An efficient method to structural static reanalysis with deleting support constraints

Structural design is usually an optimization process. Numerous parameters such as the member shapes and sizes, the elasticity modulus of material, the locations of nodes and the support constraints can be selected as design variables. These variables are progressively revised in order to obtain a satisfactory structure. Each modification requires a fresh analysis for the displacements and stresses, and reanalysis can be employed to reduce the computational cost. This paper is focused on static reanalysis problem with modification of deleting some supports. An efficient reanalysis method is proposed. The method makes full use of the initial information and preserves the ease of implementation. Numerical examples show that the calculated results of the proposed method are the identical as those of the direct analysis, while the computational time is remarkably reduced.