An isogemetric analysis formulation for the dynamics of geometrically exact viscoelastic beams and beam systems with arbitrarily curved initial geometry

We present a novel formulation for the dynamics of geometrically exact Timoshenko beams and beam structures made of viscoelastic material featuring complex, arbitrarily curved initial geometries. An SO(3)-consistent and second-order accurate time integration scheme for accelerations, velocities and rate-dependent viscoelastic strain measures is adopted. To achieve high efficiency and geometrical flexibility, the spatial discretization is carried out with the isogemetric collocation (IGA-C) method, which permits bypassing elements integration keeping all the advantages of the isogeometric analysis (IGA) in terms of high-order space accuracy and geometry representation. Moreover, a primal formulation guarantees the minimal kinematic unknowns. The generalized Maxwell model is deployed directly to the one-dimensional beam strain and stress measures. This allows to express the internal variables in terms of the same kinematic unknowns, as for the case of linear elastic rate-independent materials bypassing the complexities introduced by the viscoelastic material. As a result, existing SO(3)-consistent linearizations of the governing equations in the strong form (and associated updating formulas) can straightforwardly be used. Through a series of numerical tests, the attributes and potentialities of the proposed formulation are demonstrated. In particular, we show the capability to accurately simulate beams and beam systems featuring complex initial geometry and topology, opening interesting perspectives in the inverse design of programmable mechanical meta-materials and objects.