Elastic-Plastic Analysis of Space Trusses with Large Displacements

Analysis of spatial bar structures is a labor-intensive and complex task, and it must be carried out taking into account all possible limiting states in various operating conditions of structures. The aim of this paper is to give an insight into elastic plastic analysis that enables determining the ultimate load of space trusses with large displacements. A direct method is treated in this investigation to gain insight into the computational effort required for the method. The algorithms for the direct methods are obtained by modifying the algorithms for incremental geometrically nonlinear analysis developed by one of the authors to account for yielding and plastic deformation in the bars of the truss. A Java software application has been developed based on the algorithms and the analysis of the space arch truss has been performed. The example demonstrates that direct limit analysis of space trusses with large displacements can be implemented successfully on the Java platform. The computer application is suitable as a test platform for a broad spectrum of investigations into elastic-plastic truss behavior.