An efficient transient analysis method for linear time-varying structures based on multi-level substructuring method

•An efficient transient analysis method for linear time-varying structure is proposed.•Partial substructure tree traversal strategy for time-varying structure is proposed.•The proposed method improves computational efficiency without any loss of accuracy.•Computational accuracy is not influenced by substructure partition strategy at all.•Numerical examples are given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method.

In this paper, the Newmark-beta method for linear time-varying (LTV) structures is firstly derived, then a transient analysis method for LTV structures based on multi-level substructuring method is presented. In theory the proposed method could achieve the same precision as the overall structure analysis method, the computational accuracy is not influenced by substructure partition strategy. The proposed method has higher computational efficiency than overall structure analysis method. Furthermore, the partial substructure tree traversal strategy can further improve the computational efficiency without any loss of accuracy. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods.