Abstract

This work presents an evaluation of the inelastic behavior of steel structures subjected to minor‐axis bending. Profiles type I and compact cross‐sections are considered. In these sections, the bent about weak axis presents important benefits, such as the ability to develop all of their plastic resistance without the occurrence of lateral torsional buckling. A nonlinear beam‐column element formulation is adopted, in which the steel yielding process is accounted by the refined plastic‐hinge method. In this method the effects of material yielding are captured by a parameter that reduces the structural member stiffness with the development of cross‐section plastic regions. The tangent modulus approach is used to consider the stiffness degradation caused by the increase in internal forces. Second–order effects, residual stresses and geometric imperfections are also considered in analysis. To define the cross‐section strength ultimate limit state, the study adopts strength surfaces that describe the interaction between internal forces — axial force and bending moment. The nonlinear equations at the structural system level are solved using the Newton‐Raphson iterative strategy coupled with path‐following methods. Isolated steel columns and portal frames are analyzed, and the results obtained are compared to those of other investigators. The comparison shows that the numerical methodology presented in this work is effective and can be used for predicting the behavior of steel structures with members under minor‐axis bending.

Abstract

Abstract

The new Geomiso DNL software is proposed to facilitate the use of isogeometric analysis for nonlinear inelastic dynamic applications. This hybrid software solution combines isogeometric analysis and 3D design with advanced spline techniques, such as NURBS and Tsplines. Its dual nature satisfies the rising industrial need for unification of the fields of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided analysis (CAE), as it eliminates geometric errors by merging geometry design with mesh generation into a single procedure. This paper presents sample nonlinear applications in structural dynamics. Geomiso DNL is seen to handle these situations remarkably well, as the numerical examples exhibit significantly improved accuracy of the results, and reduced computational cost, when compared with finite element software packages. Geomiso DNL is not just a plug-in, but a both on-premises and cloud-based software, which enables engineers to simulate complex dynamic phenomena, whose impact on industrial products and structures in real-world environments can be more efficiently estimated. Taking advantage of the new horizons offered in the peak of the Industry 4.0 era, the physical twin feeds, via cloud technology, with real-time data its geometrically exact digital twin, while a dynamic analysis is performed and crucial results about structure safety and quality are obtained. It is argued that Geomiso DNL is a new, more efficient, alternative to FEA software. This is the first time ever such a cloud-based program has been developed.