DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS METHOD FOR NONLINEAR BUCKLING LOAD

An analysis method for evaluating the sensitivity of buckling load in geometrically nonlinear finite element methods is developed. By search ing for the pseudo critical point in the perturbed system on the surfa ce of the hyper-cylinder where the original critical point exists, the sensitivity of buckling load is estimated. Compared with other method s, the present method can cope with both snap-through and bifurcation problems without an eigenvalue analysis. In addition, the load sensiti vity at arbitrary points on the equilibrium path can be calculated und er the total-displacement constraint condition. Two examples of sensit ivity buckling analysis of shell structures are demonstrated to examin e the validity of this method, and satisfactory results are obtained.