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5 Answers What is numerical analysis?

What is the difference between 'Discourse

Jinal Doshi, Structural engineer and founder of structural madness Analysis' and 'Critical Discourse Analysis'?
Answered Mar 10, 2016 · Upvoted by SoumyaKanti Dhavala, M.Tech Structural
Engineering, Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University (2018) and What is the difference between Foucauldian
Mohamed Yosry, B.S. Civil Engineering & Structural Engineering, Ain Shams University Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse
(2011) Analysis?
Linear Analysis
What is the difference between analysis, critical
analysis, and comment?
What is linear analysis? A proportional analysis. For example if I say that a
moment M is generating a deflection of D, and what would be the moment What is Kani's method of structural analysis?

acting on the beam if the deflection is 2D? It will be 2M. Quite simple right? This Structural Analysis: Can you compare force
analysis is called linear analysis. All the principle of superposition are also valid. method and displacement method with suitable
examples?

Let us say dead load is causing a beam deflection the beam by 1" and live load is How hard is structural analysis?
causing a deflection of 0.5" and if I ask you what will by the sum of deflection
What are different types of elements used in
cause by the two loads? It will be 1 + 0.5 = 1.5". This is pretty simple, principle of structural analysis?
superposition.
What is the best structural analysis program for
engineers?
This all can happen because the stresses are proportional to strains. Take an
example of mathematical equation of a straight line. Ask New Question

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[math]y = mx[/math]

Now if I say that the value of slope is known and I give a particular value of x, Question Stats

can you figure out the value y? Of course yes. And this can be done in a single
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step. No repetition is required. Now replace x with strain and y with stress and m 77,762 Views
is the stiffness of material. The equation of the same straight line becomes: Last Asked Mar 6, 2016

Edits
[math]\sigma = E_s \ \epsilon[/math]

So this is why linear analysis is simple. If you know the deformation for 1 unit of
load and if you wish to find out the deformation for 5 units of load, you just
multiply the deformation by 5 and you have your results. This will reduce the
time and effort put into analysis. It will give you sometimes conservative results
and sometimes inaccurate as well. (I will justify inaccurate in Nonlinear
analysis)
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Whatever we lean in under grad is linear analysis. You calculate the forces, you
design the section and you are done. We do not consider any cracking effects not
do we look for strength loss.

We are still doing linear analysis because we also consider material safety
factors and specified properties. The actual strength of material is actually
greater than the specified strength and specified strength is the strength without
considering any factors of safety.

Nonlinear analysis

1. Material Nonlinearity

When the materials move into the zone beyond it's yield strengths, it no longer
behaves in a linear fashion. There are many things that happen when material
go into this zone:

• Permanent deformations: This means that when the material is

unloaded it will not go back to it's original shape or position. For
example if you take a plastic bag and stretch it, after a certain point
even if you release the bag you will see the permanent stretch marks.
This is called permanent deformation.

• Cracking: Generally this occurs in linear design as well, but we neglect

the cracking of concrete, even though we still consider the reduced
stiffness of members while doing seismic design, but still it is an
assumed value. While in nonlinear analysis we monitor the cracking
and so concrete will crack and member will start losing its stiffness.

• Beam rotations: When a beam is subjected to moments greater than

it's capacity, it no longer resists the moments, instead it rotates and
forms a plastic hinge and start dissipating energy. This is a part of
material nonlinearity but for beams it is called backbone curve (aka F-D
relationship). In case of linear design we do not case for anything
greater than the capacity of the member.

• Energy Dissipation: In linear analysis, energy dissipation is in the

form of strain energy, while in case of nonlinear analysis it is in the
form of inelastic energy in addition to strain energy dissipation.
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These were a few generalized things that came to my mind while looking at
nonlinear analysis.

This is what happens in nonlinear analysis. If a member goes beyond its

capacity (elastic limit), it will experience some sort of strain hardening or
cracking and it will start losing its stiffness which also means that the total
stiffness of the structure or building is also changing. Thus what you do is, you
load the structure and see if it went into nonlinear stage, if it does then we see
how much the materi...(more)
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Yevonnael Andrew Widjaja, Interests : Steel Structure, CAE, Computer

Modelling for Civil Engineer.
Answered May 9, 2015

Picture 1 (sumber : Engineering Math Review )

• O-E : Linear region
• E-R : Non-Linear region

Linear analysis using equation {F} = [K]{Δ}. What does it mean? It mean that the
correlation of Force and Displacement is linear. But this is only valid for
material that has elastic linear property. But in real material, steel for example
(see the picture above). The property is elastic linear,  until at some point, the
steel is yielding and become non-linear.

Non-linear cases include geometry non-linear and material non-linear, and

the others. 2
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So, to obtain the accurate and identical with real situation, you need non-linear
analysis. Non-linear analysis is not easy, but thank you to computer and
analysis software that available now. You can calculate non-linear analysis
with that software.

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Debiprasad Ghosh, BE in Civil Engineering, Masters in Structural

Engineering, PhD in SHM from IISc
Answered Sep 23, 2016

Principle of Superposition is applicable in liner analysis. Hence, solutions for

multiple load cases can be combined for combined deformations.

• Linear analysis: When the deformations of structures are linear

combinations of applied loads, it is called linear. So, purpose of the
linear analysis is to identify the transformation and inverse
transformation between these two set of quantities. This
transformation is called stiffness matrix of the structure.

• Non-Linear analysis: Nonlinear relationships between loads and

displacement may come due to many reasons, including associated
material or geometric non-linearity of the structure. Common solution
technique considers locally linear relationships between loads and
deformations. So, it is more difficult than linear analysis.

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Aravind Natarajan, Structural engineer in the making

Answered Mar 8, 2016

Basically,

Linear analysis: Plane sections remain plane, stress-strain curve is linear (and so
is force-displacement).

Non-linear analysis: Stress is no longer proportional to strain.

Analysis in software programs:

By default, most design softwares are inclined to do
2 a linear elastic analysis.
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Why ?

1) Because it is easy. (Rate of loading / Order of loading does not matter)

2) Because it is fast. (You get your answer in a single step, solving a single
equation)

3) Because it is on the safe side. (Elastic analysis gives upper bound forces. In
reality, the observed forces can only be less than or equal to elastically obtained
forces because the stiffness matrix always 'decreases')

Implementation in software programs:

When you create a model, basically three matrices are generated (Load matrix,
stiffness matrix and displacement matrix).

In linear elastic analysis, all that happens is [F] = [K][X] equation is solved and
that's the end.

One major assumption made here is that Axial force and Bending moment are
independent of one another !

In reality, they interact.  This leads to geometrical non-linearity.

Geometrical non-linearity:

Geometrical non-linearity usually consists of two effects:

1) Effect of Axial strain on Bending moment:

This is what is usually referred to as P-Delta effects in frame analysis using

softwares. Switching this on will result in two things (depending on the software
capabilities),

a) There will be a first order approximation of the stability functions involved

(assuming that only small axial force acts on the building) and a 'Linear elastic
Analysis' but with a "modified Stiffness matrix" is used.

[F] = { [K] + [Kg] } [X}

b) If there is no approximation, the Force-displacement cannot be written in a

matrix form (linear) and hence a non-linear (step wise incremental) solver has to
be used for obtaining solution.

2) Effect of bending strain on axial stiffness:

What is the axial stiffness of a straight bar ? EA/L

What is the axial stiffness of a curved bar ?  EA/L ?? Something doesn't feel
correct, right ?

Just like how presence of axial force reduces bending stiffness, presence of
bending moment also reduces axial stiffness. And once again, this interaction
renders the analysis non-linear and there is no F=KX anymore.

P depends on M but M already depends on P ! So, you assume some stiffness,

find P, find M (using P), find P (using new value of M), find M(using the new P)
and so on till you converge on some value of P and M.
This effect cannot be captured unless non-linear solvers
2 are employed by the
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softwares (Newton-Raphson / Secant / some other solver).

Material non-linearity:

Damn, if the material starts to yield, then the stress-strain curve changes !

It is important to really understand the following statement so please go slow.

"Implementation of material non-linearity in any software is not

straightforward. There is a single stiffness matrix for the whole structure.
Depending on yielding of any node in any element, not only does the stiffness
matrix corresponding to that node gets changed, but "static indeterminate
effects" like carry-over moment etc. get affected as well. Also, during a single
analysis, a section can yield, get back into elastic region, yield again and so on."

OK now I'm confused. What the hell happens inside my software when I
perform a geometric and material non-linear analysis ?

First, initial elastic stiffness is assumed.

For a small increment of force, find [x]. Using [x] find [p], [m] and iterate till they
converge, updating stiffness matrix and update [x].

Check, using final values of [x] whether any yielding occurred. If so, update [k]
and re-do.

Increment load and repeat.

Basically, it is an iteration inside an iteration inside an iteration.

For the practicing engineers out here (like myself), I doubt this is all useful info,
but it is nice to know at least a little bit of what happens inside that black box of
ours that we use for 8 hours every day :)

Hope I made sense.

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Akshay Sanaki, Civil engineer by chance. A budding structural engineer by

choice!
Answered Feb 21, 2016

Keeping it simple and brief.

• Linear analysis deals with the problems being considered within the
elastic limit of the materials involved i.e., when it has linear
characteristics.

• Non linear on the other hand involves analysis of complexities resulting

after the material has moved to its inelastic non linear zone.

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