Virtual Testing of Experimental Continuation

In order to fully exploit the potential of nonlinear structures in engineering applications, we must not only develop appropriate design and analysis techniques, but also experimental methods to validate their performance. Existing experimental methods are limited in the structural behaviour they can measure, and cannot capture nonlinear phenomena such snapback, or follow unstable equilibrium branches. A quasi-static experimental continuation method has been developed, which expands our capability to experimentally measure unstable equilibria in nonlinear structures.

To aid the development of the experimental continuation technique, it has been implemented in the commercial finite element package ABAQUS. The finite element simulation provides a 'black box' structural response, and the experimental continuation method is implemented using Python. This virtual experiment enables different test configurations and methods to be explored, before being implemented experimentally.