Abstract:

The low affordability of super-computers limits the use of the Finite Element Method (FEM) for analyzing large non-linear structures. The flexibility based Large Increment Method (LIM) is a significant contribution towards reducing the computational cost in case of non-linear structural analysis. In the present work an attempt has been made to further investigate the practical applicability and benefits of LIM through its computational implementation. The implementation was done in a four step process-namely, (i)?beams subjected to monotonic loading, (ii)?frames subjected to monotonic loading, (iii)?beams subjected to cyclic loading, (iv)?frames subjected to cyclic loading. Explicit algebraic expressions or iterative procedures were developed wherever required to provide a more robust computational framework to LIM. The comparison of the computational times and iterations used by the resulting FORTRAN code to those by ABAQUS? , reinforce the efficiencies reported by the authors of LIM.