A generic approach for the solution of nonlinear residual equations. Part III: Sensitivity computations

Sensitivity analysis provides qualitative and quantitative information on the behaviour of the model under study, and offers an access to gradients that may be used for identification purposes. Such precious information may be obtained at a low development cost applying a generic automatic differentiation (AD) tool to the computer code implementing this model. Nonlinear residual problems solved through a path following method may be addressed too. In this paper, AD techniques are adapted to the Taylor-based asymptotic numerical method. A sensitivity study of a laminated glass beam to the perturbation of some material and geometric parameters, and the perturbation of elementary stiffness matrices illustrates the method.