| Abstract: | In this paper, we present a post-processing technique and an a posteriori error estimate for the Newmark method in structural dynamic analysis. By post-processing the Newmark solutions, we derive a simple formulation for linearly varied third-order derivatives. By comparing the Newmark solutions with the exact solutions expanded in the Taylor series, we achieve the local post-processed solutions which are of fifth-order accuracy for displacements and fourth-order accuracy for velocities in one step. Based on the post-processing technique, a posteriori local error estimates for displacements, velocities and, thus, also the total energy norm error estimate are obtained. If the Newmark solutions are corrected at each step, the post-processed solutions are of third-order accuracy in the global sense, i.e. one-order improvement for the original Newmark solutions is achieved. We also discuss a method for estimating the global time integration error. We find that, when the total energy norm is used, the sum of the local error estimates will give a reasonable estimate for the global error. We present numerical studies on a SDOF and a 2-DOF example in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed technique. |
