An adaptive time-stepping algorithm for quasistatic processes

A scheme is presented that automatically determines the magnitude of the time step in quasistatic boundary value problems discretized via some customary method (finite elements, finite differences). The basic idea stems from the path-following techniques widely employed in purely static analyses in the sense that the incremental displacements, measured in some suitable norm, are constrained to a prefixed value. Examples of trusses composed of a viscoelastic material are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.