Large Displacement Analysis of Cyclically Loaded Inelastic Structures

An explicit finite element numerical model for the study of nonlinear transient responses of cyclically loaded inelastic structures is presented in this study. The convected material frame approach, which is a modification of the co-rotational approximation, is used to deal with the large geometric behavior of structures. The DafaliasPopov two-surface model is adopted to describe the uniaxial cyclic inelastic material behavior. The gradual plastification through the cross section and along the member length, the Bauschinger effect, strain hardening, and residual stresses produced during hysteretic plastic deformation are considered in the analysis. The structures subjected to horizontal triangular wave load, sine wave load, earthquake load, and horizontal harmonic wave load are studied. The numerical results show that the present approach is capable of simulating the nonlinear transient responses of frame structures.