Nonlinear analysis of compact and thin-walled metallic structures including localized plasticity under contact conditions

This work presents the numerical analysis of elastoplastic contact problems of compact and thin-walled metallic structures. The emphasis is on the use of higher-order 1D elements with pure displacement variables and based on the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) to capture localized effects and cross-sectional distortions. Contact interactions are normal and frictionless via a node-to-node contact algorithm with the penalty approach for contact enforcement. The analysis considers the material nonlinearity via the von Mises constitutive law. Numerical assessments compare the CUF solutions with 3D finite element analysis concerning the solution quality, computational size, and analysis time. The results show the ability of 1D CUF models of accurately evaluating localized deformations and plasticity. The CUF results are in good agreement with reference 3D finite element solutions, and require an order of magnitude fewer degrees of freedom and analysis time, making them computationally efficient.