Torsional rigidity of arbitrarily shaped composite sections by hybrid finite element approach

The purpose of this study is to calculate the torsional rigidity of arbitrarily shaped composite sections on the basis of hybrid finite element approach. An analogy is used between the torsion problem and deformation of a plate which exhibits only shear behavior. In the analysis a simple hybrid finite element based on Hellinger-Reissner functional is presented and a set of numerical examples are performed to demonstrate and asses the performance of the developed element in practical applications.