Time historical response analysis of large-scaled structures (Improvement of computational efficiency and numerical stability by applying the transfer influence coefficient method)

A method of time historical response analysis for large-scale structures is presented. This method is derived from a combination of the transfer influence coefficient method and the Newmark-β or Wilson-θ method, and it improves the computational efficiency and accuracy of the transient response analysis remarkably by means of several advantages of the transfer influence coefficient method. The present method is free of the numerical instabilities which often occur in using the Newmark-β or Wilson-θ method combined with the transfer matrix method or the Runge-Kutta-Gill method. An algorithm for the transient response is formulated for the three-dimensional tree structure which is mainly found in pipeline systems. We regard the tree structure as a lumped mass system here. The validity of the present method compared with other methods for transient analysis is demonstrated through various numerical computations.