Time-frequency analysis of nonlinear structures under nonstationary excitation by directly solving structural dynamic equation through absolute displacement

Abstract

The time-frequency evolution of seismic ground motion energy under strong earthquakes, which can be described by the evolutionary power spectral density (EPSD) matrix, will amplify the most unfavorable responses of members in nonlinear structural systems. However, the existing general finite element software fails to reduce the dimension of the EPSD matrix and then decouple time from frequency in frequency domain analysis. This failure greatly limits the simulation and calculation of multi-dimensional nonlinear structures with multiple degrees of freedom by the stochastic vibration theory. In this study, the pseudo excitation method (PEM), which can direct solve structural dynamic equations using absolute displacement, is used to derive the self-spectral and cross-spectral densities of seismic ground motions in one-dimensional and multi-dimensional cases. In MATLAB, the EPSD matrix is transformed into a four-dimensional uniform modulation excitation matrix independent of the time variable. Nonlinear iteration is conducted and the precise integration method (PIM) is employed through a transient analysis module. Furthermore, a simple one-dimensional example is presented to verify the correctness of the proposed algorithm herein. Finally, as an example, we select important parameters of the coherence model at different supports of a half-through three-span concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) tied-arch bridge in view of real engineering conditions, and calculate the time-varying power spectrum and variance of the responses of arch ribs, arch feet and the bridge deck system. The results show that the theoretical derivation and the algorithm constructed in this paper can simulate the time-delay effect of the nonlinear structural system. This proves the feasibility of general finite element software in solving and analyzing random responses to multi-dimensional and multi-support non-stationary excitation of nonlinear structures.