Total potential energy minimization method in structural analysis considering material nonlinearity

Abstract

Minimum potential energy principle is the basis of the most of the well-known traditional techniques used in the structural analysis. This principle determines the equilibrium conditions of systems with reference to minimization of the sum of the total potential energy of the structure. In traditional applications, this methodology is formulized by using matrix operations. A methodology has been proposed in the last decades for structural analyses based on the idea of using metaheuristic algorithms to obtain minimum potential energy of the structural system instead of following this classical approach. This new method, called “Total Potential Optimization using Metaheuristic Algorithms (TPO/MA)”, has been applied in this paper to truss structures considering linear and nonlinear behavior of the structural material. The metaheuristic method used in this process is teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO) algorithm. The proposed technique is applied on numerical examples and results are compared with other techniques in order to test the efficiency of the proposed method. According to results obtained, TPO/MA method with TLBO algorithm is a feasible technique for the investigated problem.