%A Alawdin, Piotr %A UrbaƄska, Krystyna %D 2018 %T Bilevel limit analysis of self-hardening rod systems under moving load %K %X This paper considers results of an analysis of self-hardening systems (SHS), i.e. load-carrying systems with improved strength and rigidity. The indicated structural features can be only found if geometrical nonlinearity is taken into consideration. Material deforming diagrams can be non-monotonic and non-smooth, and constraints can be unilateral, with gaps. Furthermore, optimisation of a mathematical model of a rod structure as a discrete mechanical system withstanding dead (constant) and/or moving loads is proposed. This model is formulated using bilevel mathematical programming. The limit parameters of standard loads and actions are found in the low-level optimisation. An extreme energy principle is proposed to obtain the limit parameters of these actions. On the upper level, the parameters of moving load are maximized. A positive influence of equilibrium or quasi-equilibrium constant load with the possible preloading of SHS is shown. A set of criteria for the stability of plastic yielding of structures, including non-smooth and non-convex problems of optimisation is given. The paper presents an exemplary application of the proposed method which takes into account the self-hardening effect. %U https://cames.ippt.pan.pl/index.php/cames/article/view/175 %J Computer Assisted Methods in Engineering and Science %0 Journal Article %R 10.24423/cames.175 %P 225-238 %V 24 %N 4 %@ 2956-5839 %8 2018-06-11