Sensitivity of structural analyses to material parameters and application to elastoplastic constitutive equations through a case study

Structural failure is often related to cyclic loading. The applied loading can have a mechanical, thermal or combined nature. Even where cyclic loadings are only thermal, non-compensated deformation can appear from one cycle to another. This will lead to an accumulation of deformation with time until the structure fails by excessive deformation. The prediction of the structural response is directly dependent on the smoothness of the chosen model and its capacity to include the governing phenomena.This paper addresses the sensitivity of structural analyses to the input material parameters for cyclic thermal elastic–plastic loadings. First, we address general issues of reliability through measurement of the sensitivities to variations in the input material parameters. Then, we examine the case where a number of input parameters depend on temperature, in order to widen the concept of the definition of sensitivity. Finally, application is illustrated by considering the VINIL structure using three elastoplastic constitutive equations.