An object-oriented implementation of structural path-following Original Research Article

The paper describes an object-oriented implementation in C++ of structural path-following. The necessary parts leading to the full implementation are shown, starting from a matrix class library used as a foundation for all matrix computations. The paper continues by describing a module containing common finite element algorithms needed for the modeling of general structures with arbitrary constraints. The path-following algorithms are contained in a separate module. The default algorithms are briefly explained and it is shown how these can be redefined (through inheritance) by algorithms better suited for a specific problem. It is shown how the two modules are integrated into a general path-following implementation. Finally, some numerical examples, showing the efficiency of the implementation and simplicity of using it, are presented.