With Z88Aurora® V2 the possibility to  carry out non-linear simulations was introduced. Included are geometric non-linearities as a result of big displacements. This type of non-linearity occurs when drastic changes in the model geometry are caused by the structure’s deformation. Heavily deformed structures have a very high chance of displaying a stiffness behaviour with geometric non-linearities. This is why a non-linear solver should be used to calculate such structures to avoid huge  errors concerning the calculated displacements, forces and stresses.

The possibility to simulate material non-linearities was introduced in Z88Aurora® V3. They are a result of high stresses/strains and can be taken into account by providing the solver with addidtional material data, e.g. a stress over strain curve. This gives Z88Aurora® V3 the  capability to simulate plastic material behaviour, non-elastic deformations and spring-back effects. Furthermore the calculation of stresses is much more accurate for high loads. Also included is the possibility to calculate internal stresses, that result from a plastic deformation.

Z88Aurora® offers an iterative solver for non-linear calculations. Features include:

• Supported element types for geometric non-linearities
  • Hexahedron No. 1 (linear) & No. 10 (quadratic)
  • Tetrahedron No. 16 (quadratic) & No. 17 (linear)
  • Plane stress element No. 7 and Torus No. 8
  • Truss 3D No. 4
• Supported element types for plasticity
  • Hexahedron No. 1 (linear)
  • Tetrahedron No. 16 (quadratic)
• Elastic-plastic material models:
  • von Mises
  • Wehmann & modified Wehmann
• Spring-back analysis optional with varying number of steps
• Results for each load step

Z88V14OS does not offer non-linear analysis options.