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Nonlinear Issues
Nonlinear FEA
Many problems of engineering interest involve nonlinear behavior.
Such behavior commonly arises from the following three sources:
Nonlinear Material Behavior
This is one of the most common forms of nonlinearity, and would include
nonlinear elastic, plastic, and viscoelastic behavior. For thermal problems, a
temperature dependent thermal conductivity will produce nonlinear equations.
• Large Deformation Theory (Geometric Nonlinearity)
If a continuum body under study undergoes large finite deformations, the strain-
displacement relations will become nonlinear. Also for structural mechanics
problems under large deformations, the stiffness will change with deformation
thus making the problem nonlinear. Buckling problems are also nonlinear.
• Nonlinear Boundary or Initial Conditions
Problems involving contact mechanics normally include a boundary condition
that depends on the deformation thereby producing a nonlinear formulation.
Thermal problems involving melting or freezing (phase change) also include
such nonlinear boundary conditions.
Features of Nonlinear FEA Problems
• While Linear Problems Always Have a Unique Solution,
Nonlinear Problems May Not
• Iterative/Incremental Solution Methods Commonly Used
on Nonlinear Problems May Not Always Converge or
They May Converge To The Wrong Solution
• The Solution To Nonlinear Problems May Be Sensitive
To Initial and/or Boundary Conditions
• In General Superposition and Scalability Will Not Apply
To Nonlinear Problems
Example Nonlinear Problems
Material Nonlinearity
s s
e e
Nonlinear Stress-Strain Behavior Elastic/Plastic Stress-Strain Behavior
du ui W uj du j
Pi AE i Pj AE
dx (i) L (j) dx
[ K (u )]{d } {F }
Example Nonlinear Problems
Large Deformation
Simple Truss
EA q 0
u 1 u
2
dx dx 2 dx
Ex
d2 d 2 w d dw du 1 dw
2 x 2 x
EI 2 EA f 0
dx 2 dx dx dx dx 2 dx
[ K (u )]{d } {F }
Example Nonlinear Problems
Contact Boundary Conditions
pc
w
[ K (T )] k (T )[ B]T [ B]dx
W
h
dT
{F (T )} [] Qdx [] k (T )
T T
W dx 0
{u r 1} [ K (u r )]1{F }
Ku Ku
F F
Solution To Solution To
K(u)u=F K(u)u=F
u0 u1 u2 u2 u0 u1 u3
u u
Convex Ku-u Relation - Convergence Concave Ku-u Relation - Divergence