A non-uniform beam element considering shear deformation

A new type of non-uniform beam element taking into account shear deformation has been proposed for the analysis of non-uniform members with large height-span ratios in engineering structures. The expressions of element stiffness matrix and equivalent node load matrix for the non-uniform beam element are firstly derived on the basis of force method. Furthermore, by adopting the numerical integration method, accurate formulae of non-uniformity coefficient of shear stress for rectangular hollow sections are obtained. Example results show that the presented beam element behaves high accuracy and high computational efficiency, and could be adopted in the mechanical analysis of structures composed of non-uniform members.