Reply To: Which beam element for large deformation (Hughes-Liu vs Belytschko-Schwer)

[Jim Day]

I think it’s safe to assume that nonlinear material behavior accompanies the large deformation in your application. H-L beams are integrated beams; B-S beams are resultant beams. I would recommend Hughes-Liu beams for a number of reasons, including being able to specify the cross-section shape and number/location of cross-section integration points and also having access to a wider variety of nonlinear material models.