BasedonexactGreenstrainofspatialcurvedbeam,thenonlinearstrain-displacementrelationforplanecurvedbeamwithvaryingcurvatureisderived.Insteadofusingthepreviousstraightbeamelements,curvedbeamelementsareusedtoapproximatethecurvedbeamwithvaryingcurvature.Basedonvirtualworkprinciple,rigid-flexiblecouplingdynamicequationsareobtained.Physicalexperimentswerecarriedouttocapturethelargeoverallmotionandthestrainofcurvedbeamtoverifythepresentrigid-flexiblecouplingformulationforcurvedbeambasedoncurvedbeamelement.Numericalresultsobtainedfromsimulationswerecomparedwiththoseresultsfromthephysicalexperiments.Inordertoillustratetheeffectivenessofthecurvedbeamelementmethodology,thesimulationresultsofpresentcurvedbeamelementsarecomparedwiththoseobtainedbypreviousstraightbeamelements.Thedynamicbehaviorofaslider-crankmechanismwithaninitiallycurvedelasticconnectingrodisinvestigated.Theadvantageofemployinggeneralized-αmethodispointedoutandthespecialnonlineardynamiccharacteristicsofthecurvedbeamareconcluded.
