On limit analysis of discs by a rigid finite element method Original Research Article

The paper introduces a numerical method for calculating the load-carrying capacity of discs. The discrete model was found by a division of the disc area into rigid triangular finite elements. It was assumed that plastic strains would only occur at the joints between rigid elements. The task was formulated as two equivalent problems of linear mathematics programming and it was solved by the SIMPLEX procedure. The results were calculated for both linear and non-linear plastic conditions. The effect that the pattern of discretization has on the load-carrying capacity of a structure was also tested. The problems were solved numerically by the method suggested in this paper. A numerical programme called TARCZA was elaborated upon in the programming language FORTRAN 77. The programme will be presented in this paper. The calculations were conduced on an IBM personal computer.