Tangential differential calculus for curved, linear Kirchhoff beams with systematic convergence studies

Summary

We propose a reformulation of linear Kirchhoff beams in two dimensions based on the tangential differential calculus (TDC). The rotation-free formulation of the Kirchhoff beam is classically based on curvilinear coordinates. However, for general applications in engineering and sciences that take place on curved geometries embedded in a higher-dimensional space, the tangential differential calculus enables a formulation independent of curvilinear coordinates and, hence, is suitable also for implicitly defined geometries. The geometry and differential operators are formulated in global Cartesian coordinates related to the embedding space.

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