Precise analysis of geometrical nonlinear mechanical behavior of shear deformable laminated curved composite beams in local coordinates via mixed type finite elements.

In the present article, geometrically nonlinear analyses of curved laminated composite beams are carried out using Mixed Finite Element Method (MFEM). Timoshenko beam theory is used to consider shear influence which significantly effects the structural behavior of composite layers. Energy-based functional is generally needed to perform geometric nonlinear analyzes of layered composites. However, obtaining energy-based functional in geometric nonlinear theory is quite challenging due to the difficulty of solving mathematically nonlinear differential equations. In this study, this situation is overcome and a functional suitable for performing geometric nonlinear analyzes of layered composite materials is obtained. Incremental formulation procedure is utilized as a solution method for nonlinear finite element analyzes. This is an innovative application of the non-linear mixed finite element method and has the ability to perform geometric nonlinear analysis of curved laminated composite beams with perfect precision. By obtaining the functional in local coordinates, it is possible to solve special problems in various fields such as construction, machinery, aerospace and biomechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]