Frame element with lateral deformable supports: Formulations and numerical validation

This paper presents the theory and the numerical validation of three different formulations of nonlinear frame elements with nonlinear lateral deformable supports. The governing differential equations of the problem are derived first and the three different finite element formulations are then presented. The first model follows a displacement-based formulation, which is based on the virtual displacement principle. The second one follows the force-based formulation, which is based on the virtual force principle. The third model follows the Hellinger–Reissner mixed formulation, which is based on the two-field mixed variational principle. The selection of the displacement and force interpolation functions for the different formulations is discussed. Tonti’s diagrams are used to conveniently represent the equations governing both the strong and the weak forms of the problem. The general matrix equations of the three formulations are presented, with some details on the issues regarding the elements’ implementations in a general-purpose finite element program. The convergence, accuracy, and computational times of the three elements are studied through a numerical example. The distinctive element characteristics in terms of force and deformation discontinuities between adjacent elements are discussed. The capability of the proposed frame models to trace the softening response due to softening of the foundation is also investigated. Overall, the force-based and the mixed models are much more accurate than the displacement-based model and require very few elements to reach the converged solution. The force-based element is slightly more accurate than the mixed model, but it is more prone to numerical instabilities as it involves inverting the element flexibility matrix.