Curvilinear fiber optimization tools for design thin walled beams

An investigation of the possible performance improvements of thin walled composite beams through the use of the variable stiffness concept with curvilinear fiber is presented. The beams are constructed from a single-cell closed cross section and a number of non-classical effects such as material anisotropy, transverse shear, warping inhibition and nonuniform torsional model are considered in the beam model. The governing equations were derived by means of the extended Hamilton's principle. Also the extended Galerkin's method is used to solve governing equations. Composite beams subjected to different loading with given geometry and material properties are optimized for maximum failure load. Improvements of variable-stiffness beams over conventional, constant-stiffness beams are also demonstrated.