GBT Structural Analysis of Inelastic Members

What is it about?

The paper begins by providing an overview of the physically and geometrically non-linear GBT formulation recently developed and validated by the authors, which is followed by the presentation and thorough discussion of several illustrative numerical results concerning the structural responses of 5 members (beams and columns) made of distinct (linear, bi-linear or highly non-linear) materials. The GBT results consist of equilibrium paths, modal participation diagrams and amplitude functions, stress contours, displacement profiles and collapse mechanisms  some of which are compared with ABAQUS shell finite element analysis (SFEA) values. An excellent correlation is found in all cases and, moreover, it is shown that GBT analyses including judiciously selected deformation mode sets involve only 25% (on average) of the number of d.o.f. required by similarly accurate SFEA. Moreover, it is clearly evidenced that the GBT modal nature makes it possible to acquire in-depth knowledge on the member behavioral mechanics in the elastic and elastic-plastic regimes.

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