DYNAMIC NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES BASED ON THE FINITE PARTICLE METHOD

The Finite Particle Method (FPM), based on the Vector Mechanics, is a new structural analysis method. This paper explores the possibility of the proposed method being applied in the structural dynamic nonlinear analysis. In FPM, the analyzed domain is discreted to be a group of finite particles, where the motions of all particles follow Newton’s second law. To obtain the structural motion behaviors, particle motions are simulated. The theoretical fundamentals of the FPM are given. Special methods to handle ‘Static’ and ‘dynamic’, ‘linear’ and ‘nonlinear’ analysis in FPM are proposed. Taking the three dimensional bar element as an example, the formulations to calculate the dynamic, geometric and material nonlinear problems are derived. Three numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and applicability of this method in dynamic nonlinear analysis. Iteration and special modification are not needed during the dynamic nonlinear analysis, which is more advantageous than traditional methods in the structural complex behavior analysis.