Torsion of Regular Multicellular Members

A constant coefficient difference equation plus boundary conditions is used to replace the usual matrix formulation, to find the shear flows for a torsional analysis of regular multicellular members. This alternative mathematical model facilitates new design insights, one of which is that thick end webs reduce the shear flows to zero in all interior webs. An exact formula (in the form of a constant plus a hyperbolic cosine function) is given for the case in which all webs are identical. The general, $m+1$ cell, case is confirmed by checking the degenerate case of two cells, i.e., $m=1$. Use of the formulas is illustrated with a numerical example. The example and results are expressed in terms of dimensionless parameters so that units, English or metric, are not relevant.