Nonlinear dynamic analysis of space trusses

Abstract A computational procedure is presented for predicting the dynamic response of space trusses with both geometric and material nonlinearities. A mixed formulation is used with the fundamental unknowns consisting of member forces, nodal velocities and nodal displacements. The governing equations consist of a mixed system of algebraic and differential equations. The temporal integration of the differential equations is performed by using an explicit half-station leap-frog method. The advantages of the proposed computational procedure over explicit methods used with the displacement formulation are discussed. The high accuracy of the procedure is demonstrated by means of numerical examples of plane and space trusses. The constitutive relations in these examples are assumed, for convenience, to be represented by the Ramberg-Osgood polynomials. Comparison is also made with solutions obtained by using implicit multistep temporal integration schemes.