A simple FEM formulation for large deflection 2D frame analysis based on position description Original Research Article

This study presents a simple formulation to treat large deflections by the finite element method. The proposed formulation does not use the displacement concept. It considers position as the main unknown variable of the problem. The strain determination is performed directly from the proposed position concept. A non-dimensional space is created and relative curvature and fibers length are calculated for both reference and deformed configurations and used to directly compute the strain energy at general points. This procedure is very simple and presents good results, as shown in the example section. The simplicity of the resulting formulation may be considered as its main attribute. Two-dimensional frame problems are analyzed by the proposed formulation.