Stunning Differences between linear and nonlinear FEA

A prismatic beam is supported at the bottom and subjected to two forces: the vertical force increases linearly from 0 to 200, horizontal force increases linearly from 0 to 1, both during 1s. The analysis is static, so this is a pseudo time.

Stunning differences between linear and nonlinear

The forces retain their original directions. Displacement results are shown in 1:1 scale of deformation. The linear solution is simply a superposition of compression with force 200 and bending with force 1, it shows very little deformation. Deformation in nonlinear analysis is dramatically different because the vertical force changes from compressive to bending with the progression of deformation.

This example is an excerpt from Advanced Nonlinear FEA course. It will be offered on-line this Spring.

Author : Paul
Warsaw University of Technology
Mechanical Engineer

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