Complete tangent stiffness matrix considering higher-order terms in the strain tensor and large rotations for a Euler Bernoulli - Timoshenko space beam-column element.

This paper presents a unified method developed by Rodrigues et al. [1] to obtain a complete tangent stiffness matrix for spatial geometric nonlinear analysis using minimal discretization. The formulation presents four distinct important aspects to a complete analysis: interpolation (shape) functions, higher-order terms in the strain tensor and in the finite rotations, an updated Lagrangian kinematic description, and shear deformation effect (Timoshenko beam theory).