Material and geometric nonlinear isoparametric spline nite strip analysis of

perforated thin-walled steel structuresAnalytical developments

Zhenyu Yao
n
, Kim J.R. Rasmussen
1
School of Civil Engineering, the University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 5 January 2011
Received in revised form
20 June 2011
Accepted 21 June 2011
Available online 2 August 2011
Keywords:
Isoparametric spline nite strip method
Material inelasticity
Geometric nonlinear analysis
Thin-walled structures
Folded plate
Perforations
Post-buckling
a b s t r a c t
This paper presents the analytical developments of the application of the Isoparametric Spline Finite
Strip Method (ISFSM) to the material inelastic and geometric nonlinear analysis of perforated thin-
walled steel structures. The general theory of the ISFSM is briey introduced. The formulations of the
kinematics, straindisplacement and constitutive assumptions are presented, and the tangential
stiffness matrix is derived by applying the incremental equilibrium condition. The requirements for
strip continuity and boundary conditions are also discussed. In particular, the plasticity theory and the
methods to integrate the rate equations are emphasized, and the related backward Euler return
method and use of a consistent material modulus are highlighted. The present isoparametric spline
nite strip analysis is veried against a number of analyses of perforated and non-perforated plates and
plate assemblages, as described in the companion paper (Yao and Rasmussen, submitted for publica-
tion) [1], demonstrating its accuracy and efciency for the predictions of the inelastic post-buckling
behavior of perforated thin-walled steel structures.
& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Cold-formed thin-walled steel structures are frequently man-
ufactured with perforations in order to satisfy service require-
ments (wiring, piping, etc.), ease connectivity or achieve higher
structural performance/weight ratio. Consequently, the redistri-
bution of stresses introduced by perforations will inuence the
buckling and post-buckling responses of the structure. Extensive
research has been carried out in the last four decades on
perforated plates [26], beams [711], columns and storage rack
uprights [1122], highlighting the complexity of the analysis and
design of such structures. However, existing design standards
[23,24] for cold-formed steel members with holes are empirically
based and limited to certain cross-section congurations, hole
sizes, shapes and spacings.
In this context, the research motivation for this paper origi-
nates from the need to obtain a deeper understanding of the
inuence of holes on the structural performance of thin-walled
members, i.e. elastic buckling, ultimate strength and post-buck-
ling response. Hence, the present work aims to develop a rigorous
and efcient material and geometric nonlinear analysis for
perforated thin-walled structures by use of the Isoperimetric
Spline Finite Strip Method (ISFSM).
The ISFSM, which can be considered as a special form of the
Finite Element Method (FEM), is an evolved version of the Finite
Strip Method (FSM), which was originally developed by Cheung
[25]. In the FSM, the structure is subdivided into a number of
longitudinal strips, whose displacement eld is dened by simple
polynomials in the transverse direction and continuous harmonic
functions in the longitudinal direction. Although it yields much
fewer degrees of freedom than the FEM, the FSM bears the
drawbacks that it usually allows only simple boundary condi-
tions, simple structural geometries and simple loading types to be
analyzed. The Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM) [26] was later
developed as a complement to the FSM, using displacement
functions based on splines in the longitudinal direction at the
expense of more degrees of freedom. The SFSM is able to handle
more complex types of loadings, geometries and boundary con-
ditions. Nevertheless, due to the limitations in the geometry
mapping algorithm [27], the SFSM still lacks exibility in model-
ing structures of awkward geometry. The isoparametric concept
was subsequently introduced by Au and Cheung [28] to overcome
this difculty. The geometry of each strip in the ISFSM is mapped
into a regular eld by the same functions used to dene the
displacement eld. The advantage of the ISFSM is that it is able to
handle arbitrary types of loadings and boundary conditions, and
much more complex structural geometries, including sections
with perforations and moderately curved edges. Furthermore,
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tws
Thin-Walled Structures
0263-8231/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tws.2011.06.004
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: 61 2 9351 4392; fax: 61 2 9351 3343.
E-mail addresses: Zhenyu.Yao@sydney.edu.au (Z. Yao),
Kim.Rasmussen@sydney.edu.au (K.J. Rasmussen).
1
Tel.: 61 2 9351 2125; fax: 61 2 9351 3343.
Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373
compared to the FEM, the ISFSM is more efcient as the required
number of degrees of freedom is usually 1/21/10 of that required
for the FEM.
The ISFSM has been previously applied by Eccher et al. to the
linear elastic [29,30], elastic buckling [31] and elastic geometric
nonlinear [32] analyses of perforated thin-walled plates and
folded-plate structures. The present work extends the application
of the ISFSM to the material inelastic and geometric nonlinear
analysis of such structures.
The paper describes the displacement functions, strain
displacement relations and inelastic constitutive material model,
and derives the relevant displacement, strain and constitutive
matrices. The geometric mapping algorithm, strip continuity and
boundary conditions are presented. The nonlinear equilibrium
equation and its incremental form are established, and the
explicit form of the tangential stiffness matrix is set out. Subse-
quently, the methods employed to integrate the rate equations
for elasto-plastic materials are emphasized, and the related
backward Euler return method and use of a consistent material
modulus are detailed. A companion paper [1] validates the
accuracy and efciency of the method through a number of
analyses of perforated and non-perforated plates and plate
assemblages.
2. Isoparametric Spline Finite Strip Method (ISFSM)
As the precursor to the ISFSM, the FSM has been used by
researchers for the analyses of a variety of structure types
including plates, shells, laminated plates, bridges, tall buildings,
etc. To date, the FSM has been applied to the linear elastic,
vibration and stability, and nonlinear types of analyses [33].
The SFSM enhanced the FSM offering greater exibility by
using B-3 splines in the longitudinal direction, while retaining
satisfactory efciency because of the localized nature of the B-3
spline, which helped to yield narrowly banded matrices in the
analysis. Successful areas of application of the SFSM include the
linear elastic analysis of arbitrarily shaped plates and shells
[27,3436], free vibration of arbitrarily shaped plates and shells
[3638], linear elastic analysis of curved bridges [3941], elastic
and inelastic buckling of thin-walled structures [4243], elastic
geometric nonlinear analysis of arbitrarily shaped thin plates [44],
shells [4548], thin-walled plates and plate assemblies [49], thick
and laminated plates [50], etc.
During the 1990s, the ISFSM came to the fore in the literature
after the isoparametric concept was introduced into the SFSM.
Extensive research on the ISFSM was carried out by Au and
Cheung, who originally applied the ISFSM to Mindlin plate
bending, plane stress and plane strain problems [28], then
extended it to the linear elastic analysis of thin shells of arbitrary
shapes [51], static and free vibration problems of variable-depth
bridges of arbitrary alignments [52] and nally the free vibration
and stability analysis of thin-walled shells [53]. All these analyses
demonstrated that the ISFSM was exible, accurate and compu-
tationally efcient.
The ISFSM was further developed by Eccher [54], who
extended the method to the analysis of perforated thin-walled
steel structures. Algorithms for isoparametric geometric mapping
and strategies for the assembly of adjoining strips were pre-
sented. Shear locking performance with the ISFSM was analyti-
cally evaluated. The reliability of the ISFSM for perforated
thin-wall steel structures was extensively studied by comparing
the results with those obtained from commercial nite element
software for a large number of numerical examples.
Compared to the FEM, the ISFSM features strips with rectan-
gular or curved geometric shapes with the longitudinal dimension
much greater than the transverse one. In the context of the ISFSM,
the structure is rst discretized into a number of strips, and
each strip is further longitudinally subdivided into a number of
sections. Within the cubic nite strip used for the present
analysis, there are four nodal lines along which strip nodes are
distributed. The number of nodes depends on the number of the
longitudinal sections. As distinct from the nite element, the
displacement functions of each strip are expressed as products of
cubic B3 spline series in the longitudinal direction and Lagrangian
cubic shape functions in the transverse direction.
2.1. Lagrangian cubic functions
Lagrangian cubic polynomials are used in the transverse
direction x, i.e.
L
1
x
9
16
x
3
x
2

1
9
x
1
9
_ _
1
L
2
x
27
16
x
3

1
3
x
2
x
1
3
_ _
2
L
3
x
27
16
x
3

1
3
x
2
x
1
3
_ _
3
L
4
x
9
16
x
3
x
2

1
9
x
1
9
_ _
4
where L
i
(x) is the ith component of Lagrangian polynomials
corresponding to the ith nodal line of the strip. Fig. 1 shows the
graphic representation of the transverse shape functions.
2.2. B
3
spline functions
B
3
splines of unit section length are adopted to dene the
displacements along nodal lines which are in the longitudinal
direction Z. Each B
3
spline j
i
(Z) has non-zero values over four
consecutive sections centered over ZZ
i
and is dened by
f
i
Z
1
6
0 , ZoZ
j2
ZZ
i2

3
, Z
j2
oZoZ
j1
13ZZ
i1
3ZZ
i1

2
3ZZ
i1

3
, Z
j1
oZoZ
j
13Z
i 1
Z 3Z
i 1
Z
2
3Z
i 1
Z
3
, Z
j
oZoZ
j 1
Z
i 2
Z
3
, Z
j 1
oZoZ
j 2
0 ,Z4Z
j 2
_

_
5
Fig. 2(a) illustrates the shape of a single local B
3
spline while
Fig. 2(b) shows a complete B
3
spline series. A complete B
3
spline
representation is composed of m3 local B
3
splines and m3
nodes (among which 2 nodes are laid outside each end of the strip
as ctitious extra nodes used to completely dene a B
3
spline
series), where m is the number of longitudinal sections of
the strip.
3 1 4 2
L
1
= -1
= 1 0
L
2
L
3
L
4
Fig. 1. Transverse Lagrangian cubic polynomials.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1360
2.3. Displacement functions
At the strip level, the displacements of each strip are dened in
the natural coordinate system (x, Z). Each strip has 3 sections and
4 nodal lines in the transverse direction x, and can be arbitrarily
partitioned into m sections along the longitudinal direction Z.
The displacement functions of the strip are given as a product
of the B
3
splines and Lagrangian functions; the generic formula-
tion is as follows:
dx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
d
ij
6
where d represents the generalized displacement function and
refers to u, v, w, y
x
and y
y
for the present analysis. a
d
ij
stands for
the generalized coefcients to be solved for at the ith nodal line
and at the jth longitudinal node.
It is convenient to introduce the matrix form of Eq. (6) as
d dx,Z Na N
1
, N
2
, N
3
, N
4
Ua
dT
1
, a
dT
2
, a
dT
3
, a
dT
4

T
7
where N
i
is the vector of shape functions for the ith nodal line,
and a
d
i
the vector of nodal coefcients for the ith nodal line. Their
explicit forms are given as follows:
N
i
L
i
xUf
1
Z, f
0
Z, f
1
Z, . . ., f
m1
Z 8
a
d
i
a
d
i,1
, a
d
i,0
, a
d
i,1
,. . .,a
d
i,m1

T
9
As illustrated in Fig. 3, three sets of coordinate systems are
utilized in the formulation. The global coordinate system (^ x, ^ y, ^ z)
is used to dene the geometry of the structure, the boundary
conditions and the degrees of freedom belonging to a nodal line
that coincide with a fold of the structure. The local coordinate
system (x, y) is dened within each strip and is coplanar with the
mid-surface of the strip, its y axis is parallel to the global ^ y
axis, and has a clockwise rotation g with respect to the
global coordinate system. Although such systems are depicted
in Fig. 3, the origins of the two systems are not necessarily
at the same point. The stress and strain components, stiffness
matrix and load vector of the strip, as well as the degrees of
freedom of the nodal lines that do not coincide with a fold of the
structure, are expressed in the local coordinate system. A natural
coordinate system (x, Z) of each strip is constructed, which
features (possibly non-orthogonal) axes x and Z, which follow
the natural shape of the strip, with x being the transverse
direction while Z being the longitudinal one. Displacement func-
tions and geometric mapping functions (Section 2.4) are dened
in the natural coordinates.
As the Mindlin plate theory is used for the formulation, each
node at the mid-surface has ve degrees of freedom in the local
coordinate system, including two in-plane displacements u and v,
one out-of-plane displacement w, and two out-of-plane rotations
y
x
and y
y
. Their displacement functions all take the specic
form of Eq. (6) and are expressed as per Eqs. (10)(14). The
total number of degrees of freedom for a strip is 54
(m3)20(m3) in its local coordinates.
ux,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
u
ij
10
vx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
v
ij
11
wx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
w
ij
12
y
x
x,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
yx
ij
13
y
y
x,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Za
yy
ij
14
All the above functions are with respect to the mid-surface of
the strip. According to the Mindlin plate theory, the complete
kinematics eld in local coordinates, u
z
, v
z
and w
z
at a general
point, (x, y, z), within the strip, is given by
u
z
x,y,z ux,y zy
x
x,y 15
v
z
x,y,z vx,yzy
y
x,y 16
w
z
x,y,z wx,y 17
where z is the coordinate axis perpendicular to the mid-surface.
Recalling the matrix formulation as in Eqs. (8) and (9), the
displacement eld at the mid-surface of a strip can be obtained as
follows:
u Na 18
where
u ux,Z
ux,Z
vx,Z
wx,Z
y
x
x,Z
y
y
x,Z
_

_
_

_
19
Fig. 2. (a) Local B
3
spline; (b) a B
3
spline series.
Fig. 3. Coordinate systems and mid-surface degrees of freedom.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1361
N
N
1
0 0 0 0 N
2
0 0 0 0 N
3
0 0 0 0 N
4
0 0 0 0
0 N
1
0 0 0 0 N
2
0 0 0 0 N
3
0 0 0 0 N
4
0 0 0
0 0 N
1
0 0 0 0 N
2
0 0 0 0 N
3
0 0 0 0 N
4
0 0
0 0 0 N
1
0 0 0 0 N
2
0 0 0 0 N
3
0 0 0 0 N
4
0
0 0 0 0 N
1
0 0 0 0 N
2
0 0 0 0 N
3
0 0 0 0 N
4
_

_
_

_
20
a
a
uT
1
, a
vT
1
, a
wT
1
, a
yxT
1
, a
yyT
1
, a
uT
2
, a
vT
2
, a
wT
2
, a
yxT
2
, a
yyT
2
,. . .
. . ., a
uT
3
, a
vT
3
, a
wT
3
, a
yxT
3
, a
yyT
3
, a
uT
4
, a
vT
4
, a
wT
4
, a
yxT
4
, a
yyT
4
_
_
_
_
T
21
2.4. Mapping
The algorithms for the geometric mapping of the ISFSM are
documented in detail in [54], only the essentials are recapitulated
in the following.
The geometry of a generic cubic isoparametric spline
nite strip with m longitudinal sections is illustrated in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4(a) shows its original shape in the local Cartesian coordinate
system while Fig. 4(b) shows its mapped shape in the natural
coordinate system.
The global coordinates of a generic point P(^ x, ^ y,^ z) within a strip
are expressed in terms of the natural coordinates x and Z as
^ xx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Zb
^ x
ij
22
^ yx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Zb
^ y
ij
23
^ zx,Z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
j
Zb
^ z
ij
24
where b
^ x
ij
, b
^ y
ij
and b
^ z
ij
are geometric coefcients to be determined
from the geometry. In total, there are 4(m3) coefcients for
each coordinate. However, by carefully choosing the sampled
geometric nodes, it is not necessary to determine all these
geometric coefcients.
As shown in Fig. 4, in a local coordinate system, for the
longitudinal direction, if a constant y-spacing h
i
is assumed for
each nodal line i (i 1,y,4), only the y-coordinate values of the
nodes corresponding to Z0 and Zm need to be prescribed.
Similarly, for the transverse direction, if a constant x-spacing b
j
is
assumed for each transverse row j (j 0,y,m) of the section knots,
only the x-coordinate values of the nodes corresponding to x1
and x1 need to be prescribed for each transverse row. Extending
this idea to the global coordinate system, the above local x and y
can be replaced by global ^ x and ^ y, while the treatment for global
^ z-coordinates follows the same procedure as that of the
x-coordinate detailed above.
Following this geometric sampling rule, the ^ x, ^ y and ^ z coordi-
nate values for all the geometric nodes can be found. At this stage,
one can either substitute these values into Eqs. (22)(24) and
solve for the geometric coefcients or take the advantage of the
above sampling method to rst simplify Eqs. (22)(24). By
adopting the latter, Eqs. (22)(24) become
^ xx,Z

m1
j 1
f
j
Z b
^ x
1j

b
^ x
4j
b
^ x
1j
2
x1
_ _
25
^ yx,Z

4
i 1
L
i
x y
i0

y
im
y
i0
m
Z
_ _
26
^ zx,Z

m1
j 1
f
j
Z b
^ z
1j

b
^ z
4j
b
^ z
1j
2
x1
_ _
27
where y
i0
and y
im
are the y-coordinates of the starting and ending
nodes, respectively, of the ith nodal line. It should be noticed that
Eq. (26) is already an equation without unknowns while Eqs. (25)
and (27) still need to be solved for b
^ x
1j
, b
^ x
4j
, b
^ z
1j
and b
^ z
4j
. For each of
Eqs. (25) and (27), a linear system of 2(m3) equations is
required. By substituting the known ^ x and ^ z coordinates of the
nodes along the two boundary nodal lines (1st and 4th nodal line)
into Eqs. (25) and (27), respectively, it is possible to produce
2(m1) equations for each respective coordinate, while the
remaining 4 conditions can be obtained by substituting into
Eqs. (25) and (27) the corresponding global coordinates of two
extra ctitious nodes within each nodal line (corresponding to
arbitrary values of Z).
After converting Eqs. (25)(27) to the local coordinates and
taking the derivatives with respect to x and Z, the Jacobian matrix,
J, of the transformation can be obtained as
@x
@x
@Z
@x
@x
@y
@Z
@y
_
_
_
_

@x
@x
@y
@x
@x
@Z
@y
@Z
_
_
_
_
1
J
T
28
where
@xx,Z
@x

m1
j 1
f
j
Z
b
x
4j
b
x
1j
2
_ _
29
@xx,Z
@Z

m1
j 1
f
0
j
Z b
x
1j

b
x
4j
b
x
1j
2
x1
_ _
30
@yx,Z
@x

4
i 1
L
0
i
x y
i0

y
im
y
i0
m
Z
_ _
31
@yx,Z
@Z

4
i 1
L
i
x
y
im
y
i0
m
_ _
32
2.5. Continuity and boundary conditions
As spline coefcients a
d
ij
in the displacement functions do not
explicitly represent any displacements or their derivatives, the
assembling of longitudinally adjoining strips and the application
of any boundary conditions require that some of the spline
coefcients a
d
ij
in the displacement functions have to be trans-
formed into physical parameters such as displacements, d, or their
Fig. 4. (a) Generic strip in the local Cartesian coordinate system and (b) generic
strip mapped into the natural coordinate system.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1362
derivatives, @d=@x, @d=@y, @d=@x or @d=@Z. Details were presented
by Eccher [54] regarding the transformation rules and the forma-
tion of the transformation matrix, T.
2.5.1. Continuity conditions
As shown in Fig. 5, at the place of a generic perforation, the
longitudinal geometry of the structure usually has to be split into
more than one set of strips in order to accommodate the
discontinuity in geometry. Therefore, it is necessary to assemble
longitudinally adjoining strips to ensure the required order of
continuity along the transverse edges. It will be shown that in
order to achieve continuities along the adjoining transverse edges
in displacement d and its derivatives, i.e. @d=@x, @d=@y, @d=@x,
@d=@Z, @
2
d=@x
2
, @
2
d=@y
2
, @
2
d=@x
2
, @
2
d=@Z
2
, etc., only the continu-
ities of some key terms need to be satised. Specically, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
Group 1: If continuities in d, @d=@x, @d=@y, @d=@x and @d=@Z are
to be ensured, only the continuities in d and @d=@y( or @d=@Z) need
to be satised;
Group 2: If continuities in d, @d=@x, @d=@y, @d=@x, @d=@Z,
@
2
d=@x
2
, @
2
d=@y
2
, @
2
d=@x
2
, @
2
d=@Z
2
are to be ensured, only the
continuities in d, @d=@y(or @d=@Z) and @
2
d=@y
2
(or @
2
d=@Z
2
) need to
be satised.
These stated sets of continuities have been proved in [54,55] in
detail.
Although the compatibility conditions of Group 2 are theore-
tically feasible, those in Group 1 are implemented in the present
analysis for its adequacy and simplicity. Therefore, if no boundary
conditions are specied along the transverse adjoining edges, the
rst two (a
i
1
,a
i
0
) and last two (a
i
m
,a
i
m1
) spline coefcients for
any displacement d at the ith nodal line can be transformed into
the physical displacements and their rst derivatives as shown
below
a
i
1
-
@d
i
0
@y
or
@d
i
0
@Z
a
i
0
-d
i
0
or
@d
i
0
@x
a
i
m
-
@d
i
m
@y
or
@d
i
m
@Z
a
i
m1
- d
i
m
or
@d
i
m
@x
33
See p. 4548 in [54] for details of the transformation matrix T,
which denes the relations between the spline coefcients and
physical coefcients. After the transformation, based on the
mixed physical and spline coefcients, the traditional assembling
process as that adopted for a nite element analysis is carried out
to constitute the stiffness matrix and load vector.
2.5.2. Boundary conditions
Before the assembling process, any prescribed boundary con-
dition also needs to be treated. Specically, the coefcients
related to the prescribed boundary conditions need to be indivi-
dually transformed into their physical coefcients at rst, then
substituted into the actual physical values during the analysis.
For the present analysis, in general, it is possible to apply ve
types of boundary conditions, i.e. d
i
j
, @d
i
j
=@x, @d
i
j
=@Z, @d
i
j
=@x, @d
i
j
=@y,
at the generic nodal line i and the generic section knot j for any
type of displacement, i.e. d u, v, w, y
x
, y
y
.
However, it has to be pointed out that the type of boundary
conditions that can be imposed on a node of a strip is not
arbitrary. Attention has to be paid to ensure that the strip is not
over-constrained. For example, it is not allowed to impose
boundary conditions for d
1
j
, d
2
j
, d
3
j
, d
4
j
and @d
i
j
=@x simultaneously
for a node of a strip, since @d
i
j
=@x is a linear combination of d
1
j
, d
2
j
,
d
3
j
and d
4
j
. Further elaboration of the over-constrained conditions
can be found in [55].
Moreover, no matter whether or not any boundary condition is
to be imposed on a node at a transverse adjoining edge, the
continuity and transformation requirement set out in Eq. (33)
should always be fullled.
3. ISFS elasto-plastic analysis
3.1. Introduction
Based on the ISFSM, a material and geometric nonlinear
analysis is developed and implemented in this study, and applied
to study the post-buckling response and ultimate strength of
thin-walled plates and plate assemblies with perforations. The
associated ow rules, specically the Prandtl-Reuss [56] ow rule,
combined with the von Mises yield criterion [57] and isotropic
strain hardening, are used for the calculation of plastic strains. An
implicit integration method, specically the backward Euler
return method [58], is employed for integrating the elasto-plastic
stressstrain relations. The following effects can be considered in
the present analysis.
Holes of arbitrary shape, size and location.
Large displacements but small rotations.
Initial geometric imperfections.
Arbitrary types of boundary conditions and loadings.
Different material stressstrain relations for common metals.
For instance, ideal elasticplastic, linear hardening and non-
linear hardening (RambergOsgood [59]) curves, etc.
Material yielding through the thickness.
3.2. Straindisplacement relations
In order to capture both the local buckling and distortional
buckling deformations, the full second-order straindisplacement
relations are utilized. Large displacements but small rotations are
assumed in the formulation, thus the curvaturedisplacement
relations are linear.
The strains in the local coordinate system at the mid-plane are
e
x

@u
@x

1
2
@u
@x
_ _
2

@v
@x
_ _
2

@w
@x
_ _
2
_ _
34
e
y

@v
@y

1
2
@u
@y
_ _
2

@v
@y
_ _
2

@w
@y
_ _
2
_ _
35
g
xy

@u
@y

@v
@x

@u
@x
@u
@y

@v
@x
@v
@y

@w
@x
@w
@y
_ _
36
Fig. 5. Discretization of a region with a hole.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1363
g
xz

@u
@z

@w
@x

@u
@x
@u
@z

@v
@x
@v
@z

@w
@x
@w
@z
_ _
37
g
yz

@v
@z

@w
@y

@u
@y
@u
@z

@v
@y
@v
@z

@w
@y
@w
@z
_ _
38
w
x

@y
x
@x
39
w
y

@y
y
@y
40
w
xy

@y
x
@y

@y
y
@x
41
It should be noted that @w=@z in Eqs. (37) and (38) is actually
taken to be zero since the out-of-plane displacement is assumed
to be invariant through the thickness for thin-walled plates.
Introducing the denitions
B
ij,x
x,Z L
0
i
xf
j
Z
@x
@x
L
i
xf
0
j
Z
@Z
@x
42
B
ij,y
x,Z L
0
i
xf
j
Z
@x
@y
L
i
xf
0
j
Z
@Z
@y
43
the derivative of the generic displacement d with respect to x becomes
@dx,Z
@x

@dx,Z
@x
@x
@x

@dx,Z
@Z
@Z
@x

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
0
i
xf
j
Za
d
ij
@x
@x

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
i
xf
0
j
Za
d
ij
@Z
@x

4
i 1

m1
j 1
L
0
i
xf
j
Z
@x
@x
L
i
xf
0
j
Z
@Z
@x
_ _
a
d
ij

4
i 1

m1
j 1
B
ij,x
x,Za
d
ij
44
Similarly, for the derivative with respect to y
@dx,Z
@y

4
i 1

m1
j 1
B
ij,y
x,Za
d
ij
45
For the derivatives with respect to z, i.e. @u=@z and @v=@z in
Eqs. (37) and (38), the mid-surface displacements u and v in Eqs. (37)
and (38) rst need to be treated as the displacements u
z
and v
z
through the thickness, then utilizing Eqs. (15) and (16), it is easy to
see that @u=@z and @v=@z in Eqs. (37) and (38) reduce to the rotations
y
x
and y
y
, respectively. They can be written as
@dx,Z
@z

4
i 1

m1
j 1
B
ij,z
x,Za
d
z
ij
46
where du,v, d
z
y
x
,y
y
, and
B
ij,z
x,Z L
i
xf
j
Z 47
Eqs. (44)(46) may be expressed in matrix form
@dx,Z
@x
B
dx
a 48
@dx,Z
@y
B
dy
a 49
@dx,Z
@z
B
dz
a 50
where a is the generalized displacement coefcient, which takes
the form
a a
uT
1
a
vT
1
a
wT
1
a
yxT
1
a
yyT
1
a
uT
2
a
vT
2
a
wT
2
a
yxT
2
a
yyT
2
. . .
. . .a
uT
3
a
vT
3
a
wT
3
a
yxT
3
a
yyT
3
a
uT
4
a
vT
4
a
wT
4
a
yxT
4
a
yyT
4

T
51
As per Eq. (9), the generic sub-vector a
d
i
represents the full set
of m3 displacement coefcients referring to the ith nodal line
and the generic displacement d.
The basic strain matrices B
dx
, B
dy
and B
dz
are expressed by
Bux B
1
x
0 0 0 0 B
2
x
0 0 0 0 B
3
x
0 0 0 0 B
4
x
0 0 0 0
52
Buy B
1
y
0 0 0 0 B
2
y
0 0 0 0 B
3
y
0 0 0 0 B
4
y
0 0 0 0
53
Buz 0 0 0 B
1
z
0 0 0 0 B
2
z
0 0 0 0 B
3
z
0 0 0 0 B
4
z
0
54
B
vx
0 B
1
x
0 0 0 0 B
2
x
0 0 0 0 B
3
x
0 0 0 0 B
4
x
0 0 0
55
Bvy 0 B
1
y
0 0 0 0 B
2
y
0 0 0 0 B
3
y
0 0 0 0 B
4
y
0 0 0
56
Bvz 0 0 0 0 B
1
z
0 0 0 0 B
2
z
0 0 0 0 B
3
z
0 0 0 0 B
4
z

57
B
wx
0 0 B
1
x
0 0 0 0 B
2
x
0 0 0 0 B
3
x
0 0 0 0 B
4
x
0 0
58
Bwy 0 0 B
1
y
0 0 0 0 B
2
y
0 0 0 0 B
3
y
0 0 0 0 B
4
y
0 0
59
B
yxx
0 0 0 B
1
x
0 0 0 0 B
2
x
0 0 0 0 B
3
x
0 0 0 0 B
4
x
0
60
B
yxy
0 0 0 B
1
y
0 0 0 0 B
2
y
0 0 0 0 B
3
y
0 0 0 0 B
4
y
0
61
B
yyx
0 0 0 0 B
1
x
0 0 0 0 B
2
x
0 0 0 0 B
3
x
0 0 0 0 B
4
x

62
B
yyy
0 0 0 0 B
1
y
0 0 0 0 B
2
y
0 0 0 0 B
3
y
0 0 0 0 B
4
y

63
where the generic sub-vectors B
i
x
, B
i
y
and B
i
z
refer to the ith nodal
line and contain the full set of m3 functions given in Eqs. (42),
(43) and (47)
B
i
x
B
i
x
x,Z B
i1,x
x,ZB
i0,x
x,ZB
i1,x
x,Z. . .B
im,x
x,ZB
im1,x
x,Z
64
B
i
y
B
i
y
x,Z B
i1,y
x,ZB
i0,y
x,ZB
i1,y
x,Z. . .B
im,y
x,ZB
im1,y
x,Z
65
B
i
z
B
i
z
x,Z B
i1,z
x,ZB
i0,z
x,ZB
i1,z
x,Z. . .B
im,z
x,ZB
im1,z
x,Z
66
Hence, the Eqs. (34)(41) for the straindisplacement relations
can be rewritten in the condensed form
e Ba B
L
B
1
aa 67
where e e
x
e
y
g
xy
g
xz
g
yz
w
x
w
y
w
xy

T
, and B
L
and B
1
(a)
denote the linear and nonlinear strain matrices respectively.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1364
Making use of Eqs. (52)(63), the linear strain matrix B
L
is
B
L

B
ux
B
vy
B
uy
B
vx
B
uz
B
wx
B
vz
B
wy
B
yxx
B
yyx
B
yxy
B
yyx
_

_
_

_
68
while the nonlinear strain matrix B
1
(a) is
B
1
a
1
2
a
T
B
T
ux
B
ux
a
T
B
T
vx
B
vx
a
T
B
T
wx
B
wx
a
T
B
T
uy
Buy a
T
B
T
vy
Bvy a
T
B
T
wy
Bwy
a
T
B
T
ux
Buy a
T
B
T
uy
Bux a
T
B
T
vx
Bvy a
T
B
T
vy
Bvx a
T
B
T
wx
Bwy a
T
B
T
wy
Bwx
a
T
B
T
ux
B
uz
a
T
B
T
uz
B
ux
a
T
B
T
vx
B
vz
a
T
B
T
vz
B
vx
a
T
B
T
wx
B
wz
a
T
B
T
wz
B
wx
a
T
B
T
uy
Buz a
T
B
T
uz
Buy a
T
B
T
vy
Bvz a
T
B
T
vz
Bvy a
T
B
T
wy
Bwz a
T
B
T
wz
Bwy
0
0
0
_

_
_

_
69
Note that B
1
(a) is a linear matrix in terms of a, thus the
following equality holds
B
1
a
dB
1
a
da
a 70
For use in the iterative solution procedure, the nonlinear strain
matrix B
1
(a) is approximated by [32]
B
1
a B
1
a
prev

1
2
u
,x
B
ux
v
,x
B
vx
w
,x
B
wx
u
,y
B
uy
v
,y
B
vy
w
,y
B
wy
u
,x
B
uy
u
,y
B
ux
v
,x
B
vy
v
,y
B
vx
w
,x
B
wy
w
,y
B
wx
u
,x
B
uz
u
,z
B
ux
v
,x
B
vz
v
,z
B
vx
w
,x
B
wz
w
,z
B
wx
u
,y
B
uz
u
,z
B
uy
v
,y
B
vz
v
,z
B
vy
w
,y
B
wz
w
,z
B
wy
0
0
0
_

_
_

_
71
where w
,z
0 and a
prev
is the solution of the displacement
coefcients obtained from last iteration. u
,x
, v
,x
, w
,x
, u
,y
, v
,y
, w
,y
,
y
x
and y
v
are the values evaluated at a
prev
[32].
Taking the variation of Eq. (67) with respect to a, the incre-
mental straindisplacement relation is derived as
de B
L
B
1
a da
dB
1
a
da
ada
B
L
2B
1
ada
B
L
B
N
ada
Bada 72
where use has been made of Eq. (70), and B
N
a 2B
1
a, which is
the nonlinear strain matrix related to the innitesimal strain
increment de.
3.3. Stressstrain relations
It should be noticed that in the Mindlin plate theory, the out-
of-plane shear strains, g
xz
and g
yz
, are considered; however, they
and their corresponding shear stresses, t
xz
and t
yz
will not be
included in the elasto-plastic calculations for the present analysis,
which implies that the out-of-plane shear stress and shear strain
relations will always remain elastic during the analysis. Although
this is not theoretically stringent, it is a generally accepted
assumption in the application of Mindlin theory to thin-walled
structures because g
xz
and g
yz
are usually relatively small for such
structures and so the inuence of the simplication on the results
is negligible.
As the Mindlin plate theory is adopted, the stressstrain
relations, or the elasto-plastic material modulus D
ep
for the
present Isoparametric Spline Finite Strip (ISFS) analysis, are based
on the strains of the mid-surface of the strip, which indicates that
D
ep
is formed by integrating the plane stress material modulus
D
z
ep
through the thickness.
The strains, e
z
x
, e
z
y
and t
z
xy
, at any point in the local coordi-
nates, can be expressed by the mid-plane strains at the corre-
sponding point as
e
z
x
e
x
zw
x
73
e
z
y
e
y
zw
y
74
g
z
xy
g
xy
zw
xy
75
where e
x
, e
v
, g
xv
, w
x
, w
v
and w
xv
are mid-surface strains dened in
Eqs. (34)(36) and (39)(41).
Rewriting Eqs. (73)(75) in matrix form yields
e
z

e
z
x
e
z
y
g
z
xy
_

_
_

1 0 0 z 0 0
0 1 0 0 z 0
0 0 1 0 0 z
_

_
_

_
e
x
e
y
g
xy
w
xy
w
y
w
xy
_

_
_

_
I zIe
0
76
where I is a 33 identity matrix.
In the plane stress state, the incremental stress at any point
within the strip can be expressed as
dr
z

ds
z
x
ds
z
y
dt
z
xy
_

_
_

_
D
z
ep
de
z
D
z
ep
I zIde
0
77
where D
z
ep
is the elasto-plastic material modulus for plane stress
problems to be derived in Section 3.4.
By integrating through the thickness, we obtain the stress
strain relations for Mindlin plates as follows:
dr
m

_
t=2
t=2
dr
z
dz
_
t=2
t=2
D
z
ep
de
z
dz
_
t=2
t=2
D
z
ep
I zIdzde
0
78
dr
b

_
t=2
t=2
dr
z
zdz
_
t=2
t=2
D
z
ep
zde
z
dz
_
t=2
t=2
D
z
ep
zI z
2
Idzde
0
79
where dr
m
represents the membrane stress s
x
, s
v
and t
xv
, while
dr
b
refers to the bending stress m
x
, m
v
and m
xv
.
Writing Eqs. (78) and (79) in a condensed form yields
dr
0
D
ep
de
0
80
where dr
0
s
x
s
y
t
xy
m
x
m
y
m
xy

T
, and D
ep
is the elasto-
plastic material modulus for Mindlin plates as follows:
D
ep

_
t=2
t=2
D
z
ep
I zI
zI z
2
I
_ _
dz 81
Eq. (81) can be expressed as
D
ep
D
e
D
p
82
where D
e
and D
p
are the elastic and plastic material modulus for
Mindlin plates, respectively. D
e
is written as
D
e

_
t=2
t=2
D
z
e
I zI
zI z
2
I
_ _
dz 83
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1365
where D
z
e
is the material elastic modulus for plane stress
problems, which is assumed to be isotropic. Note that the super-
script z in D
z
e
is only used to distinguish D
z
e
from the D
e
matrix, it
does not indicate that D
z
e
is a function of z,
D
z
e

E
1v
2
1 v 0
v 1 0
0 0 1v=2
_

_
_

_ 84
where E is Youngs modulus and v is Poissons ratio.
After integration, the D
e
matrix in Eq. (83) can be separated
into the membrane part D
M
and exural part D
F
as
D
e

D
M
0
33
0
33
D
F
_ _
85
where 0
33
is a 33 zero matrix.
Complementing Eq. (85) with the out-of-plane shear part D
S
,
we can obtain the complete material elastic modulus for the
present analysis or Mindlin plate problems
D
e

D
M
0
32
0
33
0
23
D
S
0
23
0
33
0
32
D
F
_

_
_

_ 86
For the membrane part
D
M
D
z
e

E
1v
2
1 v 0
v 1 0
0 0 1v=2
_

_
_

_ 87
For the out-of-plane shear part
D
S

E
1:21v
2

1v=2 0
0 1v=2
_ _
88
For the exural part
D
F

Et
3
121v
2

1 v 0
v 1 0
0 0 1v=2
_

_
_

_ 89
The second part of Eq. (82) denotes the plastic material
modulus for Mindlin plate problems. It can be written as
D
p

_
t=2
t=2
D
z
p
I zI
zI z
2
I
_ _
dz 90
Once an incremental step has converged, the material of the
structure needs to be updated by re-calculating the D
z
p
matrix for
all integration points inside the structure and then numerically
integrating them through the thickness to obtain Eq. (90). The
calculation of D
z
p
will be introduced in the next section.
3.4. Plasticity theory
This section will mainly concentrate on the aspects of plasti-
city theory related to the calculation of Eq. (90) for the present
analysis. In summary, the von Mises yield criterion [57] is
adopted for the yield function, and the associated ow rules
combined with isotropic strain hardening are used for the post-
yield loading surface. As discussed in Section 3.3, for the present
analysis, only the plane stress condition is considered for any
specic point inside the structure.
An initial yield surface is postulated, dening that yielding will
occur when the stresses r satisfy the general yield function
F
0
F
0
r,k
0
0 91
where k
0
is the initial value of the strain hardening parameter,
which also denes the initial yield stress. The von Mises yield
criterion is adopted for the present analysis as it has proven to be
suitable for metal plasticity. In the plane stress state, the two
dimensional von Mises yield criterion is given by
F
0
s
2
x
s
2
y
s
x
s
y
3t
2
xy

1=2
s
0
k
0
s
e
s
0
k
0
0 92
where s
e
is the von Mises effective stress and s
0
k
0
is the initial
yield stress.
Once yielding occurs, the subsequent yield surface or the
loading surface becomes
F Fr,k 0 93
The specic form of Eq. (93) depends on the hardening rule.
For the present analysis, isotropic strain hardening is assumed.
Isotropic hardening for a 2D stress space is shown in Fig. 6, in
which the loading surface expands uniformly about the origin in
the stress space and maintains its shape and orientation. Isotropic
hardening proves to be suitable for the case of monotonic loading,
which usually does not result in signicant strain reversals and
does not display the pronounced Bauschinger effect. The specic
loading surface for isotropic strain hardening is
F s
2
x
s
2
y
s
x
s
y
3t
2
xy

1=2
s
0
k s
e
s
0
k 0 94
where k is the strain hardening parameter, which denes the
instantaneous position of the loading surface, and is a function of
the equivalent plastic strain e
ps
as
e
ps

de
ps

_
_ e
ps
95
which is accumulated from the equivalent plastic strain rates
_ e
ps

2

3
p _ e
2
px
_ e
2
py
_ e
px
_ e
py

1
4
_ g
2
ps
_ _
1=2
96
Thus Eq. (94) may be rewritten as
F s
2
x
s
2
y
s
x
s
y
3t
2
xy

1=2
s
0
e
ps
s
e
s
0
e
ps
0 97
Suppose that under uniaxial tension in the x direction, we have
_ e
py
_ e
pz
0:5_ e
px
, which suggests there is no plastic volume
change, substituting these values of plastic strain into Eq. (96)
gives _ e
ps
_ e
px
, and note that s
e
s
x
. Consequently, s
0
e
ps
can be
readily obtained from the stressstrain curve of the uniaxial
coupon test. In addition, as shown in Fig. 7, taking linear hard-
ening for example, we can dene the plastic modulus or the
hardening parameter as
H
0

@s
0
@e
ps

@s
x
@e
px

E
0
E
t
E
0
E
t
98
The plastic strain increment _ e
p
is related to the stress incre-
ment through the ow rule
_ e
p

_
l
@Q
@r
_ _
99
Fig. 6. Isotropic hardening and von Mises yield criterion under principal stresses
for the plane stress conditions.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1366
where
_
l is a positive scalar usually referred to as the plastic
strain-rate multiplier, Q is dened as the plastic potential, which
is a function of stresses and plastic strains. If the surface given by
Q corresponds to the loading surface F, then it is termed
associated plasticity, which is commonly suitable for metal
plasticity, otherwise it is termed non-associated plasticity, which
is more applicable to softening materials like soils.
The Prandtl-Reuss [56] ow rule, which falls in the group of
associated plasticity and is based on the von Mises yield criterion,
is adopted for the present analysis. Hence Eq. (99) becomes
_ e
p

_ e
px
_ e
py
_ e
pxy
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
l
@F
@r
_ _

_
lu
_
l
2s
e
2s
x
s
y
2s
y
s
x
6t
xy
_
_
_
_
_
_ 100
where u is a stress vector, which is normal to the loading surface
as shown in Fig. 6, i.e.
u
1
2s
e
2s
x
s
y
2s
y
s
x
6t
xy
_
_
_
_
_
_ 101
Within the bounds of small strain ow theory, it is usually
valid to assume that the strain increment can be separated into an
elastic part _ e
e
and a plastic part _ e
p
, such that
_ e _ e
e
_ e
p
102
Using the elastic stressstrain relations, the stress increment
can be expressed as
_ r
_ s
x
_ s
y
_ s
xy
_
_
_
_
_
_D
z
e
_ e
x
_ e
y
_ e
xy
_
_
_
_
_
_
_ e
px
_ e
py
_ e
pxy
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_D
z
e
_ e_ e
p
D
z
e
_ e
_
lu 103
where D
z
e
is the elastic modulus for the plane stress problems as
dened in Eq. (84).
For plastic ow to occur, the stresses must remain on the
loading surface, hence, taking the variation of Eq. (97) gives the
tangency condition as follows:
_
F
@F
T
@r
_ r
@F
@s
0
@s
0
@e
ps
_ e
ps
u
T
_ rH
0
_ e
ps
0 104
Substituting Eq. (100) into Eq. (96) gives
_ e
ps

_
l 105
Substituting Eq. (105) into Eq. (104) yields
_
F u
T
_ rH
0 _
l 0 106
Premultiplying Eq. (103) by u
T
, then substituting the product
and Eq. (105) into Eq. (104) gives
_
l
u
T
D
z
e
_ e
u
T
D
z
e
uH
0
107
Substituting Eq. (107) back into (103) yields
_ r D
z
e
I
uu
T
D
z
e
u
T
D
z
e
uH
0
_ _
_ e 108
from which we obtain the material tangential modulus D

ep
z for
plane stress problems as
D
z
ep
D
z
e
D
z
p
D
z
e

D
z
e
uu
T
D
z
e
u
T
D
z
e
uH
0
109
where D
z
p
is the plastic part
D
z
p

D
z
e
uu
T
D
z
e
u
T
D
z
e
uH
0
110
Eq. (110) can be substituted back into Eq. (90), then, making
use of Eq. (82), we can obtain the elasto-plastic material tangen-
tial modulus D
ep
for Mindlin plate problems.
3.5. Equilibrium equation
The present material and geometric nonlinear analysis is to be
solved by an incremental/iterative strategy. Iterations are
required for each increment of load step, and the structure is
only required to be in equilibrium at the end of each increment.
The principle of virtual work is used to formulate the total
equilibrium equation.
At a given displacement a from the last increment or iteration,
given the virtual displacement da
T
, and making use of Eq. (72),
the internal virtual work can be expressed as
dw
i

_
V
de
T
radV da
T
_
V
Ba
T
radV 111
where V is the volume of the strip, and the stress vector ra is
obtained by accumulating all the previous incremental values
until the current displacement a, such that
ra

a
0
dr
_
a
0
_ r 112
The incremental stresses _ r are calculated by integrating the
stressstrain rate equations, as described in Section 3.6.
The external virtual work is given by
dw
e

_
V
dd
T
f
e
adV da
T
_
V
N
T
f
e
adV da
T
fa 113
where f
e
a is the external load vector, and f(a) is the equivalent
load vector. Equilibriumis achieved by equating dw
i
with dw
e
, that is
da
T
_
V
Ba
T
radVfa
_ _
0 114
Introducing the out of balance force vector
Wa
_
V
Ba
T
radVfa 115
it can be seen that Eq. (114) is satised only when
Wa
_
V
Ba
T
radVfa 0 116
It should be noted that at the end of each iteration, Eq. (115) is
used to evaluate if the out of balance force is small enough to
conclude that the force convergence criterion can be deemed to
be satised.
In order to obtain the tangential stiffness of the structure at a
given displacement a, we take the variation of Wa as
dWa d
_
V
Ba
T
radVfa
_ _

_
V
dBa
T
ra Ba
T
dradVdfa 117
Fig. 7. One dimensional stressstrain relationship with linear hardening.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1367
where dBa reduces to
dBa dB
L
B
N
a dB
N
a 118
Taking the variation of ra with respect to a, and making use
of Eq. (72) yields
dra d
_
a
0
D
ep
ade
_ _
d
_
a
0
D
ep
aBada
_ _
D
ep
aBada
119
where D
ep
a denotes the elasto-plastic tangential modulus for
Mindlin plate problems at the current displacement a.
Substituting Eqs. (118) and (119) into Eq. (117) yields
dWa
_
V
dB
N
a
T
radV
_
V
Ba
T
D
ep
aBadVdadfa
120
From Eqs. (69) and (72), B
N
a can be obtained as
B
N
a
a
T
B
T
ux
B
ux
a
T
B
T
vx
B
vx
a
T
B
T
wx
B
wx
a
T
B
T
uy
B
uy
a
T
B
T
vy
B
vy
a
T
B
T
wy
B
wy
a
T
B
T
ux
B
uy
a
T
B
T
uy
B
ux
a
T
B
T
vx
B
vy
a
T
B
T
vy
B
vx
a
T
B
T
wx
B
wy
a
T
B
T
wy
B
wx
a
T
B
T
ux
B
uz
a
T
B
T
uz
B
ux
a
T
B
T
vx
B
vz
a
T
B
T
vz
B
vx
a
T
B
T
wx
B
wz
a
T
B
T
wz
B
wx
a
T
B
T
uy
B
uz
a
T
B
T
uz
B
uy
a
T
B
T
vy
B
vz
a
T
B
T
vz
B
vy
a
T
B
T
wy
B
wz
a
T
B
T
wz
B
wy
0
0
0
_

_
_

_
a
T
B
T
ux
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wx
B
T
uy
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wy
B
T
ux
B
uy
B
T
uy
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vy
B
T
vy
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wy
B
T
wy
B
wx
B
T
ux
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wx
B
T
uy
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wy
0
0
0
_

_
_

_
121
Hence dB
N
a in Eq. (118) is
dB
N
a da
T
B
T
ux
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wx
B
T
uy
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wy
B
T
ux
B
uy
B
T
uy
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vy
B
T
vy
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wy
B
T
wy
B
wx
B
T
ux
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wx
B
T
uy
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wy
0
0
0
_

_
_

_
122
The stress vector ra in Eq. (120) is accumulated from each
increment as dened in Eq. (112), and can be expressed as
ra s
x
a s
y
a t
xy
a t
xz
a t
yz
a m
x
a m
y
a m
xy
a
T
123
By Eqs. (122) and (123), the rst term on the right-hand side of
Eq. (120) can be expressed as
_
V
dB
N
a
T
radV K
s
da 124
where K
s
is the so-called initial stress matrix given by
K
s

_
V
s
x
aB
T
ux
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wx

s
y
aB
T
uy
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wy

t
xy
aB
T
ux
B
uy
B
T
uy
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vy
B
T
vy
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wy
B
T
wy
B
wx

t
xz
aB
T
ux
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
ux
B
T
vx
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vx
B
T
wx
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wx

t
yz
aB
T
uy
B
uz
B
T
uz
B
uy
B
T
vy
B
vz
B
T
vz
B
vy
B
T
wy
B
wz
B
T
wz
B
wy
dV
125
Expanding the second term of Eq. (120) gives
_
V
Ba
T
D
ep
aBadV
_
V
B
L
B
N
a
T
D
ep
aB
L
B
N
adV

_
V
B
L
T
D
ep
aB
L
dV

_
V
B
L
T
D
ep
aB
N
adV

_
V
B
N
a
T
D
ep
aB
L
dV

_
V
B
N
a
T
D
ep
aB
N
adV K
L
K
N
126
where K
L
is the conventional small displacement stiffness matrix
and K
N
is the so-called large displacement matrix. They are
dened as
K
L

_
V
B
L
T
D
ep
aB
L
dV 127
K
N

_
V
B
L
T
D
ep
aB
N
adV

_
V
B
N
a
T
D
ep
aB
L
dV
_
V
B
N
a
T
D
ep
aB
N
adV 128
Therefore Eq. (120) can nally be expressed as
dWa K
L
K
N
K
s
dadf a K
T
dadfa 129
where K
T
K
L
K
N
K
s
is the total tangent stiffness matrix, and
the material status in K
T
is updated once an increment step has
converged, i.e. Eq. (116) is deemed satised.
In order to avoid shear locking problems, a selective reduced
Gaussian integration scheme is adopted for the integrations
related to the calculations of the tangential stiffness matrix and
the out of balance load vector. More details are given in [1].
3.6. Integrating the rate equations
Because of the path dependent nature of material nonlinearity,
specically the ow rules [60], it is inevitable that the problem
needs to be solved in an incremental and iterative way. Thus the
stresses need to be updated in the solution process such as
r
n1
r
n
Dr
n
r
n
Dr
e,n
Dr
ep,n
130
where r
n1
denotes the total stresses at the end of the nth
increment, r
n
the total stresses at the start of the nth increment
and Dr
n
the total incremental stresses in the nth increment,
which can be separated into two parts: Dr
e,n
derived from the
elastic strains De
e,n
and Dr
ep,n
derived from the elasto-plastic
strains De
ep,n
.
The incremental stress Dr
n
corresponds to the total incre-
mental strains De
n
, which further corresponds to the incremental
change in displacement coefcients Da
n
, which have accumu-
lated in all the previous iterations within the nth increment, i.e.
De
n
De
e,n
De
ep,n
BDa
n
, Da
n

k
i 0
da
i
n
131
where k is the total number of iterations in the nth increment.
Given the instantaneous elasto-plastic tangential modulus D
z
ep
,
the Dr
ep,n
term in Eq. (130) can be obtained by integrating the
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1368
stressstrain relations or the so-called rate equations
Dr
ep,n

_
Deep,n
0
D
z
ep
de 132
For simplicity, the superscript z will be dropped hereafter for
all D matrices that represent the stressstrain relations for the
plane stress condition.
As a path dependent material has different responses for
loading and unloading, it is important to note that the incre-
mental strains De
n
other than the iterative strains De
i
n
Bda
i
n
should be used for the integration of stresses. This is because
stresses obtained by iterative strains can lead to spurious unload-
ing during iterations, thus yielding unrealistic stresses at the end
of the increment [61].
If the strain increments in Eq. (132) were very small, a simple
forward-Euler scheme could be utilized to gain sufcient accuracy
in the resulting incremental stresses. However, since the strain
changes are not innitesimally small and neither is the modulus
D
ep
instantaneous, an uncorrected forward-Euler scheme will
usually lead to the accumulation of errors and thus a drift away
from the loading surface. For this reason, the rate equations have
to be integrated numerically in other ways.
It is worth noting that the accuracy of a material nonlinear
analysis largely depends on the integration strategy used to
integrate the rate equations, and previous researchers have
proposed various kinds of algorithms for this purpose. These
algorithms can be classied into explicit and implicit categories.
The explicit methods mainly refer to the forward-Euler scheme
[62] and RungeKutta scheme [63], and are usually facilitated by
the sub-incrementation technique [6467] or algorithms helping
to return the stress state to the yield surface [6874].
The implicit methods generally include the mid-point algo-
rithm and the backward Euler scheme [58], etc.
In the present analysis, both explicit and implicit integration
schemes have been implemented into the computer program and
comparisons have been made between the schemes. An implicit
scheme is nally adopted for the present analysis because of its
accuracy and numerical stability. Details are given in the follow-
ing sections.
3.6.1. Explicit integration methods
With an explicit strategy, it is necessary to rst calculate the
intersection point of the elastic stress predictor with the loading
surface, then to obtain the corresponding elasto-plastic strains
used for the integration of the rate equations.
First the total incremental strains for the nth increment are
obtained according to the straindisplacement relations, that is
De
n
BDa
n
133
Then the elastic stressstrain relations are used to calculate
the stress predictor as
~ r
n1
r
n
D~ r
n
r
n
D
e
De
n
134
The loading function F ~ r
n1
,k
n
in Eq. (93) is computed, giving
rise to the following three situations distinguished by the value of
F ~ r
n1
,k
n
:
If F ~ r
n1
,k
n
r0, the current point is undergoing elastic
loading or unloading, and the nal stresses are simply the stress
predictor, i.e.
r
n1
~ r
n1
135
If F ~ r
n1
,k
n
40 and Fr
n
,k
n
o0, the current point is transit-
ing from the elastic region to the plastic region, and thus the
elastic proportion m
e
of the total strains can be obtained by
solving the following loading function:
Fr
n
m
e
D~ r
n
,k
n
0 136
The value of m
e
should be in the range of (0, 1).
If F ~ r
n
1,k
n
40 and Fr
n
,k
n
0, the current point is con-
tinuing its elasto-plastic loading, thus m
e
0.
For the latter two situations, the elasto-plastic strains are
therefore obtained by
De
ep,n
1m
e
De
n
137
Given De
ep,n
, any suitable explicit scheme can be used to
calculate the integral of the rate equations (132) to obtain the
incremental elasto-plastic stresses Dr
ep,n
in the nth increment.
The stresses at the end of the increment are nally given by
r
n1
r
n
m
e
D~ r
n
Dr
ep,n
138
where D~ r
n
D
e
De
n
. If a direct forward-Euler scheme is used
for the integration, the resulting stresses will inevitably lie out-
side the loading surface. A more precise explicit procedure, based
on the RungeKutta method, is implemented in the present
analysis. A single step forward-Euler integration is rst applied
for an increment of De
ep,n
=2 to obtain
Dr
1=2
ep,n
D
0
ep,n
1
2
De
ep,n
_ _

1
2
D
0
ep,n
De
ep,n
139
where D
0
ep,n
denotes the elasto-plastic tangential modulus at the
beginning of the nth increment. It should be noted that before the
RungeKutta procedure, or more generally, the integration pro-
cedure is carried out, D
0
ep,n
should be re-computed using the
current new stresses. This is because, in the case of extreme strain
reversals, the strains could unload so rapidly that their elastic
stress predictor exceeds the loading surface in the reversed
direction, thus the actual D
0
ep,n
calculated from r
n
m
e
D~ r
n
would
be much different from the initial D
0
ep,n
, which is calculated from
r
n
. Then the stresses Dr
1=2
ep,n
from Eq. (139) are used to compute
D
1=2
ep,n
corresponding to half of the nth increment. Thus the stresses
Dr
ep,n
resulting from the elasto-plastic strains De
ep,n
for the nth
increment can be estimated by
Dr
ep,n
D
1=2
ep,n
De
ep,n
140
Finally the total stresses can be obtained from Eq. (138).
This RungeKutta method has second-order accuracy which is
superior to the forward-Euler method, which has only rst-order
accuracy. However, no matter which type of explicit method is
used for the integration procedure, the resulting stresses will
usually drift away from the loading surface by some margin. In
order to reduce the error, one can either introduce correcting
algorithms after the explicit procedure is carried out to force
the stresses to articially return to the loading surface, or use the
so-called sub-incrementation method to divide the explicit pro-
cedure into a number of small domains. The latter can signi-
cantly reduce the errors (at the expense of increased
computational effort), and is implemented in the present analysis.
In this method, the incremental strain De
n
is divided into m
sub
sub-steps, each having a size of De
ep,n
=m
sub
, then the above
RungeKutta procedure is applied for each step.
One important issue raised by the sub-incrementation method
is the determination of a suitable number of sub-steps. Two
methods regarding this are tried in the present analysis, as
follows:
(1) Angle c method. The integer m
sub
is dened by the angle c
between the deviatoric stresses s
0
ij
corresponding to the
beginning of the nth increment and the elastic deviatoric
stress predictor s
P
ij
corresponding to the end of the nth
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1369
increment [73], i.e.
m
sub
1
c
k
141
where
ccos
1
s
0
ij
s
P
ij
s
0
ij
s
0
ij

1=2
s
P
ij
s
P
ij

1=2
_ _
142
where s
ij
is the deviatoric stress tensor, which in the plane
stress context is dened as
s
ij
s
ij
s
m
d
ij
, s
m

1
3
s
11
s
22
143
where d
ij
is the Kronecker delta. The value of k in Eq. (141)
needs to be decided by the required accuracy. Usually k0.01
ensures that errors are less than 1% [75].
(2) Two-step Euler method. The integer m
sub
is dened by a two-
step Euler procedure used to estimate the error produced by
the forward-Euler procedure [76]. Such a two-step scheme
starts with a standard Euler step
r
P1
n1
r
n
D
e
De
e,n
D
0
ep,n
De
ep,n
r
n
Dr
e,n
Dr
1
ep,n
144
which leads to a new tangential modulus D
P1
ep,n
. Then re-
computing the step in Eq. (144) using the averaged tangential
modulus yields
r
P2
n1
r
n
D
e
De
e,n

1
2
D
0
ep,n
D
P1
ep,n
De
ep,n
r
n
Dr
e,n

1
2
Dr
1
ep,n
Dr
2
ep,n
145
Hence, an estimate of the error is given by
dr r
P2
n1
r
P1
n1

1
2
Dr
2
ep,n
Dr
1
ep,n
146
To estimate the required number of sub-steps m
sub
, we rst
nd the variation of the loading surface F in Eq. (93), retaining up
to second-order terms with respect to Dr
DF u
T
Dr
1
2
Dr
T
@u
@r
DrH
0
Dl 147
Eq. (147) suggests that the truncated error in the forward-
Euler method is proportional to the square of the length of the
stress increment Dr. Assuming that the total error will be roughly
1/m times the error for a single step if m sub-steps are used,
Criseld [61] suggested that
m
sub
p
s
e
Dr
s
0
_ _
1=2
148
Therefore, if a tolerance of b in F is to be satised, the required
number of sub-steps is given by
m
sub

s
e
Dr
bs
0
_ _
1=2
149
The current research found that, if a non-smooth material
stressstrain curve is used, for instance, an ideal elasticplastic
curve rather than a stressstrain curve with continuous slopes,
the explicit scheme will exhibit notable difculties in staying
accurate around the slope discontinuity points of the material
curve. In this situation, the angle c method dened in Eq. (141)
yields less accurate results than the two-step Euler method
described in Eqs. (144)(149), because the angle c between the
two sets of deviatoric stresses does not reect the current
properties of the material stressstrain curve, specically, the
curvature of the curve which is closely related to the determina-
tion of m
sub
. Therefore, the m
sub
determined by the angle c
method will usually be substantially underestimated so that the
procedure is unable to produce accurate integration around slope
discontinuity points. Moreover, the parameter k in the angle c
method used to determine the value of m
sub
is empirically based.
3.6.2. Implicit integration methods
In the present analysis, a backward Euler return method is also
implemented for calculating the integral of (132). The backward
Euler return method is based on the equation
r
C
r
B
DlD
e
u
C
150
where, as depicted in Fig. 8, we assume that A is the starting point
inside or on the loading surface, B is the so-called elastic trial
point, which corresponds to the elastic stress predictor and C is
the requested nal point on the loading surface.
Eq. (150) involves the vector u
C
, which is normal to the
loading surface at the nal point C, which is on the loading
surface. In general, u
C
cannot be directly calculated from the data
at A or B, so an iterative procedure is needed at each Gauss-point
to obtain the stresses at the nal point C.
A starting estimate of u
C
can be obtained by performing a rst-
order Taylor expansion about point B of the loading surface F
F F
B

@F
T
@r
_ _
B
Dr
@F
T
@e
ps
_ _
B
De
ps
F
B
Dlu
T
B
D
e
u
B
DlH
0
B
151
where u
B
@F
T
=@r
B
and use has been made of Eqs. (98) and
(105), as well as the incremental form of Eq. (103) with De 0
because the total strain De has already been applied in moving
from point A to point B (Fig. 8). Equating the loading function
value F to zero gives
Dl
F
B
u
T
B
D
e
u
B
H
0
B
152
Hence the starting estimate of r
C
is
r
C
r
B
DlD
e
u
B
153
A vector, r, is introduced to compute the difference between
the current stresses r
C
and the stresses given by Eq. (150), that is
r
C
r
C
r
B
DlD
e
u
C
154
Iterations are performed until r has been reduced to zero while
ensuring the nal stresses r
C
satisfy the loading condition F0, as
follows:
With r
B
being kept xed, a rst-order Taylor expansion about
point C can be applied to Eq. (154)
r r
C
_ r
_
lD
e
u
C
DlD
e
@u
@r
_ _
C
_ r 155
Setting r to zero gives
_ r IDlD
e
@u
@r
_ _
C
_ _
1
r
C

_
lD
e
u
C
Q
1
C
r
C

_
lQ
1
C
D
e
u
C
156
Fig. 8. Illustration of a backward Euler return in principal stresses.
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1370
where
Q
C
IDlD
e
@u
@r
_ _
C
157
Similar to Eq. (151), a rst-order Taylor expansion about point
C of the loading surface F gives
F F
C

@F
T
@r
_ _
C
_ r
@F
T
@e
ps
_ _
C
_ e
ps
F
C
u
T
C
_ r
_
lH
0
C
158
Substituting F0 and Eq. (156) into Eq. (158) yields the
iterative change of the plastic strain-rate multiplier
_
l
_
l
F
C
u
T
C
Q
1
C
r
C
u
T
C
Q
1
C
D
e
u
C
H
0
C
159
From Eq. (105), the iterative change of the effective plastic
strain is
_ e
ps

_
l 160
Hence the total change of the effective plastic strain De
ps
is
given by
De
j 1
ps
De
j
ps
_ e
ps
161
where j denotes the jth iteration for the backward Euler return
procedure. Substituting
_
l back into Eq. (156) gives the iterative
stress change _ r, hence the stresses at point C are updated by
r
j
C
1 r
j
C
_ r 162
The updated stresses given by Eq. (162) are back-substituted
into Eq. (154), and another iteration is performed until the
loading surface F and the norm of r
C
are less than a near-zero
tolerance value.
3.6.3. Discussion
In general, the explicit methods presented in Section 3.6.1 can
produce results of acceptable accuracy if sufcient sub-divisions
are used. However, several drawbacks with it are encountered
during the analysis. Firstly, although the RungeKutta method in
the explicit scheme has a second-order accuracy in determining
the tangential modulus matrix D
ep
, the matrix still remains an
approximation and therefore, the resulting stresses are bound to
drift away from the loading surface by some margin. Secondly,
because no yield surface, or loading surface, is needed for the
explicit method, it is usually impossible in the explicit scheme to
keep stresses on or within the loading surface. Nevertheless, one
can additionally introduce the loading surface into the explicit
integration procedure to reduce the error. The procedure that the
present analysis has tried is to use Eqs. (152) and (153) after the
explicit procedure to bring the stresses back close to the loading
surface. Although signicantly improving the results, this com-
plementary stress-correcting algorithm will produce articial
plastic strains, which may not be consistent with the stresses.
Moreover, as this correcting algorithm is a non-iterative proce-
dure, the resulting stresses may still not be sufciently close to
the loading surface.
In contrast, the implicit scheme, specically the backward
Euler return method described in Section 3.6.2, uses a specic
loading surface and thus can ensure that the errors of the
resulting stresses are within a chosen tolerance, and that the
stresses stay on the loading surface. Furthermore, this procedure
is a general method with regard to the material stressstrain
curve, which means no special considerations are needed for
material curves with slope discontinuities. Concerning the
numerical efciency, numerical tests have also shown that the
number of iterations needed for a backward Euler procedure is
much less than the number of sub-incrementations needed for an
explicit procedure in order to reach the same level of accuracy.
Moreover, the backward Euler return method does not require the
computation of the intersection point of the elastic stress pre-
dictor with the loading surface and also allows the generation of a
consistent tangent material modulus (see Section 3.7), which
accelerates the convergence of the overall iterations at the
structural level.
In conclusion, considering its accuracy and efciency, the
implicit integration scheme, specically, the back Euler return
method, is recommended for the integration of the rate equations
and thus is adopted in the present analysis for all subsequent
computations.
3.7. Consistent tangent modulus
The concept of the consistent tangent modulus was derived by
Simo and Taylor [77]. It is fully consistent with the backward
Euler integration method and can be implemented in the numer-
ical procedure without signicant additional computational
effort. Furthermore, the standard material tangent modulus given
by Eq. (109) corresponds to the current converged displacement
a, but the consistent tangent modulus takes into account the
amount of change of the plastic strains in the last increment and
uses this information to predict the subsequent increment.
Although the prediction is an estimate, in general situations, the
consistent tangent modulus can improve the convergence rate in
solving the global equilibrium equations.
The derivation of the consistent tangent modulus also starts
with Eq. (150), i.e.
r r
B
DlD
e
u 163
where the sufx C relating to the current state has been dropped.
The sufx B denotes that r
B
is the elastic stress predictor. Noting
that _ r
B
D
e
_ e and Dl
_
l, differentiation of Eq. (163) gives
_ r D
e
_ e
_
lD
e
uDlD
e
@u
@r
_ r 164
Re-arranging Eq. (164) gives
_ r IDlD
e
@u
@r
_ _
1
D
e
_ e
_
lu Q
1
D
e
_ e
_
lu R _ e
_
lu
165
where the Q matrix was introduced previously in Eq. (157)
and R is
R Q
1
D
e
IDlD
e
@u
@r
_ _
1
D
e
166
Rewriting the tangency condition in Eq. (104) as follows and
substituting Eq. (165) into it yields
_
F u
T
_ rH
0
_ e
ps
u
T
R_ e
_
lu
T
RuH
0
_ e
ps
u
T
R_ e
_
lu
T
RuH
0 _
l 0
167
Solving Eq. (167) for
_
l and back-substituting the solution into
Eq. (165) gives
_ r R
Ruu
T
R
T
u
T
RuH
0
_ _
_ e D
ep
_ e 168
where D
ep
is the consistent tangential material modulus, i.e.
D
ep
R
Ruu
T
R
T
u
T
RuH
0
169
If Dl0, the consistent tangential modulus given by Eq. (169)
degenerates to the standard tangential modulus given by Eq. (109).
As the formulation of the consistent tangential modulus is
similar to that of the backward Euler procedure, it can be easily
incorporated into the backward Euler procedure. Numerical tests
Z. Yao, K.J.R. Rasmussen / Thin-Walled Structures 49 (2011) 13591373 1371
show that in most cases the consistent tangential modulus
accelerates the convergence rate of iterations. However, for the
case of material ideal plasticity, or more generally, for materials
with no or little strain hardening, faster convergence is achieved
by not engaging the consistent tangential modulus. The reason for
this is that if the consistent tangential modulus is engaged for this
kind of material, the additional plastic ow Dl associated with it
tends to over-predict the loss of the stiffness of the material and
thus impedes the convergence of displacements. This phenom-
enon is also characterized by the emerging negative eigenvalues
of the overall stiffness matrix.
4. Conclusions
An analytical study of the application of the ISFSM to the
material and geometric nonlinear analysis of perforated thin-
walled metal structures has been presented. The general inelastic
nonlinear theory has been discussed in detail by describing the
kinematics assumptions, the straindisplacement relations, the
material constitutive relations and the equilibrium equations.
The geometric mapping algorithm, the strip continuity requirements
and the application of boundary conditions are also described.
Particular emphasis has been put on detailing the plasticity
theory for the plane stress condition, elasto-plastic constitutive
relations for the Mindlin plate problems and the available
methods for integrating the rate equations. The explicit and
implicit integration schemes are extensively discussed and com-
pared with each other, leading to the conclusion that the implicit
backward Euler return method is superior to the explicit integra-
tion scheme in terms of numerical efciency and reliability. The
consistent material modulus is nally derived, which, generally,
proves to accelerate the convergence rate of equilibrium itera-
tions at the structural level.
The theory presented in this paper had been applied to derive
their corresponding matrix formulations for the present isopara-
metric spline nite strip analysis, which can be readily coded in a
computer program, as described in the companion paper [1].
Acknowledgments
Part of this research was carried out at the University
of Trento, Italy. The authors gratefully acknowledge Riccardo
Zandonini and Gabriele Eccher for their time and assistance
during the rst authors visit to Trento, and particularly Gabriele
Eccher for his guidance on the initial development of the isopara-
metric spline nite strip program.
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