Fast Simulation of a Single Degree-of-Freedom System Consisting of An Iwan Element Using the Method of Averaging

Abstract

While Iwan elements have been used to effectively model the stiffness and energy dissipation in bolted joints, integrating the equations of motion of these elements is fairly expensive since implicit schemes, such as Newmark’s methods, need to be used. This paper presents a method of simulating dynamic systems containing nonlinear Iwan elements that significantly reduce the computation cost by using closed-form expressions for stiffness and damping in the microslip regime and an averaging method for regions of time in which no external force is applied. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated on a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system to evaluate the range over which it retains accuracy and the improvement in performance it offers. Although the current implementation is limited to SDOF systems, it can be used to simulate the response of each mode in structures exhibiting weak nonlinearity that can be modeled using the modal Iwan approach. To verify this, the dynamic response of a finite element model of a beam assembly, integrated using the Newmark-β method, has been compared with its equivalent modal model integrated using the proposed algorithm. The results show that the algorithm accurately predicts the response in a fraction of the time taken by implicit integration schemes, so long as the modes remain uncoupled and weakly nonlinear.