VABS
The Best Tool for Modeling Composite Beams
Frustrated having a slender structure with a cross section as complex as this? VABS can help you!
Target Applications
Introduction
To use beam models such as Euler-Bernoulli model, Timoshenko model, or Vlasov model to analyze composite slender structures such as helicopter rotor blades, wind turbine blades, or composite bridges, engineers must be equipped with a general-purpose cross-sectional analysis tool to calculate sectional properties, including structural properties (tension center/neutral axis, centroid, elastic axis/shear center, shear correction factors, extensional/torsional/bending/ shearing stiffness, principal bending axes pitch angle, modulus weighted radius of gyration) and inertia properties (center of mass/ gravity, mass per unit span, mass moments of inertia, principal inertia axes pitch angle, mass weighted radius of gyration).
Variational Asymptotical Beam Sectional Analysis (VABS), an efficient high-fidelity cross-sectional analysis originally developed at Georgia Tech and later significantly enhanced at Utah State University, is a unique tool capable of realistic modeling of initially curved and twisted anisotropic beams with arbitrary sectional topology and materials. Relative to 3D analyses, two to three orders of magnitude in computing time can be saved using VABS, with little loss of accuracy. The advantages of VABS over other technologies have been clearly demonstrated by virtue of its generality, accuracy, and efficiency. All US major helicopter companies and research labs have requested VABS. For example, Boeing has acquired VABS into its Common Structures Workstation.
VABS is designed to model structures for which one dimension is much larger than the other two (i.e., a beam-like body), even if the structures are made of composite materials and have a complex internal struct
ure. VABS implements a rigorous dimensional reduction: from a 3D elasticity description to a 1D continuum model. All the details of the cross-sectional geometry and material properties are included as inputs to calculate both structural and inertial coefficients. These properties can be directly imported into 1D beam analyses to predict the global behavior, which is necessary for predicting pointwise 3D distributions of displacement, strain and stress over the cross section by VABS. The details of VABS features and functionalities can be found in the accompanion user manual.
After a period of continuous development spanning more than 20 years, VABS has reached a level of maturity; and its accuracy has been extensively verified by its developers and users. The performance and robustness of code have been continuously improved based on feedback from its users throughout the world.