NONLINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS:
THEORY AND APPLICATIONS
PROF. CHINMOY KOLAY
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Kanpur
PRE-REQUISITES :
Courses on the following:
Mechanics of Solids
Structural Analysis
Design of Steel Structures
Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures
INTENDED AUDIENCE :
Final-year undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and practicing engineers
INDUSTRY SUPPORT :
Structural engineering consultancy companies
COURSE OUTLINE :
Over the past several decades, the development and application of performance-based engineering and design approaches have
resulted in a paradigm shift in the thinking, practice, and education of structural engineers. Consequently, nonlinear structural analysis
is becoming increasingly important for designing new structures and evaluating the performance of deteriorating
infrastructure systems. This course aims to provide a thorough background of nonlinear structural analysis and explain key
concepts through practical examples using OpenSees and Google Colab. The course will emphasize modelling and static and dynamic
analysis of framed structures, including material and geometric nonlinearities. Assignments will focus on solving problems using
OpenSees to deepen the understanding of the course material.
ABOUT INSTRUCTOR :
Dr. Chinmoy Kolay is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur. He holds a B.E. (First Class
with Honours) in Civil Engineering from Jadavpur University, an [Link]. in Civil Engineering (Structures) from IIT Kanpur, and a
Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Lehigh University, USA. Before joining IIT Kanpur, Dr. Kolay was a research scientist at the
Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) Engineering Research Center at Lehigh University.
Dr. Kolay’s research focuses on understanding the behavior of structures under multiple hazards through nonlinear structural analysis and
advanced experimental simulations, and developing structural components and systems for mitigating such hazards. He has published his
work in several international journals of repute and presented at many international conferences.
At IIT Kanpur, Dr. Kolay teaches courses on Mechanics of Solids, Structural Analysis, Design of Steel Structures, Structural
Dynamics, Earthquake-Resistant Design of Structures, Experimental Methods, and Nonlinear Structural Analysis. He has received
several letters of appreciation from the Chairperson, Academic Senate, IIT Kanpur, for his exceptionally good performance as the
instructor of many of these [Link] September 2025, IIT Kanpur awarded him the Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Kolay is a life
member of the Indian Society of Earthquake Technology and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), USA and
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), USA.
COURSE PLAN :
Week 1:
Brief review of linear structural analysis
Direct stiffness method
Week 2:
Examples of the direct stiffness method of structural analysis
Introduction to nonlinear structural analysis
Sources of nonlinearities and levels of structural analysis
Week 3:
Levels of structural analysis (cont.)
Overview of solution strategies and examples
Elasto-plastic behaviour of materials
Stress-strain models for metals
Week 4:
Idealisation of stress-strain curves
Hardening rules
Hysteretic models (e.g., elastic perfectly plastic, bilinear plastic, Ramberg-Osgood, Giuffré-Menegotto-Pinto, Bouc-Wen, and modified
Kent-Park) and their applications
Week 5:
Hysteretic models and their applications (cont.)
Flexural yielding of structural steel shapes and the concept of plastic hinge
Moment-curvature analysis of structural steel sections
P-M interaction curves for steel sections
Week 6:
P-M interaction curves for steel sections (cont.)
Flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete sections
Moment-curvature analysis of reinforced concrete cross-sections
P-M interaction curves for reinforced concrete cross-sections
Behaviour of reinforced concrete sections under cyclic loading
Review of continuum mechanics.
Week 7:
Review of continuum mechanics (cont.)
Yield criteria: von Mises (J2 plasticity) and Tresca
Flow rules, hardening rules, and loading/unloading criteria
Week 8:
Extension of plasticity theory to P-M interaction
Lumped plasticity approach for the analysis of seismic load resisting frames
Introduction to the distributed plasticity approach
Week 9:
Displacement (or stiffness)-based elements
Force (or flexibility)-based elements
Week 10:
Distributed plasticity approach (cont.)
Introduction to geometric nonlinear analysis
Geometric stiffness matrices for 2D truss and frame elements
Second-order P-Delta and large displacement analyses
Week 11:
Load-controlled analysis and examples
Displacement-controlled analysis and examples
Pushover analysis of LLRS
Constant arc length methods
Week 12:
Introduction to dynamic analysis
Direct integration algorithms: Explicit and implicit algorithms
Numerical characteristics of direct integration algorithms
Nonlinear dynamic analysis of a buildings subjected to earthquakes