Nonlinear Analysis of Elastic Framed Structures

A consistent formulation for the geometrically nonlinear behavior of linear elastic rigid framed structures is developed and the appropriate equations for two solution procedures, successive substitution and Newton-Raphson, are derived. A linearized incremental loading procedure and stability analysis are described. The formulation is applied to two structures and comparison studies illustrating the effect of load increment size and convergence tolerance on the total computational effort are included. The results indicate that the Newton-Raphson method is more efficient, particularly for low convergence tolerance. Also, if only a single solution is desired, it is more efficient to apply the total load in one step rather than in increments.