10 Bending of Curved Beams

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Chapter 10
Bending of Curved Beams
10.1 Overview
Till now, we have been studying members that are initially straight. In this chapter, we shall study
the bending of beams which are initially curved. We do this by restricting ourselves to the case
where the bending takes place in the plane of curvature. This happens when the cross section of the
beam is symmetrical about the plane of its curvature and the bending moment acts in this plane. As
we did for straight beams, we first obtain the solution assuming sections that are initially plane
remain plane after bending. The resulting relation between the stress, moment and the deflection is
called as Winkler-Bach formula. Then, using the two dimensional elasticity formulation, we obtain
the stress and displacement field without assuming plane sections remain plane albeit for a
particular cross section of a curved beam subjected to a pure bending moment or end load. We
conclude by comparing both the solutions to find that they are in excellent agreement when the
beam is shallow.
Before proceeding further, we would like to clarify what we mean by a curved beam. Beam
whose axis is not straight and is curved in the elevation is said to be a curved beam. If the applied
loads are along the y direction and the span of the beam is along the x direction, the axis of the
beam should have a curvature in the xy plane. On the hand, if the member is curved on the xz plane
with the loading still along the y direction, then it is not a curved beam, as this loading will cause a
bending as well as twisting of the section. Thus, a curved beam does not have a curvature in the
plan. Arches are examples of curved beams.

10.2 Winkler-Bach formula for curved beams

(a) Elevation view: projection in the xy plane.

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(b) Isotropic view.

Figure 10.1: Schematic of bending of a curved beam

As mentioned before, in this section we obtain the stress field assuming, sections that are plane
before bending remain plane after bending. Consequently, a transverse section rotates about an axis
called the neutral axis as shown in figure 10.1. Let us examine an infinitesimal portion of a curved
beam enclosing an angle . Due to an applied pure bending moment M, the section AB rotates
through an angle () about the neutral axis and occupy the position AB. SN denotes the surface
on which the stress is zero and is called the neutral surface. Since, the stress is zero in this neutral
surface, the length of the material fibers on this plane and oriented along the axis of the beam would
not have changed. However, fibers above the neutral surface and oriented along the axis of the beam
would be in compression and those below the neutral surface and oriented along the axis of the
beam would be in tension. Hence, for a fiber at a distance y from the neutral surface, its length
before the deformation would be (rn - y), where rn is the radius of curvature of the neutral
surface. The change in length of the same fiber after deformation due to the applied bending
moment, M would be -y(()). Note that the negative sign is to indicate that the length reduces
when y is positive for the direction of the moment indicated in the figure 10.1. Thus, the linearized
strain is given by,
(10.1)
It is assumed that the lateral dimensions of the beam are unaltered due to bending, i.e. the Poissons
effect is ignored. Hence, the quantity y remains unaltered due to the deformation. Now, to estimate
the quantity ()(), we observe from figure 10.1a that
(10.2)
where r is the radius of curvature of the neutral axis after bending. However, by virtue of it being
neutral surface, its length is unaltered and therefore
(10.3)
Equating equations (10.2) and (10.3) and simplifying we obtain

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(10.4)
Substituting equation (10.4) in (10.1) we obtain,
(10.5)
Having obtained the strain, the expression for the stress becomes
(10.6)
where E is the Youngs modulus and we have appealed to one dimensional Hookes law to relate the
strain and the stress.
Since, we assume that the section is subjected to pure bending moment and in particular no axial
load, we require that
(10.7)
where we have used (10.6). Since, rn and r are constants for a given section and r rn, when the
beam deforms, for equation (10.7) to hold,
(10.8)
We have to find rn such that (10.8) holds. Observing that y(rn - y) = rn(rn - y) - 1, equation (10.8)
can be simplified as
(10.9)
If the section is homogeneous, Youngs modulus is constant over the section and therefore the
above equation can be written as,
(10.10)
Assuming the bending moment at the section being studied is M, as shown in section 8.1,
equation (8.9),

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(10.11)

where we have assumed that the origin of the coordinate system is located at the neutral axis of the
section; consistent with the assumption made while obtaining the expression for the strain.
Substituting equation (10.7) in (10.11) and rewriting we obtain,

(10.12)
It follows from (10.8) that the first integral in the above equation is zero. Thus, equation (10.12)
simplifies to
(10.13)
Then, combining equation (10.6) and (10.13) we obtain
(10.14)
where rn is obtained by solving (10.9). If the section is homogeneous that is E is constant over the
section equation (10.14) simplifies to,
(10.15)
where rn is obtained by solving (10.10). Note that in these equations y is measured from the neutral
axis of the section and the bending moment that increases the curvature (decreases the radius of
curvature) is assumed to be positive.
Thus, given the moment in the section, using equation (10.14) or (10.15), we can estimate the
stress () distribution in the section and/or the deformed curvature (r) of the beam. These equations
are called Winkler-Bach formula for curved beams.

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Figure 10.2: Parameters for a rectangular section to compute rn

Next, we illustrate a technique to find the radius of curvature of the neutral surface, rn for a
homogeneous rectangular section. Consider a rectangular section shown in figure 10.2 where o
denotes the radius of curvature of the centroid of the cross section, ri the radius of curvature of the
topmost fiber of the cross section and ro the radius of curvature of the bottommost fiber of the cross
section. Let u = rn - y. Now, u is the location of a fiber from the center of curvature of the section,as
indicated in the figure 10.2. Hence,
(10.16)
Consequently, the value of rn, the radius of curvature of the neutral axis for a rectangular section as
determined from (10.10) is

(10.17)

Having obtained rn, we would like to obtain the stress distribution in a curved beam with
rectangular section subjected to a moment M. It follows from equation (10.15) that
(10.18)
Now we need to compute ayda with y measured from the neutral axis. Towards this,
(10.19)
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where we have used the fact that ro - ri = h and o = (ro + ri)2. Substituting equation (10.19) in
(10.18), we obtain
(10.20)
where rn - ro y rn - ri. We compare the qualitative features of this solution after obtaining the
elasticity solution.

10.3 2D Elasticity solution for curved beams

In this section, we obtain the two dimensional elasticity solution for the curved beam subjected to
pure bending and end loading. The cross section of the beam is assumed to be rectangular of width
2b and depth h. As the beam is curved, we use cylindrical polar coordinates to formulate and study
this problem. The curved beam is assumed to be the annular region between two coaxial radially cut
cylinders of radius ri and ri + h, i.e,
= {(r,,z)|ri r ro,1 2,-b z b}, where ri, ro, 1,
2 and b are constants. Note that here ro = ri + h
10.3.1 Pure bending

Figure 10.3: Curved beam subjected to pure bending

The first example that we study, is that of pure bending of a curved beam. Here the curved beam
is assumed to be subjected to end moments as shown in figure 10.3. The traction boundary
conditions for this problem are
The surfaces defined by r = ri and r = ro are traction free.
The surfaces defined by = though is subjected to a moment, M along the z direction, has
no net force.
Translating these boundary conditions into mathematical statements:

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where {er,e,ez} are the cylindrical polar coordinate basis.

The displacement boundary condition for this problem are
The surface defined by = 0 undergoes no tangential displacement.
There is no radial displacement of the point with cylindrical polar coordinates (rn, 0, 0),
where rn is the radial location on the surface = 0 at which (rn, 0,z) = 0.
The mathematical statements of these conditions are

Assuming that the state of stress in the curved beam is plane and the cylindrical polar
components of this stress are

(10.27)

Substituting the above stress (10.27) in the traction boundary conditions (10.21) through (10.24) we
obtain,

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Now, we have to find Airys stress function, that would satisfy the boundary conditions
(10.28) through (10.33) and the bi-harmonic equation. In this problem we expect the stresses to be
such that (r,,z) = (r,-,z), for any , i.e. the stress is an even function of . Imposing this
restriction that the stress be an even function of , on the general periodic solution to the biharmonic solution (7.57), results in requiring that the Airys stress function be independent of .
Thus, Airys stress function is,
(10.34)
where the constants a0is are to be found from the boundary conditions. The stress field
corresponding to this Airys stress function, (10.34) found using (7.53) is

It can be immediately seen that by virtue of r = 0, boundary conditions (10.29), (10.30) and
(10.32) are trivially satisfied. The boundary condition (10.28) requires that

The boundary condition (10.31) requires that

(10.40)
By virtue of the terms in the square brackets being same as those in equations (10.39) and (10.38),
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equation (10.40) holds if (10.38) and (10.39) are satisfied. The only remaining boundary condition
(10.33) when evaluated mandates that
(10.41)
Solving equations (10.38), (10.39) and (10.41) for the unknown constants a0is, we obtain

where
(10.45)

Substituting these constants from equation (10.42) through (10.44) in the expression for the stresses
(10.35) through (10.37) the stress field becomes known.

(a) Beam with large initial curvature

(b) Beam with moderate initial curvature

Figure 10.4: Comparison of the Winkler-Bach formula for the stress in the curved beams
with the two dimensional elasticity solution for beams with different initial
curvatures

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(a) Beam with small initial curvature

(b) Beam with negligible initial curvature

Figure 10.5: Study on the influence of initial curvature of the beam on the bending
stresses developed due to a given moment
In figure 10.4 we compare the bending stress () obtained using the Winkler-Bach formula
with that obtained using the two dimensional elasticity approach. We find that both these
approaches though predict different expressions for the stress, evaluate to the same values as seen
from figure 10.4b. However, differences between these approaches increases as rih value tends to
zero as seen from figure 10.4a.
In figure 10.5 we study when critical curvature of the beam above which the stresses in the
beam are not influenced much by the curvature. It seems that if the curvature of the innermost fiber
exceeds 5 times the depth of the beam with rectangular cross section, one can consider the beam as
straight for practical purposes.
Having obtained the stress field that satisfies the compatibility conditions, a smooth
displacement field corresponding to this stress field can be determined by following the standard
approach of estimating the strains for this stress field from the two dimensional constitutive relation
and then integrating the resulting strains for the displacements using the strain displacement
relation. On performing these calculations, we find that the cylindrical polar components of the
displacement field are given by

(10.46)
(10.47)
where Cis are constants to be determined from the displacement boundary conditions, ur is the
radial component of the displacement and u is the tangential component of the displacement.
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Substituting equation (10.47) in the displacement boundary condition (10.25) we obtain,

(10.48)
For equation (10.48) to hold,
(10.49)
In order to satisfy the displacement boundary condition (10.26),
(10.50)

10.3.2 Curved cantilever beam under end load

Figure 10.6: Curved cantilever beam subjected to end loading

The next example that we study, is that of end loading of a curved cantilever beam. Here a
cantilever beam is assumed to be subjected to end shear force as shown in figure 10.6. Thus, the
displacement boundary condition for this problem is
The surface defined by =

undergoes no displacement.

The mathematical statement of this condition is

(10.51)
The traction boundary conditions for this problem are
The surfaces defined by r = ri and r = ro are traction free.
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The surface defined by = 0 is subjected to a force, -P along the radial direction.

The surface defined by = , is subjected to a force, P along tangential direction and to a
moment M along the z direction. The value of this moment M needs to be determined so that
the required displacement boundary conditions are satisfied.
Translating these boundary conditions into mathematical statements:

where {er,e,ez} are the cylindrical polar coordinate basis.

Assuming that the state of stress in the curved beam is plane and the cylindrical polar
components of this stress are

(10.57)

Substituting the above stress (10.57) in the traction boundary conditions (10.52) through (10.56) we
obtain,

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In order to satisfy the traction boundary conditions (10.58) through (10.67), we chose Airys
stress function from the general solution (7.57) such that it contains only the sin() and cos(2)
terms as,

(10.68)
To proceed further, one has to follow the standard procedure and hence, we leave it as an exercise to
find the stress and displacement field.

10.4 Summary
In this chapter we studied on how to analyze beams with initial curvature. We obtained the stress
field based on the assumption that the plane section remain plane after bending. We also obtained
two dimensional elasticity solution which is not based on the assumption that plane sections remain
plane. However, we found that both these solutions predict the same value of stresses for practically
used curved beams.

10.5 Self-Evaluation
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There are two beams - a straight beam and a curved beam - each of which is subjected to a
pure bending moment, M. Assuming that both the beams are homogeneous and has a square
cross section with side 0.3m and are made of the same material, which is linear elastic and
isotropic, compute the ratio of the maximum tensile stresses experienced in the straight and
curved beams. Also, find the ratio of the maximum compressive stresses experienced in the
straight and curved beams. Assume, the curved beam forms a part of a circle, with the initial
radius of curvature of the center line of the bar, being o. Obtain the value of the ratios as a
function of o and determine the critical rhooc below which the stresses would differ by more
than 10 percent.
A curved beam with a circular center line has the T-section as shown in figure 10.7. This
beam is subjected to pure bending in its plane of symmetry. Find the tensile and compressive
stresses in the extreme fibers. Assume, b1 = 100 mm, b2 = 20 mm, the radius of curvature of
the innermost fiber, r1 = 80 mm, the outermost fiber, r2 = 180 mm and r3 = 100 mm.
A curved beam with a circular center line has the circular sections as shown in figure 10.8.
Find the stress distribution across this section if the curved beam is subjected to a pure
bending moment, M. Assume that the initial curvature of the center line of the beam is o.

Figure 10.7: T section. Figure for problem 2

Figure 10.8: Circular section. Figure for problem 3

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