Computational aspects of the integration of the von Mises linear hardening constitutive laws

The problem of the integration of the von Mises linear kinematic and isotropic hardening constitutive equations is considered. A new numerical integration algorithm, a generalised trapezoidal rule, is proposed and discussed in detail. It is shown how the structure of the elastic-plastic constitutive equations of the, well known, backward difference and midpoint rules, leading to a symmetric consistent tangent modulus, can be adopted for this trapezoidal rule. On this base a unified treatment of the backward difference, midpoint, and trapezoidal rules is presented. An accuracy analysis is conducted by means of detailed isoerror maps so as to provide a comparison between different integration algorithms.     

Closed-form solutions for stepped Timoshenko beams with internal singularities and along-axis external supports

The Timoshenko beam model in presence of internal singularities causing deflection and rotation discontinuities and resting on external concentrated supports along the span is studied in a static context. The internal singularities are modelled as concentrated reductions in the flexural and the shear stiffness by making use of the distribution theory. Along-axis supports are treated as unknown concentrated loads and moments. An exact integration procedure of the proposed model, not requiring continuity conditions at all, is presented. Closed-form solutions are provided for both cases of homogeneous and stepped Timoshenko beams. The so-called static Green’s functions are also obtained by the proposed procedure and their explicit expressions are provided.     

Pre-Envelope Covariance Differential Equations For White and Nonwhite Input Processes

The pre-envelope process is a complex process whose statistics are strictly related to the statistics of the envelope of a given process. The paper deals with the evaluation of the covariances of the pre-envelope output process of classically and nonclassically damped linear systems subjected to stationary and nonstationary white and nonwhite pre-envelope input process. More precisely, the pre-envelope covariances for nonwhite complex input processes are evaluated as solution of a set of first order differential equations. Furthermore, in the paper the pre-envelope of the white input process is defined, and for such input the pre-envelope covariance differential equations are determined by means of an extension to the complex field of the stochastic differential calculus. Sommario.Il processo 'pre-inviluppo' é un processo complesso i cui parametri statistici sono strettamente legati a quelli del processo 'inviluppo'. Il lavoro riguarda la valutazione delle covarianze del processo pre–inviluppo della risposta di sistemi dinamici classicamente e non classicamente smorzati soggetti a processi pre–inviluppo bianchi e filtrati, stazionari e non stazionari. Piprecisamente, nel caso di un processo filtrato pre–inviluppo le covarianze della risposta sono valutate come soluzione di un sistema di equazioni differenziali del primo ordine. Inoltre, nel lavoro definito il processo pre–inviluppo di un processo bianco e per tale caso sono presentate le equazioni differenziali delle covarianze della risposta ottenute attraverso l'estensione al campo complesso del classico calcolo differenziale stocastico.     

Flutter and divergence instability of the multi-cracked cantilever beam-column

For conservative systems instability can occur only by divergence and the presence of damage can produce both a reduction of the buckling loads and modification of the corresponding mode shapes, depending on the positions and intensities of the damage distribution. For nonconservative systems instability is found to occur by divergence, flutter, or both, characterised by multiple stable and unstable ranges of the loads whose boundary can be altered by the damage distribution. This paper focuses on the stability behaviour of multi-cracked cantilever Euler beam-column subjected to conservative or nonconservative axial loads. The exact flutter and divergence critical loads are obtained by means of the exact closed form solution of the multi-cracked beam-column, derived by the authors in a previous paper. The extensive numerical applications, reported in the paper, aimed at evaluating the influence of several damage scenarios for different values of the degree of nonconservativeness. It is shown how the presence of damage can strongly modify the ranges of divergence and flutter critical loads of the corresponding undamaged cantilever column, which has been the subject of several papers starting from the Pflüger paradoxical results.     

Limit Analysis of Structures with Stochastic Strengths by a Static Approach

A procedure for the evaluation of the conditional probability of collapse of elastic–plastic structures with stochastic strengths is presented. The procedure represents an extension to the stochastic framework of the static approach, coupled with the method of redundant unknowns, well established in the classical deterministic limit analysis. In this paper, a kinematic approach for probabilistic limit analysis, provided in the literature, is also recalled in order to show the duality with the proposed static approach.A beam of elastic perfectly plastic material with correlated stochastic strengths is studied and the influence of the degree of correlation between cross-sections is evidenced. When a low correlation is encountered an accurate discretisation is necessary. Furthermore, investigation of the influence of different collapse events on the conditional probability of collapse is conducted for a frame structure.     

The influence of the axial force on the vibration of the Euler–Bernoulli beam with an arbitrary number of cracks

The exact closed-form solution for the vibration modes and the eigen-value equation of the Euler–Bernoulli beam-column in the presence of an arbitrary number of concentrated open cracks is proposed. The solution is provided explicitly as functions of four integration constants only, to be determined by the standard boundary conditions. The enforcement of the boundary conditions leads the exact evaluation of the vibration frequencies as well as the buckling load of the beam-column and the corresponding eigen-modes. Furthermore, the presented solution allows a comprehensive evaluation of the influence of the axial load on the modal parameters of the beam. The cracks, which are not subjected to the closing phenomenon, are modelled as a sequence of Dirac’s delta generalised functions in the flexural stiffness. The eigen-mode governing equation is formulated over the entire domain of the beam without enforcement of any further continuity condition. The influence of the axial load on the vibration modes of beam-columns with different number and position of cracks, under different boundary conditions, has been analysed by means of the proposed closed-form expressions. The presented parametric analysis highlights some abrupt changes of the eigen-modes and the corresponding frequencies.     

Exact solution of the multi-cracked Euler–Bernoulli column

The use of distributions (generalized functions) is a powerful tool to treat singularities in structural mechanics and, besides providing a mathematical modelling, their capability of leading to closed form exact solutions is shown in this paper. In particular, the problem of stability of the uniform Euler–Bernoulli column in presence of multiple concentrated cracks, subjected to an axial compression load, under general boundary conditions is tackled. Concentrated cracks are modelled by means of Dirac’s delta distributions. An integration procedure of the fourth order differential governing equation, which is not allowed by the classical distribution theory, is proposed. The exact buckling mode solution of the column, as functions of four integration constants, and the corresponding exact buckling load equation for any number, position and intensity of the cracks are presented. As an example a parametric study of the multi-cracked simply supported and clamped–clamped Euler–Bernoulli columns is presented.     

The influence of multiple cracks on tensile and compressive buckling of shear deformable beams

In this work the static stability of the uniform Timoshenko column in presence of multiple cracks, subjected to tensile or compressive loads, is analyzed. The governing differential equations are formulated by modeling the cracks as concentrated reductions of the flexural stiffness, accomplished by the use of Dirac’s delta distributions. The adopted model has allowed the derivation of the exact buckling modes and the corresponding buckling load equations of the Timoshenko multi-cracked column, as a function of four integration constant only, which are derived simply by enforcing the end boundary conditions, irrespective of the number of concentrated damage. Since shear deformability has been taken into account, the buckling load equation allows capturing both compressive and tensile buckling. The latter phenomenon has been recently investigated with reference to rubber bearing isolators, modeled as short beams, but it has been shown to occur also in slender beams characterized by high distributed shear deformation, like composite and layered beams. The influence of multiple concentrated cracks on the stability of shear deformable beams, particularly under the action of tensile loads, has never been assessed in the literature and is here addressed on the basis of an extensive parametric analysis. All the reported results have been compared with the Euler multi-cracked column in order to highlight its limits of applicability.     

A novel beam finite element with singularities for the dynamic analysis of discontinuous frames

In this work, a model of the stepped Timoshenko beam in presence of deflection and rotation discontinuities along the span is presented. The proposed model relies on the adoption of Heaviside’s and Dirac’s delta distributions to model abrupt and concentrated, both flexural and shear, stiffness discontinuities of the beam that lead to exact closed-form solutions of the elastic response in presence of static loads. Based on the latter solutions, a novel beam element for the analysis of frame structures with an arbitrary distribution of singularities is here proposed. In particular, the presented closed-form solutions are exploited to formulate the displacement shape functions of the beam element and the relevant explicit form of the stiffness matrix. The proposed beam element is adopted for a finite element discretization of discontinuous framed structures. In particular, by means of the introduction of a mass matrix consistent with the adopted shape functions, the presented model allows also the dynamic analysis of framed structures in presence of deflection and rotation discontinuities and abrupt variations of the cross-section. The presented formulation can also be easily employed to conduct a dynamic analysis of damaged frame structures in which the distributed and concentrated damage distributions are modelled by means of equivalent discontinuities. As an example, a simple portal frame, under different damage scenarios, has been analysed and the results in terms of frequency and vibration modes have been compared with exact results to show the accuracy of the presented discontinuous beam element.