Application of material damage cumulation in reticulated shells under severe earthquakes

The user material subroutine of ABAQUS was compiled to consider the influence of material damage cumulation and crack effect in analyses of reticulated shells under severe earthquakes. The calculating precision was proved by standard test on the subroutine. The comparison of typical examples of reticulated shells subjected to earthquake motions was carried out by applying the user subroutine, which showed the excellent convergence performance, and the finite-element analyzing method with the consideration of damage cumulation was achieved. Using this subroutine, responses of reticulated shells with different parameters under severe earthquakes were studied and characteristic responses at the structural failure time were discussed as well. The comparison, with and without consideration of damage cumulation, indicates that considering this factor has little influence on the plastic development at the failure time, however, it decreases the structural failure limit load obviously, which needs the recognition in the analysis.