8.

2Thesolutionofnonlinearproblems
ThenonlinearloaddisplacementcurveforastructureisshowninFigure87.
Figure87Nonlinearloaddisplacementcurve.

Theobjectiveoftheanalysisistodeterminethisresponse.Considertheexternalforces,P,andtheinternal(nodal)
forces,I,actingonabody(seeFigure88(a)andFigure88(b),respectively).
Figure88Internalandexternalloadsonabody.

Theinternalloadsactingonanodearecausedbythestressesintheelementsthatcontainthatnode.
Forthebodytobeinstaticequilibrium,thenetforceactingateverynodemustbezero.Therefore,thebasicstatement
ofstaticequilibriumisthattheinternalforces,I,andtheexternalforces,P,mustbalanceeachother:

Abaqus/StandardusestheNewtonRaphsonmethodtoobtainsolutionsfornonlinearproblems.Inanonlinearanalysis
thesolutionusuallycannotbecalculatedbysolvingasinglesystemofequations,aswouldbedoneinalinearproblem.
Instead,thesolutionisfoundbyapplyingthespecifiedloadsgraduallyandincrementallyworkingtowardthefinal
solution.Therefore,Abaqus/Standardbreaksthesimulationintoanumberofloadincrementsandfindstheapproximate
equilibriumconfigurationattheendofeachloadincrement.ItoftentakesAbaqus/Standardseveraliterationsto
determineanacceptablesolutiontoagivenloadincrement.Thesumofalloftheincrementalresponsesisthe
approximatesolutionforthenonlinearanalysis.Thus,Abaqus/Standardcombinesincrementalanditerativeprocedures
forsolvingnonlinearproblems.
Abaqus/Explicitdeterminesasolutiontothedynamicequilibriumequation
withoutiteratingby
explicitlyadvancingthekinematicstatefromtheendofthepreviousincrement.Solvingaproblemexplicitlydoesnot
requiretheformationoftangentstiffnessmatrices.Theexplicitcentraldifferenceoperatorsatisfiesthedynamic
equilibriumequationsatthebeginningoftheincrement,ttheaccelerationscalculatedattimetareusedtoadvancethe
velocitysolutiontotime
andthedisplacementsolutiontotime
.Forlinearandnonlinearproblems
alike,explicitmethodsrequireasmalltimeincrementsizethatdependssolelyonthehighestnaturalfrequencyofthe
modelandisindependentofthetypeanddurationofloading.Simulationstypicallyrequirealargenumberof
incrementshowever,duetothefactthataglobalsetofequationsisnotsolvedineachincrement,thecostperincrement

ofanexplicitmethodismuchsmallerthanthatofanimplicitmethod.Thesmallincrementscharacteristicofanexplicit
dynamicmethodmakeAbaqus/Explicitwellsuitedfornonlinearanalysis.
8.2.1Steps,increments,anditerations
Thissectionintroducessomenewvocabularyfordescribingthevariouspartsofananalysis.Itisimportantthatyou
clearlyunderstandthedifferencebetweenananalysisstep,aloadincrement,andaniteration.
Theloadhistoryforasimulationconsistsofoneormoresteps.Youdefinethesteps,whichgenerallyconsistof
ananalysisprocedureoption,loadingoptions,andoutputrequestoptions.Differentloads,boundaryconditions,
analysisprocedureoptions,andoutputrequestscanbeusedineachstep.Forexample:
Step1:Holdaplatebetweenrigidjaws.
Step2:Addloadstodeformtheplate.
Step3:Findthenaturalfrequenciesofthedeformedplate.
Anincrementispartofastep.Innonlinearanalysesthetotalloadappliedinastepisbrokenintosmaller
incrementssothatthenonlinearsolutionpathcanbefollowed.
InAbaqus/Standardyousuggestthesizeofthefirstincrement,andAbaqus/Standardautomaticallychoosesthe
sizeofthesubsequentincrements.InAbaqus/Explicitthedefaulttimeincrementationisfullyautomaticanddoes
notrequireuserintervention.Becausetheexplicitmethodisconditionallystable,thereisastabilitylimitforthe
timeincrement.ThestabletimeincrementisdiscussedinChapter9,NonlinearExplicitDynamics.
Attheendofeachincrementthestructureisin(approximate)equilibriumandresultsareavailableforwritingto
theoutputdatabase,restart,data,orresultsfiles.Theincrementsatwhichyouselectresultstobewrittentothe
outputdatabasefilearecalledframes.
TheissuesassociatedwithtimeincrementationinAbaqus/StandardandAbaqus/Explicitanalysesarequite
different,sincetimeincrementsaregenerallymuchsmallerinAbaqus/Explicit.
Aniterationisanattemptatfindinganequilibriumsolutioninanincrementwhensolvingwithanimplicit
method.Ifthemodelisnotinequilibriumattheendoftheiteration,Abaqus/Standardtriesanotheriteration.With
everyiterationthesolutionAbaqus/StandardobtainsshouldbeclosertoequilibriumsometimesAbaqus/Standard
mayneedmanyiterationstoobtainanequilibriumsolution.Whenanequilibriumsolutionhasbeenobtained,the
incrementiscomplete.Resultscanberequestedonlyattheendofanincrement.
Abaqus/Explicitdoesnotneedtoiteratetoobtainthesolutioninanincrement.
8.2.2EquilibriumiterationsandconvergenceinAbaqus/Standard
Thenonlinearresponseofastructuretoasmallloadincrement,
,isshowninFigure89.Abaqus/Standardusesthe
structure'sinitialstiffness, ,whichisbasedonitsconfigurationat ,and
tocalculateadisplacement
correction, ,forthestructure.Using ,thestructure'sconfigurationisupdatedto .
Figure89Firstiterationinanincrement.

Convergence
Abaqus/Standardformsanewstiffness, ,forthestructure,basedonitsupdatedconfiguration, .
Abaqus/Standardalsocalculates ,inthisupdatedconfiguration.Thedifferencebetweenthetotalapplied
load,P,and cannowbecalculatedas:

where

istheforceresidualfortheiteration.

If iszeroateverydegreeoffreedominthemodel,pointainFigure89wouldlieontheloaddeflection
curve,andthestructurewouldbeinequilibrium.Inanonlinearproblemitisalmostimpossibletohave
equalzero,soAbaqus/Standardcomparesittoatolerancevalue.If islessthanthisforceresidual
tolerance,Abaqus/Standardacceptsthestructure'supdatedconfigurationastheequilibriumsolution.By
default,thistolerancevalueissetto0.5%ofanaverageforceinthestructure,averagedovertime.
Abaqus/Standardautomaticallycalculatesthisspatiallyandtimeaveragedforcethroughoutthesimulation.
If islessthanthecurrenttolerancevalue,Pand areinequilibrium,and isavalidequilibrium
configurationforthestructureundertheappliedload.However,beforeAbaqus/Standardacceptsthesolution,
italsochecksthatthedisplacementcorrection, ,issmallrelativetothetotalincrementaldisplacement,
.If isgreaterthan1%oftheincrementaldisplacement,Abaqus/Standardperforms
anotheriteration.Bothconvergencechecksmustbesatisfiedbeforeasolutionissaidtohaveconvergedfor
thatloadincrement.Theexceptiontothisruleisthecaseofalinearincrement,whichisdefinedasany
incrementinwhichthelargestforceresidualislessthan108timesthetimeaveragedforce.Anycasethat
passessuchastringentcomparisonofthelargestforceresidualwiththetimeaveragedforceisconsidered
linearanddoesnotrequirefurtheriteration.Thesolutionisacceptedwithoutanycheckonthesizeofthe
displacementcorrection.
Ifthesolutionfromaniterationisnotconverged,Abaqus/Standardperformsanotheriterationtotrytobring
theinternalandexternalforcesintobalance.Thisseconditerationusesthestiffness, ,calculatedattheend
ofthepreviousiterationtogetherwith todetermineanotherdisplacementcorrection, ,thatbringsthe
systemclosertoequilibrium(pointbinFigure810).
Figure810Seconditeration.

Abaqus/Standardcalculatesanewforceresidual, ,usingtheinternalforcesfromthestructure'snew
configuration, .Again,thelargestforceresidualatanydegreeoffreedom, ,iscomparedagainsttheforce
residualtolerance,andthedisplacementcorrectionfortheseconditeration, ,iscomparedtotheincrementof
displacement,
.Ifnecessary,Abaqus/Standardperformsfurtheriterations.
ForeachiterationinanonlinearanalysisAbaqus/Standardformsthemodel'sstiffnessmatrixandsolvesa
systemofequations.Thismeansthateachiterationisequivalent,incomputationalcost,toconductinga
completelinearanalysis.Itshouldnowbeclearthatthecomputationalexpenseofanonlinearanalysisin
Abaqus/Standardcanbemanytimesgreaterthanforalinearone.
ItispossiblewithAbaqus/Standardtosaveresultsateachconvergedincrement.Thus,theamountofoutput
dataavailablefromanonlinearsimulationismanytimesthatavailablefromalinearanalysisofthesame
geometry.Considerbothofthesefactorsandthetypesofnonlinearsimulationsthatyouwanttoperformwhen
planningyourcomputerresources.
8.2.3AutomaticincrementationcontrolinAbaqus/Standard
Abaqus/Standardautomaticallyadjuststhesizeoftheloadincrementssothatitsolvesnonlinearproblemseasilyand
efficiently.Youonlyneedtosuggestthesizeofthefirstincrementineachstepofyoursimulation.Thereafter,
Abaqus/Standardautomaticallyadjuststhesizeoftheincrements.Ifyoudonotprovideasuggestedinitialincrement
size,Abaqus/Standardwilltrytoapplyalloftheloadsdefinedinthestepinthefirstincrement.Inhighlynonlinear
problemsAbaqus/Standardwillhavetoreducetheincrementsizerepeatedly,resultinginwastedCPUtime.Generallyit
istoyouradvantagetoprovideareasonableinitialincrementsize(seeModificationstothemodel,Section8.4.1,for
anexample)onlyinverymildlynonlinearproblemscanalloftheloadsinastepbeappliedinasingleincrement.
Thenumberofiterationsneededtofindaconvergedsolutionforaloadincrementwillvarydependingonthedegreeof
nonlinearityinthesystem.Bydefault,ifthesolutionappearstodiverge,Abaqus/Standardabandonstheincrementand
startsagainwiththeincrementsizesetto25%ofitspreviousvalue.Anattemptisthenmadeatfindingaconverged
solutionwiththissmallerloadincrement.Iftheincrementstillfailstoconverge,Abaqus/Standardreducestheincrement
sizeagain.Bydefault,Abaqus/Standardallowsamaximumoffivecutbacksofincrementsizeinanincrementbefore
stoppingtheanalysis.
InAbaqus/Standardyoucanalsospecifythemaximumnumberofincrementsallowedduringthestep.Abaqus/Standard
terminatestheanalysiswithanerrormessageifitneedsmoreincrementsthanthislimittocompletethestep.The
defaultnumberofincrementsforastepis100ifsignificantnonlinearityispresentinthesimulation,theanalysismay
requiremanymoreincrements.YouspecifyanupperlimitonthenumberofincrementsthatAbaqus/Standardcanuse,
ratherthanthenumberofincrementsitmustuse.

Inanonlinearanalysisasteptakesplaceoverafiniteperiodoftime,althoughthistimehasnophysicalmeaning
unlessinertialeffectsorratedependentbehaviorarepresent.InAbaqus/Standardyouspecifytheinitialtimeincrement,
,andthetotalsteptime,
.Theratiooftheinitialtimeincrementtothesteptimespecifiestheproportion
ofloadappliedinthefirstincrement.Theinitialloadincrementisgivenby

ThechoiceofinitialtimeincrementcanbecriticalincertainnonlinearsimulationsinAbaqus/Standard,butformost
analysesaninitialincrementsizethatis5%to10%ofthetotalsteptimeisusuallysufficient.Instaticsimulationsthe
totalsteptimeisusuallysetto1.0forconvenience,unless,forexample,ratedependentmaterialeffectsordashpotsare
includedinthemodel.Withatotalsteptimeof1.0theproportionofloadappliedisalwaysequaltothecurrentstep
timei.e.,50%ofthetotalloadisappliedwhenthesteptimeis0.5.
AlthoughyoumustspecifytheinitialincrementsizeinAbaqus/Standard,Abaqus/Standardautomaticallycontrolsthe
sizeofthesubsequentincrements.Thisautomaticcontroloftheincrementsizeissuitableforthemajorityofnonlinear
simulationsperformedwithAbaqus/Standard,althoughfurthercontrolsontheincrementsizeareavailable.
Abaqus/Standardwillterminateananalysisifexcessivecutbackscausedbyconvergenceproblemsreducetheincrement
sizebelowtheminimumvalue.Thedefaultminimumallowabletimeincrement,
,is105timesthetotalstep
time.Bydefault,Abaqus/Standardhasnoupperlimitontheincrementsize,
,otherthanthetotalsteptime.
DependingonyourAbaqus/Standardsimulation,youmaywanttospecifydifferentminimumand/ormaximum
allowableincrementsizes.Forexample,ifyouknowthatyoursimulationmayhavetroubleobtainingasolutioniftoo
largealoadincrementisapplied,perhapsbecausethemodelmayundergoplasticdeformation,youmaywantto
decrease
.
Iftheincrementconvergesinfewerthanfiveiterations,thisindicatesthatthesolutionisbeingfoundfairlyeasily.
Therefore,Abaqus/Standardautomaticallyincreasestheincrementsizeby50%iftwoconsecutiveincrementsrequire
fewerthanfiveiterationstoobtainaconvergedsolution.
DetailsoftheautomaticloadincrementationschemearegivenintheJobDiagnosticsdialogbox,asshowninmore
detailinJobdiagnostics,Section8.4.2.