The influence of shear deformations on the stability of thin-walled beams under non-conservative loading

This paper analyses the influence of shear deformations on the stability of thin-walled beams of open section subjected to follower-type loads. The warping of the cross-sections is assumed to depend on the shear forces as well as on both primary and secondary torsion. The internal stresses are consistently deduced from the kinematic field. An algorithm is presented which works in the framework of the least squares method making use of a vector iteration technique. An extensive comparison is performed with the results offered by the classical models.