Force-Displacement Response of Material Softening Composite Bar

[ Problem Statement ] [ Solution Procedure ] [ Matrix Force-Displacement Calculation ]
[ Finite Element Calculation ] [ Input/Output Files ]

You will need Aladdin 2.0 to run this problem.


PROBLEM STATEMENT

In this example we will compute the force-displacement relationship for a material softening bar that must transfer an axial force P to its wall support.

Figure 1 : Composite Bar Subject to Axial Loads

Figure 1 shows the bar geometry, and a summary of the section and material properties.

The cross section areas are 300 cm^2 and 200 cm^2 for elements 1 and 2, respectively. The composite bar is constructed from two materials. Incipient yielding of the left-most material occurs at 1000 N/m^2. The right-most material remains linear elastic.

Force-Displacement Calculation

Rather than simply compute the nonlinear bar displacements caused by an applied force "P", in this example we will apply a series of incremental displacements and for each step compute the distribution of internal forces required for equilibrium.

The latter process is known as element state determination and in this example it will be computed in two ways:

  1. First, we will compute the distribution of internal element forces using Aladdin's matrix language alone.

  2. Then we will replace key components of the solution procedure with a nonlinear fiber finite element, and code to compute the state determination of nonlinear finite elements.

Steps 1 and 2 should generate identical numerical solutions of course.


SOLUTION PROCEDURE

It is important to bear in mind that while this problem looks trivial, standard stiffness-based elements have difficulty computing a displacement that satisfies equilibrium of the section forces because assumed distributions of force-displacement deviate significantly from actual displacements, especially in the post-yielding region.

These difficulties can be circumvented with a flexibility-based formulation customized for implemention in a standard finite-element program. The key steps are:

A detailed description of the step-by-step solution procedure can be found in Filippou et al. [1], and in Chapter 4 of Wane-Jane Lin's Ph.D. dissertation [2].


MATRIX FORCE-DISPLACEMENT CALCULATION

Material/Section Properties and Initial Stiffness

The element material and section properties are simply defined by the block of code:

/* Plastic spring material, Bi-linear */

   L1  = 2 m;
   h1  = 30 cm;         b1 = 10 cm;     A1 = b1*h1;
   E1  = 30000 N/m^2;  Et1 = -0.1*E1;  fy1 = 1000 N/m^2;

   Ks1 =  E1*A1/L1;
   Kt1 = Et1*A1/L1;
   Fy1 = fy1*A1;
   es1 = Fy1/Ks1;

/* Elastic spring material */

   L2  = 1.5 m;
   h2  = 20 cm;         b2 = 10 cm;     A2 = h2*b2;
   E2  = 20000 N/m^2;  Et2 = E2;       fy2 = 2500 N/m^2;

   Ks2 = E2*b2*h2/L2;

With the element level stiffnesses in place, the initial global stiffness matrix is given by:

   /* Assemble initial structure tangent stiffness matrix BigK */

   BigK = [ Ks1+Ks2, -Ks2;
               -Ks2,  Ks2  ];

and is:

    MATRIX : "BigK"

    row/col                  1            2
            units          N/m          N/m
       1            7.16667e+02 -2.66667e+02
       2           -2.66667e+02  2.66667e+02

Initial Displacement Increment

We now apply a small unit force to the right-hand side of the bar and compute the system displacement, i.e.,

   d_P = [ 0 N ; 1 N];
   d_p = Solve( BigK, d_P );

The output is:

    MATRIX : "d_p"

    row/col                  1
            units
       1        m   2.22222e-03
       2        m   5.97222e-03

Main Loop for Incremental Displacements

The following looping construct systematically increases the bar displacement, and then performs the state determination. A summary of the matrix code is:

   index = 0;
   for ( k = 1; k <= total_step ; k = k+1 ) {

      p = p + d_p;

      /* State determination for each element */ 

      for( ele = 1 ; ele <= 2; ele = ele+1 ) {

         /* extract element displacements from global displacements */

         if( ele==1 ) {
             d_pe = [ 0 m; d_p[1][1] ];
         }
         if( ele==2 ) {
             d_pe = [ d_p[1][1]; d_p[2][1] ];
         }

         Q  = Q_saved[ele][1];   /* retrieve values from (j-1) */
         q  = q_saved[ele][1];
         Dx = bx*Q;
         dx = bx*q;
         K  = tangent[ele][1];
         kx = tangent[ele][1];
         fx = 1/kx;

         rx  = 0 cm;
         DUx = 1E+7 N;

         d_q = QuanCast(L*d_pe);  /* element deformation increment */
         q = q + d_q;

         /* convergence of forces for element "ele" */

         while( abs(DUx) > 0.00001 N )  {

            d_Q = K*d_q;     /* element force increment */
            Q   = Q + d_Q;   /* update element force    */

            /* determine the section force increments           */
            /* repeat for all integration points of the element */

            d_Dx = bx*d_Q;        /* section force increment           */
            d_dx = rx + fx*d_Dx;  /* section deformation increment     */
            Dx = Dx + d_Dx;       /* update section force              */
            dx = dx + d_dx;       /* update section deformation vector */

            /* get new section tangent flexibility f(x) from new d(x)     */
            /* and section resisting force DR(x) from material properties */

            if( ele == 1 ) {
               if( abs(dx) <= es1 ) {
                  kx  = Ks1;
                  fx  = 1/kx;
                  DRx = kx*dx;
               }
               if( dx > es1 ) {
                  kx  = Kt1;
                  fx  = 1/kx;
                  DRx = Fy1 + kx*(dx-es1);
               }
               if( dx < -es1 ) {
                  kx  = Kt1;
                  fx  = 1/kx;
                  DRx = -Fy - kx*(dx+es1);
               }
	    }

            if( ele == 2 ) {
               kx  = Ks2;
               DRx = kx*dx;
            }

            DUx = Dx - DRx;  /* section unbalanced force     */
            rx  = fx*DUx;    /* section residual deformation */

            /* finish for all integration points of the element */

            /* update the element flexibility and stiffness matrices */

            F = bx*fx*bx;
            K = 1/F;

            /* check for element convergence */

            s   = bx*rx;   /* element residual deformation */
            d_q = -s;

         }  /* j */

         Q_saved[ele][1] = Q;
         q_saved[ele][1] = q;

         tangent[ele][1] = K;
         PRe[ele][1] = Q;    /* element resisting force */
      }  

      /* Assemble structure resistant force */

      PR[1][1] = PRe[1][1] - PRe[2][1];
      PR[2][1] = PRe[2][1];

      /* Store output in response matrix */

      response[k+1][1] = PR[2][1];
      response[k+1][2] = p[2][1];
      response[k+1][3] = p[1][1];
      response[k+1][4] = p[2][1] - p[1][1];

      /* Calculate new delta displacement after yielding */

      if( index == 1 ) { 
         d_P[1][1] =  0 N;
         d_P[2][1] = -1 N;
         d_p = Solve( BigK, d_P );
         index = 0;
      }

      /* Adjust delta displacement at yielding step */

      if( abs(PR[1][1]) > 0.01 N ) {

         /* assemble new structure stiffness */

         BigK[1][1] =  tangent[1][1] + tangent[2][1];
         BigK[1][2] = -tangent[2][1];
         BigK[2][1] = -tangent[2][1];
         BigK[2][2] =  tangent[2][1];

         index = 1;
         k = k-1;
         d_p[1][1] = 0 cm;
         d_p[2][1] = PR[1][1]/tangent[2][1];
      }
   } 

Points to note:

  1. The body of the "while()" loop is a step-by-step implementation of the element-level state determination described above.

Force-Displacement Relationship

The three lines in Figure 2 show the force displacement curves for element 1 (in blue), element 2 (in black), and the total system (in red).

Figure 2 : Force-Displacement curves for Material Softening Bar

Points to note:

  1. The force-displacement calculation is simplified by the existence of only two tangent stiffness matrices, one for the pre-yielding system, and a second for post-yielding of the material softening element.

    We can see that after the softening material starts to yield, the resistant force drops with further increases in the bar elongation. Also notice that at all times the blue and black displacements sum to the red displacement.

    We use the variable "index" to keep track of when the system traverses a change in system stiffness. The post yielding stiffness is:

        MATRIX : "BigK"
    
        row/col                  1            2
                units          N/m          N/m
           1            2.21667e+02 -2.66667e+02
           2           -2.66667e+02  2.66667e+02
    

  2. This input file contains matrices defined with units, and a well defined sequence of matrix operations. Physical units are carried through every step of the calculation procedure. While the addition of units results in some computational overhead, and slow down the speed, the verification of consistent units provides a helpful check in the identification of errors.

External Load versus Step Number

The axial load versus time step is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 : Applied Load "P" versus Step Number

We expect that incipient yielding of the bar will occur when the axial force reaches

    F = 1000 N/m^2 * 300 x 10^-4 m^2 = 30 N.


FINITE ELEMENT CALCULATION

Problem Specification Parameters

The block of code:

    NDimension         = 2;
    NDofPerNode        = 3;
    MaxNodesPerElement = 2;
    GaussIntegPts      = 2;

defines parameters for a two-dimensional problem involving finite elements having 2 nodes and three-degrees of freedom per node. The parameter GaussIntegPts defines the number of locations for which the section flexibility will be evaluated along a fiber element.

Finite Element Mesh

The abbreviated block of code:

   L1 = 2 m; L2 = 1.5 m;

/* Generate grid of nodes for finite element model */

   AddNode(1, [   0 m,  0 m]);
   AddNode(2, [    L1,  0 m]);
   AddNode(3, [ L1+L2,  0 m]);

/* Attach elements to grid of nodes */

   AddElmt( 1, [1, 2], "elmt_attr1");
   AddElmt( 2, [2, 3], "elmt_attr2");

generates a finite element mesh containing three nodes and two FIBER_2D finite elements having the attribute names "elmt_attr1" and "elmt_attr2" (details given below).

Figure 4 : Finite Element Mesh

Figure 4 shows an elevation view of the finite element mesh.

Fiber Section and Material Properties

The abbreviated block of code:

   ElementAttr("elmt_attr1") { type     = "FIBER_2D";
                               section  = "section1";
                               material = "material1";
                               fiber    = "fib_name1"; }
   SectionAttr("section1")   { width = b1; depth = h1; area = b1*h1; }
   MaterialAttr("material1") { poisson = 0.25;
                               E = E1;   Et = Et1;  yield = fy1; }

   no_fiber = 4;  no_fiber_type = 1;
   b  = b1;  h  = h1;   dh = h/no_fiber;
   ks = E1;  kt = Et1;  fy = fy1;

   fcoord = Matrix([ 1, no_fiber ]);
   farea  = Matrix([ 1, no_fiber ]);
   fmap   = Matrix([ 1, no_fiber ]);

   for( i=1 ; i <= no_fiber ; i=i+1 ) {
      fcoord[1][i] = h/2 - dh/2 - (i-1)*dh;
      farea[1][i]  = b*h/no_fiber;
      fmap[1][i]   = 1;
   }

   fattr  = Matrix([ 3, 1 ]);
   for( j=1 ; j <= no_fiber_type ; j=j+1 ) {
      fattr[1][j] = ks;
      fattr[2][j] = kt;
      fattr[3][j] = fy;
   }

   FiberAttr( no_fiber, "fib_name1" ) { FiberMaterialAttr = fattr;
                                        FiberCoordinate   = fcoord;
                                        FiberArea         = farea;
                                        FiberMaterialMap  = fmap; }

shows how the section and material propoerties are defined, and how the individual beam elements are partitioned into 4 fiber elements.

Figure 5 : Element Cross Sections

The layout of fibers within each element is shown in Figure 5.

Force-Displacement Calculation

Now that we know the algorithm works well on a computationally difficult problem, the next step is to implement the fiber element and the iterative solution procedure in ALADDIN's finite element library. The input statements for the whole solution procedure will be reduced to:

   for( step=1 ; step <= total_step ; step = step + 1 ) {

      /* Increment displacement by "dp"           */

      displ = displ + dp;

      /* State determination for all elements     */

      ElmtStateDet( dp ); 

      /* Assemble structure resistant force       */

      PR = InternalLoad( displ );
      PrintMatrix(PR);

      /* Update element information               */

      UpdateResponse(); 

      /* Store displacements in "response" matrix */

      response[step+1][1] = PR[dof2][1];
      response[step+1][2] = displ[dof2][1];
      response[step+1][3] = displ[dof1][1];
      response[step+1][4] = displ[dof2][1] - displ[dof1][1];

      /* Calculate new delta displacement after yielding */

      if(index == 1 ) { 
         NodeLoad( total_node, [ -1 N, 0 N, 0 N*m ] ); 
         dP = ExternalLoad();
         dp = Solve( Ks, dP );
         index = 0;
      }

      /* Adjust delta displacement at yielding step */

      if( abs(PR[dof1][1]) > 0.01 N ) {
         Ks    = Stiff();      /* assemble new structure stiffness */
         index = 1;
         step  = step - 1;
         dp[dof1][1] = 0 m;
         dp[dof2][1] = PR[dof1][1]/Ks[2][2];
      }
   }

Points to note are:

  1. The function "ElmtStateDet()" takes care of all of the steps in the element state determination, and it has one matrix argument containing the structure incremental displacements in global reference system.

  2. The function "InternalLoad()" calculates the structure resistant force.

  3. The function "UpdateResponse()" saves information on the stress, strain, and material properties for all elements at the current step.

References

  1. Filippou F.C., Issa A., Nonlinear Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Frames Under Cyclic Load Reversals, Technical Report EERC 88-12, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Berkeley, 1988.
  2. Lin W.J., Modern Computational Environments for Seismic Analysis of Highway Bridge Structures, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, December 1997, (p. 197).


INPUT/OUTPUT FILES

Matrix Implementation

Finite Element Implementation


Developed in July 1997 by Wane-Jang Lin and Mark Austin
Last Modified March 12, 1998
Copyright © 1998, Mark Austin, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Maryland