Abstract
The present work provides a numerical model for carrying out virtual Vibration Correlation Technique (VCT) for computing the buckling load, identifying the natural frequencies variation with progressive higher applied load, and providing an efficient means for the verification of the experimental VCT results. The presented nonlinear approach is based on the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). Since far nonlinear regimes are investigated, the full Green-Lagrange strain tensor is adopted. Furthermore, geometrical nonlinear equations are written in a total Lagrangian framework and solved with an opportune Newton-Raphson method. For a robustness assessment of the virtual VCT, different flat panel and shell structures are studied and compared with results found in the available literature. The results prove that the proposed approach provides results with an excellent correlation with the experimental ones, allowing to predict the buckling load and the natural frequencies variation in the nonlinear regime with high reliability.