Post‐buckling analysis of structures by dynamic relaxation

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents a displacement incrementation procedure to handle multiple loadings in post‐buckling analysis of structures by Dynamic Relaxation (DR). This procedure is generalized and a ‘variable‐arc‐length’ method is proposed to automate the tracing of load‐deflection path. The resulting algorithm exactly traces limit points and can handle ‘snap‐through’ or ‘snap‐back’ problems. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by typical examples of truss, beam and shell structures.