Approximate expression of the Prandtl membrane analogy in linear elastic pure torsion of open thin-walled cross sections and regular polygons

This paper presents a new general methodology to obtain an approximate analytical expression of the Saint-Venant's torsion. The shear stress in each of the principal Cartesian directions is obtained by the derivation of the stress function, whose analytical expression is obtained from the Prandtl analogy. The proposed methodology uses two variables quadratic piecewise functions to define the Prandtl membrane. This document shows that the approximate procedure is especially suitable for steel shapes, giving values very close to those obtained with more precise methods. The main advantage of the presented methodology is its simplicity, which makes it useful for both pedagogic and practical applications. Several examples are developed.