Elastica of Non-Prismatic and Nonlinear Elastic Cantilever Beams under Combined Loading

This study presents the elastica of non-prismatic cantilever beams with rectangular cross-sections that are subjected to combined loading. The considered beams are nonlinearly elastic and obey Ludwick’s constitutive law. The combined loading system used in this study provides uniform loading, tip point loading, and tip couple loading individually or in combination. This loading system can create a total of seven loading cases that have not been covered in the literature. Ordinary differential equations governing the large deformed shapes of the elastica of the beams are derived and solved numerically. The effects of beam parameters on elastica behavior, including tip responses and strains and stresses loaded onto the cross-sections, were studied. It was observed that the exponential constant of the mechanical properties is very sensitive to elastica behavior. The results also demonstrate that the stresses near the neutral axis are larger with a larger exponential constant.