Combination of the critical displacement method with a damage model for structural instability analysis

The paper describes the extension of the critical displacement method (CDM), presented by Oñate and Matias in 1996, to the instability analysis of structures with non-linear material behaviour using a simple damage model. The extended CDM is useful to detect instability points using a prediction of the critical displacement field and a secant load-displacement relationship accounting for material non-linearities. Examples of application of CDM to the instability analysis of structures using bar and solid finite elements are presented.