Generalization of Foreshortening Through New Reduced Geometrically Nonlinear Structural Formulation

A new reduced formulation for modeling elastic structures or structural components with geometric nonlinearities is presented. This formulation is obtained as a generalization of the concept of foreshortening, which has been successfully used by other authors to model beams. Some examples are provided that illustrate the generality and validity of this formulation. The proposed theory is compared to previous work related to foreshortening, variable reduction in nonlinear elastic problems, and the use of a geometric stiffness matrix. Some guidelines are also given to implement the proposed method and to interpret the concepts that it involves. The reduction method presented is general, but a corotational approach is followed to simplify the exposition. (Author)