A semi-analytical approach for the non-linear large deflection analysis of laminated rectangular plates under general out-of-plane loading

A semi-analytical approach for the geometrically non-linear analysis of rectangular laminated plates with general inplane and out-of-plane boundary conditions under a general distribution of out-of-plane loads is developed. The analysis is based on the elastic thin plate theory with geometrically non-linear von Kármán strains. The solution of the non-linear partial differential equations is reduced to an iterative sequential solution of non-linear ordinary differential equations using the multi-term extended Kantorovich method. The efficiency, accuracy, and convergence of the proposed method are examined through a comparison with other semi-analytical methods and with finite element analyses. The capabilities of the approach and its applicability to the non-linear large deflection analysis of plate structures are demonstrated through various numerical examples. Emphasis is placed on combinations of lamination, boundary, and loading conditions that cannot be analyzed using alternative semi-analytical methods.     

Poromechanical response of a finite elastic cylinder under axisymmetric loading

Drained or undrained cylindrical specimens under axisymmetric loading are commonly used in laboratory testing of soils and rocks. Poroelastic cylindrical elements are also encountered in applications related to bioengineering and advanced materials. This paper presents an analytical solution for an axisymmetrically-loaded solid poroelastic cylinder of finite length with permeable (drained) or impermeable (undrained) hydraulic boundary conditions. The general solutions are derived by first applying Laplace transforms with respect to the time and then solving the resulting governing equations in terms of Fourier–Bessel series, which involve trigonometric and hyperbolic functions with respect to the z-coordinate and Bessel functions with respect to the r-coordinate. Several time-dependent boundary-value problems are solved to demonstrate the application of the general solution to practical situations. Accuracy of the numerical solution is confirmed by comparing with the existing solutions for the limiting cases of a finite elastic cylinder and a poroelastic cylinder under plane strain conditions. Selected numerical results are presented for different cylinder aspect ratios, loading and hydraulic boundary conditions to demonstrate the key features of the coupled poroelastic response.     

A general failure criterion for spot welds under combined loading conditions

The circumferential failure mode of spot welds is investigated under combined loading conditions. Failure mechanisms of spot welds under different loading conditions are first examined by the experimental observations and a plane stress finite element analysis. An approximate limit load analysis for spot welds is then conducted to understand the failure loads of spot welds under combinations of resultant forces and resultant moments with consideration of the global equilibrium conditions only. The approximate limit load solution for circumferential failure is expressed in terms of sheet thickness, nugget diameter and combinations of loads. Failure contours are generated for spot welds under opening and shear loading conditions. The results indicate that failure contours become smaller when the ratio of the sheet thickness to the nugget diameter increases. Based on the approximate limit load solution, a general quadratic failure criterion for spot welds under combined three resultant forces and three resultant moments is proposed with correction factors determined by fitting to the experimental results of spot welds under combined loading conditions. The failure criterion can be used to characterize the failure loads of spot welds with consideration of the effects of sheet thickness, nugget diameter and combinations of loads. Experimental spot weld failure loads under combined opening and shear loading conditions and those under combined shear and twisting loading conditions are shown to be characterized well by the proposed failure criterion. Finally, a simplified general failure criterion for spot welds under three resultant forces and three resultant moments is proposed by neglecting the coupling terms of the resultant forces and moments for convenient use of the failure criterion for engineering applications.     

A finite volume cell‐centered Lagrangian hydrodynamics approach for solids in general unstructured grids

A finite volume cell‐centered Lagrangian hydrodynamics approach, formulated in Cartesian frame, is presented for solving elasto‐plastic response of solids in general unstructured grids. Because solid materials can sustain significant shear deformation, evolution equations for stress and strain fields are solved in addition to mass, momentum, and energy conservation laws. The total stress is split into deviatoric shear stress and dilatational components. The dilatational response of the material is modeled using the Mie‐Grüneisen equation of state. A predicted trial elastic deviatoric stress state is evolved assuming a pure elastic deformation in accordance with the hypo‐elastic stress‐strain relation. The evolution equations are advanced in time by constructing vertex velocity and corner traction force vectors using multi‐dimensional Riemann solutions erected at mesh vertices. Conservation of momentum and total energy along with the increase in entropy principle are invoked for computing these quantities at the vertices. Final state of deviatoric stress is effected via radial return algorithm based on the J‐2 von Mises yield condition. The scheme presented in this work is second‐order accurate both in space and time. The suitability of the scheme is evinced by solving one‐ and two‐dimensional benchmark problems both in structured grids and in unstructured grids with polygonal cells. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

雨载作用下浮顶结构有限元分析的载荷修正法

浮顶结构的受力与变形之间存在着非线性的耦合关系,这给计算分析带来了很大的麻烦。为了解决这一问题,本文提出了单盘式浮顶结构在雨水载荷作用下有限元分析的载荷修正计算方法。通过对浮顶结构力学模型的分析,建立了浮顶结构载荷与单盘挠度之间的关系式,并基于这一关系式给出了浮顶结构有限元分析的载荷修正法和相应计算方案。载荷修正法的基本思想是,首先利用有限元方法对浮顶结构进行几何大变形非线性分析,然后通过迭代修正来调整载荷大小,使得计算得到的载荷与挠度满足给定关系式,最终获得浮顶结构的变形与受力情况。最后,将计算结果与试验结果进行了比较,验证了本文提出的计算方法的有效性和可靠性,为浮顶结构的进一步有限元分析打下基础。     

Large deflections of cantilever beams of non-linear elastic material under a combined loading

Large deflection of cantilever beams made of Ludwick type material subjected to a combined loading consisting of a uniformly distributed load and one vertical concentrated load at the free end was investigated. Governing equation was derived by using the shearing force formulation instead of the bending moment formulation because in the case of large deflected member, the shearing force formulation possesses some computational advantages over the bending moment formulation. Since the problem involves both geometrical and material non-linearities, the governing equation is complicated non-linear differential equation, which would in general require numerical solutions to determine the large deflection for a given loading. Numerical solution was obtained by using Butcher's fifth order Runge-Kutta method and are presented in a tabulated form.     

On tensile instabilities and ellipticity loss in fiber-reinforced incompressible non-linearly elastic solids

Loss of ellipticity and associated failure in fiber-reinforced non-linearly elastic solids is examined for uniaxial plane deformations. We consider separately fiber reinforcement that either endows the material with additional stiffness only in the fiber direction or introduces additional stiffness under shear deformations. In the first case it is shown that loss of ellipticity under tensile loading in the fiber direction corresponds to a turning point of the nominal stress and requires concavity of the Cauchy stress–stretch curve. For the second example loss of ellipticity occurs after the nominal stress maximum and prior to a turning point of the Cauchy stress.     

A finite element study of the near crack tip deformation of a ductile material under mixed mode loading

In ductile fracture, voids near a crack tip play an important role. From this point of view, a large deformation finite element analysis has been made to study the deformation, stress and strain, and void ratio near the crack tip under mixed mode plane strain loading conditions, employing Gurson's constitutive equation which has taken into account the effects of void nucleation and growth. The results show that: (i) one corner of the crack tip sharpens while the other corner blunts, (ii) the stress and strain distributions except for the near crack tip region, can be superimposed by normalizing distance from the crack tip by a crack tip deformation length, i.e., a steady-state solution under a mixed mode condition has been obtained, (iii) the field near a crack tip can be divided into four characteristic fields (K field, HRR field, blunted crack tip field, and damaged region), and (iv) the strain and void volume fraction become concentrated in the sharpened part of a crack tip with increasing Mode II component.     

Propagation and interaction of non-linear elastic plane waves in soft solids

Using the perturbation method of weakly non-linear asymptotics we analyze the propagation and interaction of elastic plane waves in a model of a soft solid proposed by Hamilton et al. [Separation of compressibility and shear deformation in the elastic energy density, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (2004) 41-44]. We derive the evolution equations for the wave amplitudes and find analytical formulas for all interaction coefficients of quadratically non-linear interacting waves. We show that in spite of the assumption of almost incompressibility used in Hamilton et al. [Separation of compressibility and shear deformation in the elastic energy density, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (2004) 41-44], the model behaves essentially like that of a compressible isotropic material. Both the structure of the equations and the interaction patterns are similar. The models differ, however, in the elastic constants that characterize them, and hence the values of the coefficients in the evolution equations and the values of the interaction coefficients differ.     

A stable least-squares finite element method for non-linear hyperbolic problems

A class of stable least-square finite element methods for non-linear hyperbolic problems is developed and some exploratory studies made. The methods are based on modifying the L²-norm of the. residual and a related approximation to the H¹-norm of the residual. The effect of the additional terms in these residual functionals is to introduce a dissipative effect proportional to the solution gradient. This acts to stabilize the solution for non-linear hyperbolic problems which generate shocks. Numerical results for a one-dimensional nozzle and shock tube problem demonstrate the accuracy and stability of the method. Results are for an implicit scheme and calculations for linear, quadratic and cubic elements are given.     

On a pure complementary energy principle and a force-based finite element formulation for non-linear elastic cables

A complementary-dual force-based finite element formulation is proposed for the geometrically exact quasi-static analysis of one-dimensional hyperelastic perfectly flexible cables lying in the two-dimensional space. This formulation employs as approximate functions the exact statically admissible force fields, i.e., those that satisfy the equilibrium differential equations in strong form, as well as the equilibrium boundary conditions. The formulation relies on a principle of total complementary energy only expressed in terms of force fields, being therefore called a pure principle. Under the assumption of stress-unilateral behavior, this principle can be regarded as being dual to the principle of minimum total potential energy, corresponding therefore to a maximum principle. Some numerical applications, including cables suspended from two and three points at the same level or at different levels, with both Hookean and Neo-Hookean material behaviors, are presented. As it will be shown, in contrast to the standard two-node displacement-based formulation derived from the principle of minimum total potential energy, the proposed dual force-based formulation is capable of providing the exact solution of a given problem only using a single finite element per cable. Both the proposed principle of pure complementary energy and its corresponding force-based finite element formulation can be easily extended to the case of cables lying in the three-dimensional space.     

A new semi-analytical method for the non-linear static analysis of an infinite beam on a non-linear elastic foundation: A general approach to a variable beam cross-section

We propose a new non-linear method for the static analysis of an infinite non-uniform beam resting on a non-linear elastic foundation under localized external loads. To this end, an integral operator equation is newly formulated, which is equivalent to the original differential equation of non-uniform beam. By using the integral operator equation, we propose a new functional iterative method for static beam analysis as a general approach to a variable beam cross-section. The method proposed is fairly simple as well as straightforward to apply. An illustrative example is presented to examine the validity of the proposed method. It shows that just a few iterations are required for an accurate solution.     

Wrinkling of thick orthotropic sandwich plates under general loading conditions

Summary  This contribution presents an efficient analytical model as well as a FE computation of the critical load, which leads to local stability failure (wrinkling) in sandwich structures. The analytical model assumes an orthotropic face layer and a thick transversely isotropic core. In the last section, a more general core material model is considered. Common core materials (foams and honeycombs) can be described with good accuracy within this model. The main advantage of the solution is the consideration of general loading conditions for the orthotropic face layer as well as in-plane deformations of the core. The results of the FE calculations and the analytical model are in good agreement with each other. Received 7 January 1999; accepted for publication 15 June 1999     

Density-contrast instabilities in finite element modelling of slow viscous flow

Finite element methods are often used to model Earth processes involving slow viscous or viscoelastic flow. Inertial terms of the Navier-Stokes equations are neglected in very slow flows, so timestep size is not limited by the Courant instability. However, where there is advection of density contrasts in a gravitational field, over-advection can lead to numerically induced flow oscillations. We derive analytic results for the maximum stable timestep size in two cases: a free surface over a fluid of uniform density, and a free surface kept level by sedimentation/erosion, but with a density gradient in the underlying medium. Using parameters appropriate to the Earth's crust we show that the density-contrast instability occurs for timesteps larger than 3000 years for the constant-density case. For a fluid with a density gradient of 10 kg/m³ per km the solution is stable for timesteps up to about 200,000 years if full erosion/sedimentation is implemented.     

A mechanical model on elastic cavitation in solid under hydrostatic tension

In this paper, a mechanical model is proposed to study cavitation in solids. The material is elastic and obeys Hook's law. Logarithm strain and Cauchy stress in nonlinear elasticity is used. A sphere with a central hole is loaded under hydrostatic tension on surface. In spherical symmetry, closed form solution is got. As radius of the hole tends to zero, a pitchfork bifurcation appears on load-displacement curve. The pitchfork bifurcation indicates that there is a cavitation at center of solid sphere as load reaches a critical value.