THE HYBRID LAPLACE TRANSFORM FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD APPLIED TO THE QUASI-STATIC AND DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF VISCOELASTIC TIMOSHENKO BEAMS

The quasi-static and dynamic responses of a linear viscoelastic beam are solved numerically by using the hybrid Laplace transform/finite element method. In the analysis, the Timoshenko beam theory, which includes the transverse shear and rotatory inertia effect and conventional beam theory, are used to solve this problem. The temperature held is assumed to be constant and homogeneous and that the relaxation modulus has the form of the Prony series. In the hybrid method, the Laplace transform with respect to time is applied to the coupled equations and the finite element model is developed by applying Hamilton's variational principle without any integral transformation. The numerical results of quasi-static and dynamic responses for the models of Maxwell fluid and three parameter solid types are presented and discussed.