6. Conclusions
(1) Considering the coupling effect of axial force, bending moment and shear force, the displacement interpolation functions of the spatial beam-column element under axial tension and axial compression are derived respectively based on the differential equilibrium equations of the deformed member. (2) The different displacement interpolation functions of the tension and compression elements are unified by replacing the stability integration functions with the Maclaurin series, and the unified functions are completely equivalent to those expressed by stability integration functions. The number of series expansion terms in unified displacement interpolation functions is determined from aspects of calculation accuracy and positive definiteness of the structural general stiffness matrixes. (3) The second-order element tangent stiffness matrix considering the effect of axial deformation, shear deformation, biaxial bending and torsion is derived. (4) Numerical calculation results by this element model accord well with the experimental data, and it indicates the accurateness of this element. Different element models are used in the analyses of a single layer lattice shell, and calculation results indicate that the geometrical nonlinearity of the structure is efficiently exhibited by the refined spatial beam-column element proposed in this paper. Acknowledgments Financial supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China (51508557, 91315301), Open Fund of the Airport Engineering Research Base of Civil Aviation University of China (KFJJ2014JCGC05), Research Initial Fund of Civil Aviation University of China (2014QD08X), and Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities “Seismic Isolation Control Research of Near-Fault Airport Architecture in High Seismic Intensity Region” are gratefully acknowledged.