A TIME INTEGRATION ALGORITHM FOR STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS WITH IMPROVED NUMERICAL DISSIPATION - THE GENERALIZED-ALPHA METHOD

A new family of time integration algorithms is presented for solving structural dynamics problems. The new method, denoted as the generalized-alpha method, possesses numerical dissipation that can be controlled by the user. In particular, it is shown that the generalized-alpha method achieves high-frequency dissipation while minimizing unwanted low-frequency dissipation. Comparisons are given of the generalized-alpha method with other numerically dissipative time integration methods, these results highlight the improved performance of the new algorithm. The new algorithm can be easily implemented into programs that already include the Newmark and Hilber-Hughes-Taylor-alpha time integration methods.