• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.272-282
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• 2000

Based on numerical reduced minimization theory, new anisoparametric 3-node elements for out-of-plane curved beam are developed. The elements are designed to be free from spurious constraints. In this paper, the effect of the Jacobian upon numerical solution is analyzed and predicted through reduced minimization analysis of anisoparametric 3-node elements with different Jacobian assumption. The prediction is verified by numerical tests for circular and spiral out-of-plane deformable curved beam models. This paper proposes two kinds of 3-node elements with 7-DOF; one element employs 2-point integration for all strains, and the other element uses 3-point integration with a constant Jacobian within element for calculation of shear strain.