Nonlinear dynamic analysis of complex structures

A general step-by-step solution technique is presented for the evaluation of the dynamic response of structural systems with physical and geometrical nonlinearities. The algorithm is stable for all time increments and in the analysis of linear systems introduces a predictable amount of error for a specified time step. Guidelines are given for the selection of the time step size for different types of dynamic loadings. The method can be applied to the static and dynamic analysis of both discrete structural systems and continuous solids idealized as an assemblage of finite elements. Results of several nonlinear analyses are presented and compared with results obtained by other methods and from experiments.