Can push over analysis capture the failure of a simple col.?

[Moochul Shin]

Hello!

I built a simple column which consists of five nonlinearBeamcolumn elements.
And then I analyzed the column using push over test to draw shear force at the support and relative displacement at the top.
At the first time, as I increased the maximum displacement, the analysis failed to converge and then gave me a result of force displacement diagram which had certain line to drop suddenly.
At that point I thought that the push over analysis could know when the column collapses. All procedure I did was using the unconfined concrete model.

But I used several confined concrete model, then the analysis seems endless analysis. Why is that?

So my guestion is " Can 'push over' analysis recognize the failure of the system such as a cantilever beam or column.

Thank you very much

[silvia]

yes it can.
however......
if you use the nonlinearBeamcolumn element, you really only need a single element with about 5 integration points to model a single column. More elements lead to numerical instabilities and failures to converge.
The beamWithHinges, a modification to the forced-based nonlinearBeamColumn element, is supposed to capture a strength-degrading system more accurately, but it seems you are doing okey with the nonlinear bc element.
to find out why a column with unconfined concrete fails more rapidly than one with confined concrete, you might want to look at mander's work on that.