In this paper we analyze the vibrations of nonlinear structures by means of the novel approach of isogeometric finite elements. The fundamental idea of isogeometricfinite elements is to apply the same functions, namely B-Splines and NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines), fordescribing the geometry and for representing the numericalsolution. In case of linear vibrational analysis, this approachhas already been shown to possess substantial advantages over classical finite elements, and we extend it here to a non-linear framework based on the harmonic balance principle. As application, the straight nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beamis used, and overall, it is demonstrated that isogeometric finite elements with B-Splines in combination with the harmonic balance method are a powerful means for the analysisof nonlinear structural vibrations. In particular, the smoother k-method provides higher accuracy than the p-method forisogeometric nonlinear vibration analysis.

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Keywords: Isogeometric analysis, finite element method, nonlinear vibration, harmonic balance, nonlinear beam