Stiffnesses of Circular-Arc I-Section Girders

The stiffness matrix and the influence values of the fixed-end actions of a prismatic circular-arc I-Section segment are derived from the exact solution of differential equations of the bar. Effects of warpage restraint are automatically accounted for. Thus, the method provides exact values at the nodal points of a finite element stiffness formulation. The cross section may be composite. The loading may be concentrated and nonuniformly distributed over part or whole of the segment length. Therefore, the girder need not be segmented further on account of loading. Derivations given in the paper will facilitate solution of single- and multi-span circularly curved girders acted upon by out-of-plane loads by the displacement method.