kind of approach often requires the
interpolation of nite rotations and the use of incremental solution procedures when large rotations
are considered [3]. In the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, no incremental solution is needed
due to the interpolation of global coordinates and slopes. A beam element based on the absolute nodal
coordinate formulation where a coordinate system is attached to the beam cross-section is proposed
by von Dombrowski [4]. In this formulation, rotation around the beam axis is dened with an angle
instead of the slopes. For this reason, the formulation differs, in principle, from other formulations that
are based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. It is important to note that this formulation
does not lead to a constant mass matrix. This element is also based on the EulerBernoulli beam theory
and cannot be used when noticeable shear strain occurs, as is the case when the longitudinal beam
dimension becomes smaller compared to transverse dimensions.
312 K. E. Dufva et al.
The absolute nodal coordinate formulation has previously been utilized in a wide variety of shear
deformable nite elements including beam and shell elements [5, 6]. A three-dimensional shear de-
formable beam element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation has been introduced by
Shabana and Yakoub [7, 8]. This beam element employs a continuum mechanics approach in the def-
inition of the elastic forces. In the continuum mechanics approach, the global position of the point
can be dened straightforwardly using the multiplication of the element shape function matrix and
the vector of nodal coordinates [8]. Consequently, the beam cross-section can be dened as a con-
tinuum media while there is no need to introduce an additional coordinate system attached to the
cross-section. In this case, displacements can be approximated using the same interpolating poly-
nomials of the same order for all global directions. In three-dimensional absolute nodal coordinate-
based beam elements, polynomials of the third order in the beam longitudinal direction x and linear
polynomials for cross-sectional directions y and z are often used [8]. As shown in [8], the Green
Lagrange strain tensor can be used in conjunction with the second PiolaKirchhoff stress tensor in
the expression of the virtual work to obtain the beam elastic forces. In this approach, no distinc-
tion between deformation components has been made and, accordingly, all deformation components
are interpolated in the same way. For this reason, this approach leads to computationally inefcient
elements, as pointed out by Sopanen and Mikkola [9]. This formulation also includes coupling be-
tween the axial and transverse normal stress while the assumption of the rigid cross-section can be
relaxed.
Three-dimensional beam element proposed by Shabana and Yakoub has 12 degrees of freedom
at each node. Since the denition of the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation
is computationally expensive, it is important to keep the number of the required degrees of free-
dom in a simulation model low. In order to achieve good accuracy with a lower number of degrees
of freedom in three-dimensional shear deformable beam structures, an element based on a cross-
sectional coordinate system approach is proposed in this paper. As will be shown in this paper, the
use of a cross-sectional coordinate system leads to a computationally more efcient element com-
pared to the element proposed by Shabana and Yakoub. It is noteworthy that the curvature-based
nonlinear beam theory could be used to dene elastic forces as proposed by von Dombrowski [4].
However, in this case additional degrees of freedom or other special measures for torsion are required
when curvatures are used to dene cross-section orientation. The denition of curvatures needs to
be nonlinear and accounting initial deformation in element formulation is not straightforward. For
these reasons the formulation of the elastic forces based on the curvatures is not used in the proposed
element.
The objective of this work is to derive an accurate beam element that can be efciently used for large
displacement problems as well as for linear, small displacement problems in multibody applications. In
order to overcome the problems found in the beamelement based on the continuummechanics approach
[7, 8], the elastic forces are derived using a cross-sectional coordinate system approach. In addition, a
mixed interpolation technique is used in the denition of the strain components of the beam element.
An important feature of the proposed element is to achieve better distribution of the strain components
due to bending. This will signicantly improve the element accuracy but at the same time, due to use of
a cross-sectional coordinate system, description of the elastic forces becomes more complex. However,
neglecting Poissons effect and the assumption of cross-section deformation allows the simplication
of strain components. This, in turn, will simplify the description of the elastic forces. The behavior and
efciency of the proposed element is demonstrated using numerical examples for static and dynamic
problems.
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 313
2. Kinematics of the Cross-Section
Whena continuummechanics approachis usedinthe absolute nodal coordinate formulation, the physical
interpretation of strain components becomes cumbersome. For example, in the case of shell elements,
separation of the longitudinal strain component into membrane and bending strain is not obvious. In
order to overcome this problem, a different expression for a displacement eld can be introduced. Dufva
et al. [10] proposed a two-dimensional beam element where a rotation matrix T is employed to dene
the orientation of the cross-section. In this approach, an orthogonal coordinate system is attached to the
beam cross-section and the global position of the point in the element is dened with the help of the
vector r
s
at the cross-section as follows
r = r
0
+ Tr
s
, (1)
where r
0
is the position vector of the point on the beam centerline. In the rotation matrix T, nodal
coordinates are used to dene the direction angles. Equation (1) is difcult to use in a three-dimensional
beam element due to the existence of gradients with respect to y and z coordinates. The displacement
eld for a three-dimensional beam element used in this study is proposed later in Section 2.2. It is
important to note that the displacement eld obtained using Equation (1) is equivalent to the continuum
mechanics approach. An important property of the expression in Equation (1) is the possibility to divide
the rotation matrix into a product of two orthogonal matrices due to shear, and bending deformation (T
s
and T
b
, respectively). Accordingly, Equation (1) can be written as
r = r
0
+ T
s
T
b
r
s
. (2)
Equation (2) makes it possible to use a mixed interpolation technique for shear strains. This, in turn,
will improve the element behavior as demonstrated in [10]. The assumption of innitesimal rotations
can be used for shear angles since the rotations due to the shear deformations are small compared to
those due to bending.
The assumed displacement eld for EulerBernoulli beams can be simplied or linearized in the
case of large deformation applications as shown by Shi et al. [11]. The exact nonlinear displacement
eld for the planar beam element using orientation angles is presented by Sharf [12]. In order to
determine the nonlinear displacement eld for a three-dimensional beam where rotation of the cross-
section is divided into two angular components, one can use two rotation matrices associated with these
components. Changes in the beam orientation are produced by a rigid body motion and elasticity of the
beam. The rotation matrix denes the current conguration independently of the cause of deformation
when the beam is assumed to have exural, longitudinal, and torsion deformations. In the proposed
element, the rotation matrix is dened using slope coordinates.
2.1. FINITE ELEMENT DISCRETIZATION
In the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, global positions and slopes are used as element nodal
coordinates. The location and orientation of the element cross-section is fully dened by the nodal
coordinates. Since the interpolation polynomials are dened in terms of spatial coordinates, hence an
initially curved element can be taken into account. The proposed beam formulation can also be applied
to a curved element, but for the sake of simplicity only straight elements are studied in this paper. Third-
order interpolation polynomials for the longitudinal and linear polynomials for the transverse direction
314 K. E. Dufva et al.
are used in the proposed element. The vector of nodal coordinates, e, for a two-node three-dimensional
beam element is expressed as follows
e =
_
e
T
i
e
T
j
_
T
=
_
r
T
i
r
T
i
x
r
T
i
y
r
T
i
z
r
T
j
r
T
j
x
r
T
j
y
r
T
j
z
_
T
(3)
where r
i
and r
j
are the global position vectors of nodes i (0, 0, 0) and j (l, 0, 0), while l is the length
of the element. The element shape functions S
i
are functions of spatial coordinates x, y, and z of the
element. The shape functions are written as follows
S = [S
1
I S
2
I S
3
I S
4
I S
5
I S
6
I S
7
I S
8
I] (4)
S
1
(x) = 1 3
2
+ 2
3
S
2
(x) = l( 2
2
+
3
) S
3
(x, y) = l( ) S
4
(x, z) = l( )
S
5
(x) = 3
2
2
3
S
6
(x) = l(
2
+
3
) S
7
(x, y) = l() S
8
(x, z) = l( )
,
where = x/l, = y/l, = z/l, and I is a 3 3 identity matrix.
2.2. DISPLACEMENT FIELD FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELEMENT
In the case of the two-dimensional beam element the rotation matrix T fully denes the rotation due
to the elasticity of the beam. In this section, the displacement eld of Equation (1) is extended for the
proposed three-dimensional beam element. The location of an arbitrary point on the beam is dened
using vectors r
s
and r
0
. Vector r
s
denes the point on the beam cross-section while vector r
0
denes
the location on the beam centerline. The conguration of the beam in the current position is depicted
in Figure 1. The cross-section of the beam remains plane due to linear interpolation of the spatial
coordinates y and z. The vector r
s
on the cross-section can be expressed as a linear combination of two
vectors r
y
s
and r
z
s
[7]. For this reason, the position of the point at the current conguration can be written
as a linear combination of two rotated vectors as follows
r = r
0
+ Ar
y
s
+ Ar
z
s
. (5)
In the proposed element, tangential frames are used to simplify the description of the rotation matrix
A. A tangential frame can be dened using either of the gradient vectors r
y
= r/y or r
z
= r/z,
Figure 1. Deformed beam conguration.
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 315
as described in the next section. It is important to note that these vectors are not necessarily orthogonal
due to cross-section distortion which makes it possible to dene two different tangent frames. Using
one frame in the denition of a rotation matrix will lead displacements to be dependent on the choice
of the rotation matrix since the tangent frames are not coincident. If the EulerBernoulli beam theory is
assumed, the cross-section is dened at the beamnormal plane. It can be shown that under pure bending
vectors r
y
and r
z
are on the beam normal plane and for the EulerBernoulli assumption two tangent
frames can be independently used to dene the orientation of the vectors r
y
s
and r
z
s
.
For shear deformation the additional rotation matrix needs to be considered. Rotations due to shear
deformation are assumed to be innitesimal and, for this reason, rotations can be considered to be
commutative. Using two rotation matrices, R
y
and R
z
, for shear deformation in y and z directions,
respectively, and employing tangent frames, the position of the point in the global coordinate system
can be expressed as follows
r = r
0
+ R
z
A
y
t
r
y
s
+ R
y
A
z
t
r
z
s
, (6)
where A
y
t
and A
z
t
are two orthogonal rotation matrices. In this study, Equation (6) is used to dene the
element displacement eld. The element is assumed to be straight and lies on the X-axis of the inertia
coordinate system. Consequently, two vectors, r
y
s
and r
z
s
, that are dened in the beam cross-section in
the initial position can be written as follows
r
y
s
= [0 y 0]
T
, r
z
s
= [0 0 z]
T
. (7)
Displacement of an arbitrary point in the proposed element is measured as a difference between the
deformed and the initial position as follows
u = u
0
+
_
R
z
A
y
t
r
y
s
r
y
s
_
+
_
R
y
A
z
t
r
z
s
r
z
s
_
. (8)
Vector u
0
denes the displacement of the associated location of the point p on the beam centerline and
can be written as follows
u
0
= r
0
[x 0 0]
T
. (9)
In Equation (9), vector r
0
is the location of the origin of the tangent frame at the deformed conguration
and it can be expressed as follows
r
0
= S
0
e, (10)
where S
0
is the shape function matrix dened at the beam centerline where spatial coordinates y and z
are equal to zero.
2.3. DESCRIPTION OF LARGE ROTATIONS
In the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, the orientation and shape of the cross-section is dened
using three independent vectors r
x
, r
y
, and r
z
, where subscript x, y, z indicate partial derivatives of the
vector r. These vectors dene the nonorthogonal basis at the deformed conguration. Two different
frames can be dened using these vectors, the beam cross-section frame and tangent frame [7, 13].
316 K. E. Dufva et al.
Figure 2. Beam cross-section frame and tangent frame.
In the beamcross-section frame, vectors n
s
and b
s
, which are derived by an orthogonalization process
fromvectors r
y
and r
z
, denes the beamcross-section. Vector t
s
= n
s
b
s
that denes the normal of the
cross-section completes the beam cross-section frame [7]. The cross-section frame is not necessarily
tangentially aligned with the beam centerline during deformations, because no assumptions for the
kinematics of vectors r
y
and r
z
are made. These vectors can change orientation also due to torsion and
the shear effect. The cross-section frame is depicted in Figure 2a. In Figure 2, planes where cross-section
and tangent frames are dened are depicted with a solid line.
In the proposed element, the tangent frame is used as a description of the rotation matrix. The tangent
frame is always oriented according to a tangent of the curvature of the centerline as shown in Figure 2b.
The normal plane of the tangent frame is always perpendicular to the tangent vector but does not coincide
with the beam cross-section. The tangent of the centerline is dened by vector r
x
and the tangential
component of the tangent frame can be dened as follows
t
y
t
=
r
x
r
x

, (11)
where is the Euclidian norm of the vector. In Equation (11), the vector r
x
is dened on the beam
centerline. A unit length vector, b
y
t
, perpendicular to vectors t
y
t
and r
y
, is dened using the vector
product as follows
b
y
t
=
t
y
t
r
y
_
_
t
y
t
r
y
_
_
, (12)
The third vector to complete the tangential triad can be written as follows
n
y
t
= b
y
t
t
y
t
. (13)
Index y indicates the denition by vector r
y
and the triad independence of vector r
z
. Because vector b
y
t
is
derived using vector r
y
, the tangential triad above is always perpendicular to vector r
y
but not necessarily
to vector r
z
. The tangential frame can also be dened using vector r
z
. This frame is independent of
vector r
y
and is dened as follows
t
z
t
= t
y
t
, n
z
t
=
r
z
t
z
t
_
_
r
z
t
z
t
_
_
, b
z
t
= t
z
t
n
z
t
. (14)
The tangential frames are dened on the centerline of the beam and are depicted geometrically in
Figure 3 where vectors r
y
and r
z
are not on the normal plane. Two orthogonal rotation matrices A
y
t
and
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 317
Figure 3. Geometric interpretation of the tangent frames.
A
z
t
can be created from the tangent frames as follows [13]
A
y
t
=
_
t
y
t
n
y
t
b
y
t
_
, (15a)
A
z
t
=
_
t
z
t
n
z
t
b
z
t
_
. (15b)
If r
y
is perpendicular to the r
z
vector, then both tangent frames are equal. This is valid only in the special
case when the cross-section is not distorted.
2.4. SHEAR DEFORMATION
Rotation matrices, R

, = y, z, for shear deformation can be written with the Rodriguez formula as

follows [14]
R

=
_
I + v sin

+ 2( v)
2
sin
2

2
_
, (16)
where v is a skew symmetric matrix dened using vector v that denes the rotation axis, and

is
the rotation angle. The shear angles,

, can be assumed to be small,

1, as a result of which
the second-order term in Equation (16) can be neglected. In this case, the rotation matrices for shear
deformations can be written as follows
R
y
=

1 0 sin
y
0 1 0
sin
y
0 1

, R
z
=

1 sin
z
0
sin
z
1 0
0 0 1

. (17)
Twoshear angles are showninFigure 4usingprojections of the beamto XZ and XY planes. The direction
of the positive rotation is claried using arrows around the principal axes Y and Z. Components of the
318 K. E. Dufva et al.
Figure 4. Denition of shear angles.
rotation matrices R

can be dened as follows

sin
z
=
r
y
t
_
r
T
y
r
y
(18a)
sin
y
=
r
z
t
_
r
T
z
r
z
, (18b)
where vector t is dened in Equation (11). In Equations (18a) and (18b) the spatial coordinates y and
z are equal to zero. In the mixed interpolation approach, the displacements and transverse shear strains
are evaluated separately. This method is traditionally used to prevent shear-locking and to create more
efcient elements [15]. The evaluation of shear deformation used in this study resembles the mixed
interpolation technique. This step is important in order to obtain more accurate results in the bending
of the beam. In order to use linear interpolation over the element length, the following shape functions
are provided
N
1
= 1
x
l
,
(19)
N
2
=
x
l
,
where l is the element length and N
1
and N
2
are the shape functions. The components of the shear
angles can be dened at nodal points and interpolated over the element as follows
sin
z
= N
1
sin
z
|
x=0
+ N
2
sin
z
|
x=l
(20a)
sin
y
= N
1
sin
y
|
x=0
+ N
2
sin
y
|
x=l
(20b)
Shear angles obtained from Equations (20a) and (20b) are used with Equation (17) to obtain rotation
of the cross-section due to the shear deformation. Rotation matrices for two directions obtained from
Equation (17) are then used in expression of displacements in Equation (8) in order to account for the
shear deformation in the element displacement eld.
It can be shown that using the continuum mechanics approach with a linear strain-displacement
relationship, the strain components due to bending are always constant along the element length [9].
More accurate distribution of the bending strain components is achieved using a tangent frame for cross-
section orientation and linear interpolation for shear deformation. Introducing a tangent frame to dene
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 319
Table 1. Position of the beam end tip in the nonlinear deection analysis, Model II.
Tip position (X, Y) [m]
Number of elements Present Present
a
Yakoub and Shabana [4]
1 1.855, 0.644 1.952, 0.376 1.999, 0.061
2 1.801, 0.782 1.868, 0.638 1.991, 0.159
4 1.787, 0.814 1.794, 0.800 1.952, 0.385
8 1.784, 0.821 1.785, 0.819 1.852, 0.678
16 1.784, 0.822 1.784, 0.821 1.852, 0.805
Analytical 1.784, 0.822
a
Model without linear interpolation of shear deformation.
the orientation of the beam cross-section, the formulation where the orientation of the cross-section
is a nonlinear function of the x coordinate is achieved. These assumptions enable the bending strain
component to vary along the element longitudinal axis that will signicantly improve the behavior of
the element in bending. Linear interpolation also simplies the equations for shear deformations in the
proposed formulation. The effect of the linear interpolation is shown in Table 1.
3. Elastic Forces
Depending on the amount of the assumed deformation in the element area, a linear or a nonlinear strain
displacement relation can be used in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. If no assumption on the
amount of the deformation is made, the nonlinear relation should be used [7]. In the proposed element,
large rotational motion and large displacements may occur while element strains are assumed to remain
small. For this reason, the Green strain tensor is used as an objective strain measure. Objectivity of the
strain measure is an important feature in a geometrically nonlinear analysis where the body exhibits
large rigid body motion. In the virtual work expression, the Green strain tensor is used in conjunction
with the second PiolaKirchhoff stress tensor as follows
W =
_
V
0

T
EdV
0
, (21)
where is the second PiolaKirchhoff stress vector and E is the Green strain vector including six strain
components, E = [
xx

yy

zz
2
xy
2
xz
2
yz
]. In Equation (21), integration is carried out over
an initial volume V
0
. The Green strain tensor can be dened in terms of the displacement gradient,

D,
as follows

m
=
1
2
_

D
T
+

D +

D
T

D
_
. (22)
When the beam is initially orientated along the global X-axis without initial stress, the displacement
gradient

D can be written as

D =
u
x
, (23)
320 K. E. Dufva et al.
where x is the vector of spatial coordinates, x, y, and z. In the proposed element, rotation matrices A
y,z
t
are dened at the beam centerline where vectors r
y
and r
z
are functions of x only. Since cross-section
rotation is a function of the x coordinate only, the rotation angle is assumed to have a constant value
over the cross-section and the resulting shear strain is constant. For this reason, a shear correction factor,
k, needs to be used to compensate unnatural strain distribution [16].
Vectors r
y
and r
z
are not necessarily perpendicular since distortion of the cross-section is kinemati-
cally admissible. Note that these vectors may also change their length. For this reason, strain components

yz
,
yy
, and
zz
cannot be neglected. For the sake of simplicity these strain components are approx-
imated using linear interpolation without considerable loss of accuracy. Strain component
yy
at the
nodal point can be approximated as follows [8]

n
yy
=
1
2
_
r
n
T
y
r
n
y
1
_
. (24)
where n is the node number. It is important to note that when linear interpolation is used, the contribu-
tion of these strain components to strain energy is small. For this reason, different approximation for
transverse strain components can be used as follows [10]

n
yy
=
_
_
r
n
y
_
_
1. (25)
It is noteworthy that all numerical examples introduced in this paper were tested with both approxima-
tions, Equations (24) and (25), and no differences in displacements were perceived. The strain
n
yy
can
now be interpolated over the element length as follows

yy
=
_
1
x
l
_

1
yy
+
x
l

2
yy
= N
1

1
yy
+ N
2

2
yy
. (26)
Similarly the strain components
zz
and
yz
can be dened as follows

zz
= N
1

1
zz
+ N
2

2
zz
, (27)

yz
= N
1
_
r
1
T
y
r
1
z
_
+ N
2
_
r
2
T
y
r
2
z
_
= N
1

1
yz
+ N
2

2
yz
. (28)
It is important to note that using approximations in Equations (26)(28) does not affect the ob-
jectivity of the strains since they are calculated at the nodal points according to the Green strain
denition.
The second PiolaKirchhoff stress tensor can be written as = CEwhere Cis the constitutive matrix.
As pointed out in [5], coupling between the axial and normal stress will lead to residual transverse normal
stresses in bending as a result of which overly stiff behavior of the element occurs. In order to avoid this
phenomenon, Poissons effect is neglected using a diagonal constitutive matrix [1]. However, the cross-
section can still deform under an appropriate loading. For an isotropic material, the Young modulus
E and shear modulus G are the same for all directions. This leads to a similar form of strain energy
function, U, as used by e.g., Danielson and Hodges [17] and Sharf [18] as follows
U =
1
2
_
V
0
_
E
_

2
xx
+
2
yy
+
2
zz
_
+ 4kG
_

2
xy
+
2
xz
+
2
yz
__
dV
0
. (29)
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 321
The beam elastic forces can be obtained as follows [7]
Q =
U
e
. (30)
4. Beam Inertia
In a continuum mechanics approach, the beam cross-section has been dened as a deformable eld
while no coordinate system has been attached to dene the cross-section. As pointed out by Yakoub
and Shabana [8], when a cross-section coordinate system is used, the velocity vector can be written as
r = S
0
e
0
+ [S
s
e
s
], (31)
where vector is the cross-section angular velocity vector and S
0
is the shape function matrix that
contains shape functions dened at the element centerline as being functions of the x coordinate only, e
0
is a vector that contains velocities of the nodal coordinates related to the shape function matrix S
0
. These
nodal coordinates are global positions and gradients with respect to the x coordinate of the nodes. In
Equation (31), matrix S
s
includes those shape functions where y and z coordinates are also included, and
vector e
s
is the nodal coordinate vector related to matrix S
s
. Using the continuum mechanics approach,
the velocity vector can be dened as follows [8]
r = S
0
e
0
+ S
s
e
s
. (32)
Comparing Equations (31) and (32) it can be seen that if the cross-section coordinate system is used,
the velocity vector is more complex. This will lead to a more complex expression of the kinetic energy
and nonlinear mass matrix [8]. In practice, Equations (31) and (32) lead to similar results and in the
proposed element the velocity description is dened as follows
r = S e. (33)
When substituting this expression to the expression of kinetic energy, one can obtain the constant mass
matrix as follows [8]
M =
_
V
0
S
T
SdV
0
. (34)
5. Numerical Examples
Element formulation and equations of motion are implemented in the mathematical software Matlab.
Numerical integration is used to obtain the vector of elastic forces and due to the complex expres-
sion of elastic forces the possibility to use C language is utilized in element implementation in
Matlab.
322 K. E. Dufva et al.
5.1. FLEXIBLE PENDULUM
In the rst example, the dynamics of a simple beam structure is studied. In this structure, a beam with a
rectangular cross-section is hinged with a pin joint. The height and width of the beam are both assumed
to be 0.05 m. The beam has a length of 1.2 m, the second moment of the area of 5.2083 10
7
m
4
,
Youngs modulus E of 0.710
6
N/m
2
, the shear modulus G of 2.692310
5
N/m
2
, and a mass density of
5540 kg/m
3
. Initially, the beamis orientedalongthe global X-axis assumingthe initial velocitytobe zero.
The gravity constant is 9.81 m/s
2
. A freefalling exible pendulum under an evenly distributed gravity
force is a conservative system in which the total energy must remain constant during the simulation.
The energy sum for the whole system is as follows
n

i
(T
i
+U
i
+ V
i
) = const. (35)
where T
i
is the element kinetic energy, U
i
is the strain energy, V
i
is the potential energy of the element,
and n is the number of elements [19]. Figure 5 depicts the energy distribution between the different
components as a function of time. It can be seen that there is no energy loss during time integration.
Energy balance is studied using a four-element model.
The vertical displacement of the end tip of the beam is studied using different numbers of elements.
Figure 6 shows the deviation of displacements using 2-, 4-, and 8-element models compared to a model
with 16 elements. It can be concluded fromFigure 6 that the proposed element shows a good convergence
rate in this example. The displacement obtained when 2 and 16 elements are used is depicted in
Figure 7.
Figure 5. The energy balance of the pendulum. , T is the kinetic energy; - - -, U the strain energy; and , V the potential
energy of the system. Sum of the energy is marked as solid line .
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 323
Figure 6. Deviation of displacements at vertical direction of, , 2-element; - - -, 4-element; and , 8-element models from
16-element model.
Figure 7. The vertical displacement of the end tip of the pendulum. , 2 elements, and , 16 elements.
5.2. STATIC ANALYSES
In order to ensure element behavior in linear and nonlinear static problems, various analyses with a
cantilever beam are carried out. The material model of the beam is considered to remain within a linear
324 K. E. Dufva et al.
Table 2. Parameters for analyses of the cantilever beam.
Width, w [m] Height, h [m] Length, l [m] S
L
Tip load [N]
Model I 0.1 0.5 2 74 20 10
6
h
3
Model II 0.01 0.01 2 1.8 10
5
1.5 EI /l
2
Table 3. The deformed position of the beam end tip, Model I.
Number of elements Tip position (X, Y) [m]
1 1.999 0.0324
4 1.999 0.0324
Analytical 2.000 0.0324
elastic range during deformation. The centerline of the beam can rotate during the deformation, and the
position vector gradient r/x in the longitudinal direction is set to be free. In these examples, Youngs
modulus is 2.07 10
11
N/m
2
and the shear modulus is 7.9615 10
10
N/m
2
. The shear correction factor
k for the rectangular cross-section is 5/6. The geometrical data, slenderness ratio S
L
, and loads for
analyses are given in Table 2. The ratio S
L
is calculated as GAl
2
/EI. If the slenderness value is high
(S
L
> 1000), the EulerBernoulli beam theory is assumed valid since shear deformation does not play
a signicant role.
5.2.1. Cantilever with Tip Load
In the rst case, the cantilever beam is subjected to a vertical tip load. The results of Model I are
presented in Table 3 where the positions of the end tip of the beam are shown for a different number of
elements. As can be seen in Table 3, the results match the analytical results when only one element is
used.
In the second case of the cantilever beam, large deections are considered. The results are compared
to an analytical solution from Gere and Timoshenko [16] as well as to a previously proposed absolute
nodal coordinate beam element [8]. The analytical solution is based on the differential equation for an
exact deection curve. In this example, the applied force is obtained from the ratio Fl
2
/EI that is set to
1.5. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 1. Using the proposed element, the analytical result is
achieved in this example when 16 elements are used. In this example, the effect of linear interpolation of
shear deformation is also studied. In Table 1 the model where linearization is not used is marked with an
asterisk. It can be concluded from Table 1 that improved convergence is obtained using a linearization
of the shear deformation.
5.2.2. Semicircle Bending Test
In order to ensure behavior of the element in highly nonlinear cases, the moment is applied to the end of
the cantilever beam. The applied moment is capable of bending the beam into a semicircle. The results
are compared to solutions obtained from the element proposed by Yakoub and Shabana [8]. The beam
is modeled using three and six elements. The length l of the cantilever structure is 1 m, the height and
the width of the cross-section are 0.035 m. Youngs modulus is 2.0 10
8
N/m
2
and Poissons ratio is 0.
The applied external moment at the end of the beam is EI /l. Deformations of different models are
Three-Dimensional Beam Element 325
Figure 8. Deformation of the cantilever subjected to end tip moment load.
shown in Figure 8 after one load step, = 1. Using the proposed element, the semicircle is obtained
with three elements. The formulation proposed by Yakoub and Shabana does not reach a semicircle
even if six elements are used, which implies overly stiff element responses under pure bending. The use
of 16 elements gives approximately a full semicircle when the formulation proposed by Yakoub and
Shabana is used.
5.3. 180

TWISTED BEAM
In this test the cantilever beam is subjected to pure torque in order to study element capability to
capture torsional behavior. The structure is twisted 180

and the result is obtained using ve ele-

ments. The beam has a width of 0.00254 m, a height of 0.00635 m, and a length of 0.254 m. Youngs
modulus E is 8.27371 10
10
N/m
2
and the shear modulus G is 3.17159 10
10
N/m
2
. The required
NewtonRaphson iterations to obtain 180

rotation of the beam end with the proposed element de-

pends on the denition of the strain components
yy
and
zz
. When Equation (25) is used, the result
is achieved using nine iterations and with Equation (24) 33 iterations are required. The required load
in both cases is 20.605 Nm. This problem has previously been reported by Rhim and Lee [1]. They
reported a result where the converged solution is obtained after 15 NewtonRaphson iterations. The
cantilever beamunder the torsion load is depicted in Figure 9. This result is obtained using one load step
only.
326 K. E. Dufva et al.
Figure 9. Cantilever beam subjected to torsion load, M
T
. Deformed conguration is depicted on the right.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the extension of the two-dimensional shear deformable beam element, [10], to a three-
dimensional one is proposed. The beam element is based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation
and it employs a coordinate system attached to a beam cross-section. In the proposed element, the
tangential coordinate system is utilized in the rotation matrix and the beam is parametered using only
absolute locations and slopes of nodal coordinates. Using this approach, the nonlinear displacement eld
can be obtained. Shear deformation is included in the element employing an additional rotation matrix
and assuming angles due to shear deformation to be small compared to those from bending deformation
and rigid body motion. The displacement eld is expressed as a linear combination of deformation with
respect to directions y and z, in order to obtain the correct behavior under deformation.
The performance and accuracy of the proposed element are tested with numerical examples in static
and dynamic cases. The objective of these tests is to study element behavior in linear and nonlinear
deformation problems, and the capability of the element to capture the shear effect and torsion load.
Since the element is designed for multibody applications, the element is also studied in a dynamic
problem. According to the static tests, the element predicts good result in both linear and nonlinear
deformation and is capable of capturing shear deformation according to beam theory. A problems total
number of degrees of freedom can be reduced due to the improved accuracy of the proposed element.
Convergence to the end position under the torsion load using a single load step can be obtained with less
iteration than reported previously. Consequently, the element is also capable of maintaining an energy
balance during dynamical analyses.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Academy of Finland and, in part, by the National Technology Agency
in Finland (Tekes).
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