Structural Dynamic and Viscoelastic Analysis via Electric Analogy

Abstract

The analysis of viscoelastic continua and spatial frames may be related back to the study of the RLC (resistance, inductance, and capacitor lumped constant) electrical network by considering the analogy existing between the stress-strain relationships in the viscoelastic materials and the current-potential relationships in the electric circuits. The proposed analogy is also a consistent tool for the evaluation of creep in spatial structures composed of rectilinear frames. The theoretical bases of this possible application are brought out and a numerical example is presented. The main contribution of this work is the development of the electrical analogy to the solution of dynamic systems excited by time-dependent loads. The theoretical formulation of a free dynamic system is extensively discussed and a numerical example shows its easy applicability to a spatial framework. As far as the analysis of damped structures is concerned, two different models of a single-degree-of-freedom system are proposed.