In order to fully exploit the potential of nonlinear structures in engineering applications, we must not only develop appropriate design and analysis techniques, but also experimental methods to validate their performance. Existing experimental methods are limited in the structural response that can be measured, and cannot capture nonlinear phenomena such snapback, or follow unstable equilibrium branches. A quasi-static experimental path-following method has been developed, which expands our ability to experimentally measure unstable equilibria in nonlinear structures. This talk will introduce the theoretical background to the experimental path-following method, highlighting parallels with numerical continuation methods, and present recent experimental results for a shallow arch test case.

Dr Mark Schenk