TRANSIENT RESPONSE OF NONLINEAR STRUCTURES

NONLINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF LARGE-SCALE DYNAMICS PROBLEMS CURRENTLY CAN BE SOLVED ONLY WITH CUMBERSOME, COMPLEX CODES AND THEIR ATTENDANT LENGTHY COMPUTER RUN TIMES. HOWEVER, A VERY SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF THE REQUIRED PROBLEM SOLUTIONS CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH A MUCH SIMPLER, MORE EFFICIENT METHODOLOGY. TO THAT END, THE WORK UNDERTAKEN FOR THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A GENERAL-PURPOSE COMPUTER CODE FOR THE TRANSIENT SOLUTION OF COUPLED STRUCTURES WITH LINEAR AND NONLINEAR PHYSICAL CONNECTIONS. COMMON PROBLEMS SUCH AS STS/PAYLOAD TRUNNION FRICTION EFFECTS, BOOSTER/LAUNCH STAND INTERACTION AT LIFTOFF, PIN-PULLER GAP EFFECTS, EXCITATION BY STEPPER MOTORS, AND SO FORTH, WILL BE AMENABLE TO THIS APPROACH. THE RESULTING CODE WILL BE SIMPLE TO USE IN THE AEROSPACE DYNAMICS COMMUNITY AND GREATLY REDUCE USER INPUT AND COMPUTER RUN TIMES. IN ADDITION, SOLUTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE NON-SUPER MAINFRAME MACHINES, SUCH AS MICROVAXS, AND EVEN ON PCS. NONLINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF LARGE-SCALE DYNAMICS PROBLEMS CURRENTLY CAN BE SOLVED ONLY WITH CUMBERSOME, COMPLEX CODES AND THEIR ATTENDANT LENGTHY COMPUTER RUN TIMES. HOWEVER, A VERY SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF THE REQUIRED PROBLEM SOLUTIONS CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH A MUCH SIMPLER, MORE EFFICIENT METHODOLOGY. TO THAT END, THE WORK UNDERTAKEN FOR THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A GENERAL-PURPOSE COMPUTER CODE FOR THE TRANSIENT SOLUTION OF COUPLED STRUCTURES WITH LINEAR AND NONLINEAR PHYSICAL CONNECTIONS. COMMON PROBLEMS SUCH AS STS/PAYLOAD TRUNNION FRICTION EFFECTS, BOOSTER/LAUNCH STAND INTERACTION AT LIFTOFF, PIN-PULLER GAP EFFECTS, EXCITATION BY STEPPER MOTORS, AND SO FORTH, WILL BE AMENABLE TO THIS APPROACH. THE RESULTING CODE WILL BE SIMPLE TO USE IN THE AEROSPACE DYNAMICS COMMUNITY AND GREATLY REDUCE USER INPUT AND COMPUTER RUN TIMES. IN ADDITION, SOLUTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE NON-SUPER MAINFRAME MACHINES, SUCH AS MICROVAXS, AND EVEN ON PCS.