Center of gravity and shear center of thin-walled open-section

composite beams
Jaehong Lee
Department of Architectural Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Kunja Dong, Kwangjin Ku, Seoul 143-747, South Korea
Abstract
The denition of center of gravity and shear center of a thin-walled open-section laminated composite beam is a function of the
geometry and the material properties of the section. The method is applicable to any arbitrary laminate stacking sequence, i.e.
unsymmetric as well as symmetric, and shape of the cross section. Numerical results are obtained for singly symmetric channel and
monosymmetric sections with antisymmetric angle-ply layups showing that the locations of the center of gravity and shear center are
generally aected by ber angle variations. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thin-walled composite; Open-section; Center of gravity; Shear center
1. Introduction
Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) have been increas-
ingly used over the past a few decades in a variety of
structures that require high ratio of stiness and
strength to weight ratios. In the construction industry,
recent applications have shown the structural and cost
eciency of FRP structural shapes, such as thin-walled
open sections. Thin-walled open section members made
of isotropic materials have been studied by many re-
searchers e.g. [13]. For anisotropic composite materi-
als, however, the geometric properties used in classical
isotropic beam theory such as area, rst moment of
area, center of gravity, etc., are no longer used because
of the variability of the material properties in the cross
section. Instead, mechanical properties such as axial
stiness, mechanical rst moment of area, mechanical
center of gravity, etc., should be dened to incorporate
both the geometry and the material properties. Bauld
and Tzeng [4] extended Vlasov's thin-walled bar theory
[1] to symmetric ber-reinforced laminates to develop
the linear and nonlinear theories for the bending and
twisting of thin-walled composite beams. While most of
the investigations concerning thin-walled open-section
beams with laminated composite materials are limited to
doubly symmetric sections with midplane symmetric
laminates, several others dealt with singly symmetric
channel sections [5,6]. But, the properties such as center
of gravity and shear center were not considered. It ap-
pears that the general denition of center of gravity and
shear center of laminated open-section beams with
general conguration has not yet been treated in the
open literature.
In the present study, a general analytical model for
thin-walled laminated composite beams with an arbi-
trary open cross section and arbitrary laminate stacking
sequence, i.e. unsymmetric as well as symmetric with
respect to the midplane of the laminate, is developed,
and the center of gravity and shear center of the cross
section are dened in the function of the geometry and
the material properties of the section. Numerical results
are obtained for singly symmetric channel and mono-
symmetric sections with antisymmetric angle-ply layups.
The locations of center of gravity and shear center are
given with respect to the ber angle variation.
2. Kinematics
The theoretical developments presented in this paper
require three sets of coordinate systems which are mu-
tually interrelated. The rst coordinate system is the
orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system (x; y; z), for
which the x and y axes lie in the plane of the cross
section and the z axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of
the beam. The second coordinate system is the local
plate coordinate (n; s; z) as shown in Fig. 1, wherein the
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Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260
E-mail address: jhlee@sejong.ac.kr (J. Lee).
0263-8223/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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n axis is normal to the middle surface of a plate element,
the s axis is tangent to the middle surface and is directed
along the contour line of the cross section. The (n; s; z)
and (x; y; z) coordinate systems are related through an
angle of orientation h as dened in Fig. 1. The third
coordinate set is the contour coordinate s along the
prole of the section with its origin at any point O on
the prole section. Point P is called the pole axis,
through which the axis parallel to the z axis is called the
pole axis.
To derive the analytical model for a thin-walled
composite beam, the following assumptions are made:
1. The contour of the thin wall does not deform in its
own plane.
2. The shear strain c
sz
of the middle surface is zero in
each element.
3. The KirchhoLove assumption in classical plate
theory remains valid for laminated composite thin-
walled beams.
According to the assumption 1, the midsurface dis-
placement components u; v at a point A in the contour
coordinate system can be expressed in terms of a dis-
placements U; V of the pole P in the x; y directions, re-
spectively, and the rotation angle U about the pole axis,
u(s; z) = U(z) sin h(s) V (z) cos h(s) U(z)q(s); (1a)
v(s; z) = U(z) cos h(s) V (z) sin h(s) U(z)r(s): (1b)
These equations apply to the whole contour. The out-
of-plane shell displacement w can now be found from
the assumption 2 (also known as Vlasov assumption).
For each element of the middle surface
c
sz
=
o v
oz

o w
os
= 0: (2)
After substituting for v from Eqs. (1a) and (1b) and
considering the following geometric relations:
dx = ds cos h; (3)
dy = ds sin h: (4)
Eq. (2) can be integrated with respect to s from the
origin to an arbitrary point on the contour.
w(s; z) = W (z) U
/
(z)x(s) V
/
(z)y(s) U
/
(z)x(s); (5)
where dierentiation with respect to the axial coordinate
z is denoted by primes (
/
); W represents the average axial
displacement of the beam in the z direction; x and y are
the coordinates of the contour in the (x; y; z) coordinate
system; and x is the so-called sectorial coordinate or
warping function given by
x(s) =
_
r(s) ds: (6)
The displacement components u; v; w representing the
deformation of any generic point on the prole section
are given with respect to the midsurface displacements
u; v; w by assumption 3.
u(s; z; n) = u(s; z); (7a)
v(s; z; n) = v(s; z) n
o u(s; z)
os
; (7b)
w(s; z; n) = w(s; z) n
o u(s; z)
oz
: (7c)
The strains associated with the small-displacement
theory of elasticity are given by

s
=
s
n j
s
; (8a)

z
=
z
n j
z
; (8b)
c
sz
= n j
sz
; (8c)
where

s
=
o v
os
;
z
=
o w
oz
; (9a)
j
s
=
o
2
u
os
2
; j
z
=
o
2
u
oz
2
; j
sz
= 2
o
2
u
osoz
: (9b)
All the other strains are identically zero. In Eqs. (9a)
and (9b),
s
and j
s
are assumed to be zero, and
z
; j
z
and
j
sz
are midsurface axial strain and biaxial curvatures of
the shell, respectively. The above shell strains can be
converted to beam strain components by substituting
Eqs. (1a), (1b), (5) into Eqs. (9a) and (9b)

z
=

z
xj
y
yj
x
xj
x
; (10a)
j
z
= j
y
sin h j
x
cos h j
x
q; (10b)
j
sz
= j
sz
; (10c)
where
z
; j
x
; j
y
; j
x
and j
sz
are axial strain, biaxial cur-
vatures in the x and y direction, warping curvature with
respect to the shear center and twisting curvature in the
beam, respectively dened as

z
= W
/
; (11a)
j
x
= V
//
; (11b)
j
y
= U
//
; (11c)
j
x
= U
//
; (11d)
j
sz
= 2U
/
: (11e)
Fig. 1. Denition of coordinates in thin-walled open sections.
256 J. Lee / Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260
The resulting strains can be obtained from Eqs.
(8a)(8c), (10b), (10c) as

z
=

z
(x n sin h)j
y
(y n cos h)j
x
(x nq)j
x
;
(12a)
c
sz
= nj
sz
: (12b)
3. Strain energy consideration
The strain energy of the composite beams can be
written as
U =
1
2
_
v
(r
z

z
r
zs
c
zs
) dv: (13)
By substituting Eqs. (12a) and (12b) into Eq. (13), the
above expression becomes
U =
1
2
_
v
r
z
[

z
(x n sin h)j
y
(y n cos h)j
x
(x nq)j
x
)[ r
sz
nj
sz
dv
=
1
2
_
l
0
N
z

z
M
y
j
y
M
x
j
x
M
x
j
x
M
t
j
sz
dz:
(14)
In Eq. (14), N
z
; M
x
; M
y
; M
x
and M
t
are axial force,
bending moments in the x and y directions, warping
moment (bimoment), and torsional moment, respec-
tively, dened by integrating over the cross-sectional
area A as:
N
z
=
_
A
r
z
ds dn; (15a)
M
y
=
_
A
r
z
(x n sin h) ds dn; (15b)
M
x
=
_
A
r
z
(y n cos h) ds dn; (15c)
M
x
=
_
A
r
z
(x nq) ds dn; (15d)
M
t
=
_
A
r
zs
nds dn: (15e)
4. Constitutive equations
The constitutive equations of a kth orthotropic lam-
ina in the laminate co-ordinate system are given by
r
z
r
sz
_ _
k
=

Q
11

Q
16

Q
16

Q
66
_ _
k

z
c
sz
_ _
; (16)
where

Q
ij
are transformed reduced stifnesses [7]. Axial
force N
z
can now be expressed with respect to the gen-
eralized strains (

z
; j
y
; j
x
; j
x
; j
sz
) by combining Eqs.
(12a), (12b), (15a), (16)
N
z
=
_
A

Q
11
[

z
(x n sin h)j
y
(y n cos h)j
x
(x nq)j
x
[

Q
16
nj
sz
: (17)
Similarly, the other stress resultants (M
y
; M
z
; M
x
; M
t
)
can also be written in terms of the generalized strains.
Consequently, the constitutive equations for a thin-
walled laminated composite are obtained as
N
z
M
y
M
x
M
x
M
t
_

_
_

_
=
E
11
E
12
E
13
E
14
E
15
E
22
E
23
E
24
E
25
E
33
E
34
E
35
E
44
E
45
sym: E
55
_

_
_

z
j
y
j
x
j
x
j
sz
_

_
_

_
; (18)
where E
ij
are stinesses of the thin-walled composite and
can be dened by:
E
11
=
_
s
A
11
ds; (19a)
E
12
=
_
s
(A
11
x B
11
sin h) ds; (19b)
E
13
=
_
s
(A
11
y B
11
cos h) ds; (19c)
E
14
=
_
s
(A
11
x B
11
q) ds; (19d)
E
15
=
_
s
B
16
ds; (19e)
E
22
=
_
s
(A
11
x
2
2B
11
x sin h D
11
sin
2
h) ds; (19f)
E
23
=
_
s
(A
11
xy B
11
(y sin h x cos h)
D
11
sin h cos h) ds; (19g)
E
24
=
_
s
(A
11
xx B
11
(xsin h qx)
D
11
q sin h) ds; (19h)
E
25
=
_
s
(B
16
x D
16
sin h) ds; (19i)
E
33
=
_
s
(A
11
y
2
2B
11
y cos h D
11
cos
2
h) ds; (19j)
E
34
=
_
s
(A
11
yx B
11
(xcos h qy)
D
11
q cos h) ds; (19k)
E
35
=
_
s
(B
16
y D
16
cos h) ds; (19l)
E
44
=
_
s
(A
11
x
2
2B
11
xq D
11
q
2
) ds; (19m)
E
45
=
_
s
(B
16
x D
16
q) ds; (19n)
E
55
=
_
s
D
66
ds: (19o)
J. Lee / Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260 257
A
ij
; B
ij
and D
ij
matrices are extensional, coupling and
bending stiness, respectively, dened by
(A
ij
; B
ij
; D
ij
) =
_

Q
ij
(1; n; n
2
) dn: (20)
It appears that the laminate stinesses E
ij
depend on
the cross section of the composites.
5. Geometrical interpretation
5.1. Center of gravity
The center of gravity (x
c
; y
c
) is the point of application
of the axial force N
z
, which is the resultant of the axial
stresses caused by a constant state of strains

z
. Equating
moments with respect to the x axis
N
z
y
c
= M
x
: (21)
From the laminate constitutive equations in Eq. (18),
the y coordinate of the center of gravity can be dened
by
y
c
=

E
13
E
11
: (22)
Similarly, the x coordinate of the center of gravity
can be dened by
x
c
=

E
12
E
11
: (23)
In Eqs. (22) and (23)

E
12
=
_
s
(A
11
x B
11
sin h) ds; (24)

E
13
=
_
s
(A
11
y B
11
cos h) ds; (25)
where x; y is the coordinate from the origin O. The ex-
plicit form of center of gravity can be given as follows
for several cases:
Monosymmetric:
y
c
=
A
k
11
b
k
y
k
B
a
11
b
a
A
k
11
b
k
: (26)
Singly symmetric:
x
c
=
A
k
11
b
k
x
k
B
3
11
b
3
A
k
11
b
k
: (27)
In the above equations, repeated index denotes
summation. Index k varies from 1 to 3 whereas a varies
from 1 to 2 implying top and bottom anges (1; 2) and
web (3) as shown in Fig. 2. b
k
denotes the width of ange
and web.
5.2. Shear center
The warping function with respect to the center of
gravity (x
c
) is related to the warping function with re-
spect to the shear center (x) as
x = x
c
x
p
y y
p
x; (28)
where x
p
and y
p
are coordinates of shear center from the
center of gravity. Similarly, coordinate q can be written
with respect to q
c
q = q
c
x
p
cos h y
p
sin h: (29)
If the composite beam is under torsion only, normal
strain in Eq. (12a) is given by

z
= (x nq)j
x
: (30)
In this situation, the bending moments M
x
and M
y
are
zero. After substituting Eqs. (28) and (29) into Eq. (18)
Fig. 2. Geometry of singly-symmetric and monosymmetric sections.
258 J. Lee / Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260
M
x
= E
c
34
x
p
E
33
y
p
E
23
= 0; (31a)
M
y
= E
c
24
x
p
E
23
y
p
E
22
= 0; (31b)
where
E
c
24
=
_
s
(A
11
xx
c
B
11
(x
c
sin h q
c
x) D
11
q
c
sin h) ds;
(32a)
E
c
34
=
_
s
(A
11
yx
c
B
11
(x
c
cos h q
c
y) D
11
q
c
cos h) ds:
(32b)
Solving Eqs. (31a) and (31b) with respect to x
p
and y
p
yields
x
p
=
E
22
E
c
34
E
23
E
24
E
22
E
33
E
2
23
; (33a)
y
p
=
E
33
E
c
24
E
23
E
34
E
22
E
33
E
2
23
: (33b)
If the coordinate axes of the cross section of com-
posite beams are in principal direction, E
23
= 0, then the
nal expression for the location of shear center is given
by
x
p
=
E
c
34
E
33
; (34a)
y
p
=
E
c
24
E
22
: (34b)
The explicit form of center of gravity can be given as
follows for several cases:
Monosymmetric:
y
p
=
[A
a
11
y
a
B
a
11
[
b
3
a
12
D
3
11
b
3
y
3
A
a
11
b
3
a
12
D
3
11
b
3
: (35)
Singly symmetric:
x
p
=
[A
a
11
y
2
a
(x
a
b
a
) 2B
a
11
y
a
x
3
D
a
11
x
a
[b
a

b
3
3
12
(A
3
11
x
3
B
3
11
)
[A
a
11
y
2
a
2B
a
11
y
a
D
a
11
[b
a

b
3
3
12
A
3
11
:
(36)
6. Numerical results and discussion
A thin-walled composite beam with an open section is
considered in order to investigate the eects of anisot-
ropy and laminate stacking sequence on the locations of
the center of gravity and shear center. The following
engineering constants of the composite beam are used:
E
1
E
2
= 40;
G
12
E
2
= 0:6; m
12
= 0:25; (37)
where subscripts 1 and 2 indicate ber direction and
perpendicular to ber direction, respectively.
As a rst example, a singly symmetric channel section
with an equal thickness is considered. The geometry of
the cross section is as follows (Fig. 2):
t
1
= t
2
= t
3
= t;
b
1
=t = b
2
=t = 20; b
3
=t = 40:
(38)
The ber angle is varied in two ways; rst, angle-ply
laminate [h[ in the anges, and unidirectional ber
orientation in the web; second, angle-ply laminate [h[
in the web, and unidirectional ber orientation in the
anges. The locations of the center of gravity and the
shear center are illustrated in Fig. 3 with respect to the
ber angle change. The classical isotropic solution cor-
responds to the case of ber angle 0 as shown in Fig. 3.
As ber angle changes in the web, the center of gravity
moves to the center of anges whereas the shear center
moves away, i.e. the distance between the center of
gravity and the shear center increases. On the other
hand, as the ber angle changes in the ange, both the
center of gravity and the shear center approach the web,
contrary to the previous case. For both cases, the loca-
tions of the center of gravity and the shear center are
signicantly aected by the laminate stacking sequence.
The next example is a monosymmetric section with
an equal thickness. The geometry of the cross section is
as follows:
t
1
= t
2
= t
3
= t; (39)
b
1
=t = 30; b
2
=t = 20; b
3
=t = 40:
First, the ber angle is varied in the top ange and
then in the bottom ange. The locations of the center of
gravity and the shear center with respect to the variation
of ber orientation are shown in Fig. 4. As ber angle
varies in the bottom ange, the center of gravity moves
Fig. 3. Variation of center of gravity and shear center in a singly-
symmetric channel section with respect to ber angle change in the
anges and web.
J. Lee / Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260 259
slightly upward, and the shear center approaches the top
ange. As ber angle varies in the top ange, the center
of gravity gradually moves downward whereas the shear
center rapidly approaches the bottom ange. Conse-
quently, the center of gravity and the shear center co-
incide near h = 50 implying that bending-torsion can
be decoupled for certain laminate stacking sequence
even in monosymmetric sections. In Fig. 5, the locations
of the center of gravity and the shear center with respect
to the variation of ber orientation are presented. The
location of the shear center is almost invariant with re-
spect to the ber angle change while the location of the
center of gravity slightly changes as ber angle varies.
7. Concluding remarks
A rigorous denition of the center of gravity and the
shear center of a thin-walled open section laminated
composite beam is given. The method is applicable to
any arbitrary laminate stacking sequence and cross
section shape. Based on the present analysis and nu-
merical results for channel and monosymmetric sections
with angle-ply layups, it is shown that the locations of
the center of gravity and the shear center are generally
dependent on ber angle changes in the anges and web,
i.e. for thin-walled composite beams, the center of
gravity and shear center should be dened with respect
to the laminate stacking sequence. It is also shown that
the present approach is ecient for calculating the
location of the aforementioned sectional properties.
Acknowledgements
The support of the research reported here by Korea
Research Foundation through Grant KRF-99-041-
E00628-E6205 is gratefully acknowledged.
References
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[2] Gjelsvik A. The theory of thin-walled bars. New York: Wiley;
1981.
[3] Chen W, Atsuta T. Theory of beam-columns, vol. 2: space behavior
and design. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1977.
[4] Bauld NR, Tzeng LS. A Vlasov theory for ber-reinforced beams
with thin-walled open cross section. Int J Solids Struct
1984;20(3):27797.
[5] Omidvar B, Ghorbanpoor A. Nonlinear FE solution for thin-
walled open-section composite beams. J Struct Eng 1996:136978.
[6] Kabir MZ, Sherbourne AN. Optimal ber orientation in lateral
stability of laminated channel section beams. Compos Part B
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[7] Jones RM. Mechanics of composite materials. New York: Hemi-
sphere; 1975.
Fig. 5. Variation of center of gravity and shear center in a mono-
symmetric section with respect to ber angle change in the anges and
web.
Fig. 4. Variation of center of gravity and shear center in a mono-
symmetric section with respect to ber angle change in the top and
bottom anges.
260 J. Lee / Composite Structures 52 (2001) 255260