Detecting and Traversing Bifurcation Points in Nonlinear Structural Analysis

Abstract

We investigate procedures for detecting and traversing bifurcation points that occur in the geometrically nonlinear analysis of elastic structures. In particular, we study a family of test functions for sharp detection and identification of bifurcation points. To accomplish branch switching without recourse to artifical imperfections, the selection of appropriate predictors and correctors which exclude the known branch from the converged solution is considered. These techniques are tried and assesed on several three-dimensional truss structures that exhibit bifurcation behavior.