DYNAMIC ANIMATION OF STRESS MODES VIA THE INTEGRATED FORCE METHOD OF STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

Dynamic animation of stresses and displacements, which complement each other, can be a useful tool in the analysis and design of structural components. At the present time only displacement-mode animation is available through the popular sti¤ness formulation. This paper attempts to complete this valuable visualization tool by augmenting stress-mode animation to the existing art. The reformulated method of forces, which in the literature is known as the Integrated Force Method (IFM), became the analyser of choice for the development of stress-mode animation because stresses are the primary unknowns of its dynamic analysis. Animation of stresses and displacements, which have been developed successfully through the IFM analyzers, is illustrated in several examples along with a brief introduction to IFM dynamic analysis. The usefulness of animation in design optimization is illustrated considering the spacer structure component of the International Space Station as an example. An overview of the integrated force method analysis code (IFM/ANALYSERS) is provided in the appendix.