Euler-Bernoulli beams with multiple singularities in the flexural stiffness

Euler-Bernoulli beams under static loads in presence of discontinuities in the curvature and in the slope functions are the object of this study. Both types of discontinuities are modelled as singularities, superimposed to a uniform flexural stiffness, by making use of distributions such as unit step and Dirac's delta functions. A non-trivial generalisation to multiple different singularities of an integration procedure recently proposed by the authors for a single singularity is presented in this paper. The proposed integration procedure leads to closed form solutions, dependent on boundary conditions only, which do not require enforcement of continuity conditions along the beam span. It is however shown how, from the solution of the clamped-clamped beam, by considering suitable singularities at boundaries in the flexural stiffness model, responses concerning several boundary conditions can be recovered. Furthermore, solutions in terms of deflection of the beam are obtained for imposed displacements at boundaries providing the so called shape functions. The above mentioned shape functions can be adopted to insert beams with singularities as frame elements in a finite element discretisation of a frame structure. Explicit expressions of the element stiffness matrix are provided for beam elements with multiple singularities and the reduction of degrees of freedom with respect to classical finite element procedures is shown. Extension of the proposed procedure to beams with axial displacement and vertical deflection discontinuities is also presented. (c) 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.