A solution strategy for non-linear implicit BEM formulation using a unified constitutive modelling framework

A new solution strategy for the non-linear Implicit Formulation of the Boundary Element Method is presented. Such strategy is based on a decomposition of the strain increment variation vector in two parts: one associated to the cumulative external loads and another associated to the current unbalanced vector, obtained from the difference of the first part and the calculated internal strain field distribution, during the iterative process. This approach makes the algorithm generic enough to deal with different control methods that governs the progression of the non-linear analysis. Also, a unified constitutive modelling framework for a single loading function is used to provide the material constitutive informations required by the solution strategy, which permits the implementation of a very comprehensive series of models in an independent way. However, only local models were treated. To demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of the methodology, some numerical examples are presented.