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A new three-noded C¹ beam finite element is derived for the analysis of sandwich beams. The formulation includes transverse shear and warping due to torsion. It also accounts for the interlaminar continuity conditions at the interfaces between the layers, and the boundary conditions at the upper and lower surfaces of the beam. The transverse shear deformation is represented by a cosine function of a higher order. This allows us to avoid using shear correction factors. A warping function obtained from a three-dimensional elasticity solution is used in the present model. Since the field consistency approach is accounted for interpolating the transverse strain and torsional strain, an exact integration scheme is employed in evaluating the strain energy terms. Performance of the element is tested by comparing the present results with exact three-dimensional solu-tions available for laminates under bending, and the elasticity three-dimensional solution deduced from the de Saint-Venant solution including both torsion with warping and bending. In addition, three-dimensional solid finite elements using 27 noded-brick elements have been used to bring out a reference solution not available for sandwich structures having high shear modular ratio between skins and core. A detailed parametric study is carried out to show the effects of various parameters such as length-to-thickness ratio, shear modular ratio, boundary conditions, free (de Saint-Venant) and constrained torsion. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.