Inelastic Postbuckling and Cyclic Behavior of Tubular Braces

Abstract

A nonlinear fiber element for the simulation of buckling, post buckling, and hysteric responses of tubular struts is formulated and implemented in the nonlinear program DRAIN-3DX. In this element both material and geometric nonlinearities are considered. The element is applied to simulate post buckling and hysteric response of pinned and fixed tubular struts subjected to cyclic loading. The results are in good agreement with available results, i.e., experiment and other analytical models data in terms of buckling load, load-deformation curve, strength, and stiffness degradation.