BEAM: A Finite Element Program for the Collapse Analysis of Vehicle Structures

摘要

BEAM (Beam Element Analysis with Mechanisms) is a finite element program for theanalysis of the collapse of vehicle structures. BEAM can quickly estimate the collapse load and plastic hinge locations in three-dimensional thin-walled frames that would collapse in bending. Such information can be combined with separate rigid-plastic modeling to enable the large-deflection design of vehicle frameworks so that their collapse in roll-over accidents, for instance, can be prevented. One advantage of BEAM is that it allows a user to define his own experimentally or analytically determined loads and moments as failure criteria. The theory and operation of BEAM are presented and its application to the modeling of a collapsing two-dimensional frame is described. (Author).