Combination of the critical displacement method with a damage model for structural instability analysis

The paper describes the extension of the critical displacement method (CDM) , presented by Onate and Matias in 1996, to the instability analysis of str uctures with non-linear material behaviour using a sample damage model. The extended CDM is useful to detect instability Points using a prediction of the critical displacement field and a secant load-displacement relationship accounting for material non-linearities. Examples of application of CDM to the instability analysis of structures using bar and solid finite elements are presented.