Geometrically and Materially Non-Linear GBT Analysis of Tubular Thin-Walled Metal Members

After providing a brief overview of a recently developed and validated elastoplastic post-buckling Generalised Beam Theory (GBT) formulation, the paper presents and discusses illustrative numerical results concerning three tubular members exhibiting bi-linear and non-linear material behaviours. The GBT results consist of equilibrium paths, modal participation diagrams, stress contours, displacement profiles and collapse mechanisms, most of which are compared with values obtained from Abaqus shell finite element analyses. The GBT modal nature makes it possible to (i) acquire in-depth knowledge about the member behavioural mechanics at any given equilibrium state (elastic or elastic-plastic), as well as (ii) evidence the GBT computational efficiency (d.o.f. reduction of over 75%), partly due to the exclusion from the analyses of all deformation modes playing no role in a given member response.