A refined model for thermoelastic analysis of initially curved and twisted composite beams

This paper deals with steady state thermoelastic problems in beam structures using the variational asymptotic method. First, we simplify the original three-dimensional heat conduction problem into a two-dimensional thermal cross-sectional analysis along with an optional one-dimensional heat conduction analysis. The refinements up to the second order of the initial curvatures and twist are captured in the model. Having obtained the temperature field, we then construct a generalized Timoshenko model for the one-way coupled thermoelastic analysis. Several examples will be used to demonstrate the application and performance of the present model. The results will be compared with three-dimensional thermoelastic analysis using ANSYS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.