AN ASYMPTOTIC-NUMERICAL METHOD TO COMPUTE BIFURCATING BRANCHES

In this paper a new method to compute the bifurcating branches for an elastic structure is presented. The method is based on the asymptotic- numerical method (ANM), hat is a perturbation technique to solve probl ems in non-linear mechanics. Herein, we present a computing strategy t o find the bifurcation points and the post-buckling branches in the fr amework of the ANM. Some examples are also given, which prove the effe ctiveness of the proposed method. A discussion of the results and of t he open problems ends the paper. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.