Abstract

The main objective of the present paper is a generalization of some classical results for curved beams made of heterogeneous materials. We consider a beam made of nonhomogeneous, isotropic, linearly elastic material. The elastic parameters depend on the cross-sectional coordinates only. Our investigations include the determination of the normal stress (i.e., the generalization of the Grashof formula), the shearing stress and the curvature change. Interestingly, our newly established formulae have the same structure as the classical ones. We conclude with numerical examples which illustrate the applicability of our results.