Laminated composite thin- and thick-walled beam theory and coupled deformations

An accurate hollow beam model is developed for both thin- and thick-walled composite beams. In this analysis primary and secondary torsional warping and transverse shear effects, both of the cross-section and of the beam walls, are considered. An efficient method to account for 3-dimensional elastic effects in laminated beam walls is developed. These effects are accentuated as the wall thickness increases. The present theory is validated by comparison with available experimental data, other analytical results, and 3-dimensional finite element analysis. Good correlation between the present theory and other results is achieved for all test cases. The present theory generally predicts beam deformations for all cases within 10% of experimental data for thin-walled beams and 3-D FEA results for thick-walled cases.