CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO NONLINEAR ANALYSIS

1.
INTRODUCTION TO NONLINEAR ANALYSIS

Some important engineering
phenomena can only be assessed on
the basis of a nonlinear analysis:
Collapse or buckling of structures
due to sudden overloads
Progressive damage behavior due to
long lasting severe loads
For certain structures (e.g. cables),
nonlinear phenomena need be
included in the analysis even for
service load calculations.

The need for nonlinear analysis has
increased in recent years due to the
need for
- use of optimized structures
- use of new materials
- addressing safety-related issues of
structures more rigorously
The corresponding benefits can be
most important.
Problems to be addressed by a non-linear finite element analysis are found in
almost all branches of engineering, most notably in,
Nuclear Engineering
Earthquake Engineering
Automobile Industries
Defense Industries
Aeronautical Engineering
Mining Industries
Offshore Engineering
and so on.

A nonlinear analysis is needed if the loading on a structure causes significant
changes in stiffness. Typical reasons for stiffness to change significantly are:
Strains beyond the elastic limit (plasticity)
Large deflections, such as with a loaded fishing rod
Contact between two bodies

1.1 BASIC CONCEPT

When a load causes significant changes in stiffness, the load-deflection
curve becomes nonlinear.
The challenge is to calculate the nonlinear displacement response using a
linear set of equations.



One approach is to apply the load gradually by dividing it into a series of
increments and adjusting the stiffness matrix at the end of each increment.
The problem with this approach is that errors accumulate with each load
increment, causing the final results to be out of equilibrium.


ANSYS uses the Newton-Raphson algorithm:
Applies the load gradually, in increments.
Also performs equilibrium iterations at each load increment to drive the
incremental solution to equilibrium.
Solves the equation [K
T
]{Du} = {F} - {F
nr
}
[K
T
] = tangent stiffness matrix
{u} = displacement increment
{F} = external load vector
{F
nr
} = internal force vector
Iterations continue until {F} - {F
nr
} (difference between external and
internal loads) is within a tolerance.



This process is repeated for each load increment until the full external load
has been applied.
Thus a nonlinear solution typically involves the following:
One or more load steps to apply the external loads and boundary
conditions. (This is true of linear analyses too.)

Multiple substeps to apply the load gradually. Each substep
represents one load increment. (A linear analysis needs just one
substep per load step.)


Equilibrium iterations to obtain equilibrium (or convergence) at each
substep. (Does not apply to linear analyses.)



Time and Time Step
Each load step and substep is associated with a value of time.
Time in most nonlinear static analyses is simply used as a counter and does
not mean actual, chronological time.


By default, time = 1.0 at the end of load step 1, 2.0 at the end of load
step 2, and so on.
For rate-independent analyses, you can set it to any desired value for
convenience. For example, by setting time equal to the load
magnitude, you can easily plot the load-deflection curve.

The "time increment" between each substep is the time step Dt.
Time step Dt determines the load increment DF over a substep. The higher
the value of Dt, the larger the DF, so Dt has a direct effect on the accuracy
of the solution.
ANSYS has an automatic time stepping algorithm that predicts and controls
the time step size for all substeps in a load step.
















1.2 TYPES OF NONLINEARITY

Nonlinear Material
Materials that do not have a complete linear stress strain curve as
seen in plastic and rubber materials for example.
Nonlinear Geometry
Geometric nonlinearities involve nonlinearities in kinematic quantities
such as the strain-displacement relations in solids. Such nonlinearities can
occur due to large displacements, large strains, large rotations, and so on.
Nonlinear Boundary Condition
Boundary conditions that involve components in contact with one
another often produce disproportionate changes in deformation.
Nonlinear Loading Condition
Loading changes over time.



Abstract

The ultimate compressive strength of unstiffened plates is very important
from the design and safety viewpoint. However, the ultimate compressive
strength of these panels will depend quite significantly on the initial welding
distortions and residual stresses. Currently, most of the researches
concerning the effect of welding distortions concentrate only on the
maximum initial distortion amplitude. However, many evidences indicate
that the welding distortion shape could also affect the ultimate compressive
strength significantly. In this paper, we adopt a combination of the elastic
large deflection theory and the rigid-plastic analysis, proposed by
Paik and Pedersen and later was generalized by the present authors.
Various factors including the initial deflection shape which affect the
ultimate compressive strength of unstiffened plates are investigated.

Nomenclature

a plate length
b plate width

bt breadth of tensile residual stress
E Youngs modulus
Aspect ratio (a/b)

Plate slenderness

v Poissons ratio
y Yield strength
xu Stress in X direction
yu Stress in Y direction
a plate length
b plate width