Equilibrium Path Analysis of Truss Structures Using Continuation Methods

Abstract

The goal of this work is to analyze and identify the post-critical behavior from trusses structures by obtaining its equilibrium path. Until the critical behavior, detection methods are sufficient for determining the critical load in the structure. However, to the entire equilibrium path, such methods have no capacity to overcome the critical point of the structure, therefore, is necessary the continuation methods, just as the arc-length. The propose models present geometrically nonlinear behavior and the structural theory adopted use exact kinematic formulation. The reach results are analyzed against benchmark problems and classical analytical results.