Nonlinear Elastic Truss Analysis by Partitioning

A method is given for the analysis of nonlinear trusses which can be partitioned into a series of statically determinate substructures such that each substructure is coupled to two adjacent substructures. In the case of such structures, the number of independent variables to be determined in order to evaluate the forces in all the members is considerably reduced. The method is the same as the state space analysis herein used for controlled systems. The formulation given results in a set of operator equations with the interacting forces between the substructures as dependent variables and the properties of truss elements as independent variables. The method is applied to trusses having conservative, nonlinear elements undergoing small deformations. The resulting set of equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson technique.