Evaluation of the convergent properties of the Linear Matching Method for computing the collapse of structural components

The paper considers the application of the Linear Matching Method to the limit analysis of perfectly plastic portal frames. This allows the display of the characteristic features of this method to a class of structural problems that have been studied by several other methods. The convergence of both upper and lower bounds is proven and a simple geometric interpretation displays the nature of the programming method. Through a sequence of examples the convergence properties of the method are displayed, showing that complete convergence can sometimes be delayed by the proximity of mechanisms with near equal limit loads.