Truss Analysis Using the Stiffness Method

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Thestiffnessmethod:
Isadisplacementmethodofanalysis(Theunknownsare
displacementsnotforces!)
Canbeusedtoanalyse bothstaticallydeterminateand
indeterminatestructures
Yieldsthedisplacements&forcesdirectly

Itisgenerallymucheasiertoformulatethe
necessarymatricesforthecomputerusingthe
stiffnessmethod

Computersimulations

ANSYS;ABAQUS,ADENA,NASTRAN,SAP200,MICROSTRAN,SPACEGASS

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Applicationofthestiffnessmethodrequires
subdividingthestructureintoaseriesofdiscrete
finiteelements&identifyingtheirendpointsas
nodes
Fortrussanalysis,thefiniteelementsare
representedbyeachofthemembersthatcompose
thetruss&thenodesrepresentthejoints
Theforcedisp propertiesofeachelementare
determined&thenrelatedtooneanotherusingthe
forceequilibriumequationwrittenatthenodes

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Theserelationshipsfortheentirestructureare
thengroupedtogetherintothestructurestiffness
matrix,K
Theunknowndisp ofthenodescanthenbe
determinedforanygivenloadingonthestructure
Whenthesedisp areknown,theinternalforcesin
thestructurecanbecalculatedusingtheforce
disp relationsforeachmember

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Definitions:
Node:Aspecifiedpointofthestructure,withrestrainedor
unrestraineddisplacements.
ElementorMember:structuralmembersbetweenadjacent
nodes.
Howmanynodesandelementsdowehavehere?!
D

B
D
C

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Definitions:
DegreeofFreedom(DOF):Nonzeroindependent
displacementatnodes.Mayalsobecalledopendegreeof
freedomasthesolutionisunknown.
Allnodeswithzerodisplacementcanbecalledclosed
degreeoffreedom(knownsolution).
HowmanyDOFdowehavehere?!
D

B
D
C

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
HowmanyDOFineachofthesestructures?!

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Definitions:
P :avectorthatcollectsallforcesonthenodes,socalled
nodalforces.
U:avectorthatcollectsallnodaldisplacements.
Instiffnessanalysis,P isrelatedto U bytheStructure
StiffnessMatrixK :

P=KU
WhatisthephysicalmeaningofK?!

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
U = K1 P
PropertiesofthestiffnessmatrixK:
Symmetric
Positivedefinite,i.e.,ZTK Z >0forallnonzeroreal
vectorsZ.
Diagonalelementsarepositive.
Invertiblematrix(nonsingular),i.e.|K|0.

Fundamentalsofthestiffnessmethod
Definitions:
MemberDOF
Globalcoordinateaxes
GlobalDOF
Member/Localaxis

Generalprocedureforstiffnessanalysis
1. Modelofthestructure:nodes,members,dof's,axes.
2. Foreachmember,evaluatethelocalstiffnessmatrix k in
itslocalcoordinates.
3. Foreachmember,evaluatethelocalstiffnessmatrixk in
theglobalcoordinatessystem.
4. Foreachmember,identifyhoweachmembercontributes
totheglobalstiffnessmatrix,bycorrelationbetweenthe
matrixk andtheglobaldof's.Thus,createthelocation
vector(LV).
5. Performassembliesofk intothestructurestiffnessmatrix
K withtheaidofLV.
6. EvaluatetheloadvectorofthestructureP.
7. SolveforU fromP =K U.
8. Determinethememberforces.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
2.Localstiffnessmatrixofatrussmemberinthelocal
coordinatesystem: k
p1 k11 k12

p
2 k 21 k 22

u1
u
2

p ku

k ij Forceinthedirectionofi duetoaunitdisplacement
inthedirectionofj
pi Forceinthedirectionofi
u i Displacementinthedirectionofi

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
EA/L EA/L EA 1 1

1 1

EA/L
EA/L
L

How todetermine?!
k ij

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
3.Localstiffnessmatrixofatrussmemberintheglobal
coordinatesystem: k

p k u

Transformationofthelocaldisplacementsandforcesintothe
globalcoordinatesystem
x cos , y sin

ismeasuredfromthepositivexaxistothememberaxis,

anditispositiveinthecounterclockwisedirection.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
Transformationmatrix
x
C
0

0
y

u Cu
pC p
T

Stiffnessmatrix
2x

EA x y
T
k C kC
L 2x

x y

x y
2y
x y
2y

2x
x y

2x
x y

x y
2
y
x y

2
y

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
Derivationofthestiffnessmatrix k

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
4.Buildingthelocationvector(LV)
Onceallthememberstiffnessmatricesareformedinthe
globalcoordinates,itbecomesnecessarytoassemble
themintheproperordersothatthestiffnessmatrixKfor
theentiretrusscanbefound.
Thisisdonebydesignatingtherows&columnsofthe
matrixwiththecorrespondingnumbersgiventothe
globaldegreesoffreedom.
Thestiffnessmatrixofeachmemberisoforder4,while
theorderofthestructurestiffnessmatrixdependsonthe
numberofDOF.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
4.Buildingthelocationvector(LV) Example

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
5. AssemblyprocessofK
ForeachDOF,thecontributionfromallmembersis
includedandsummed.
Thisisachievedusingtherelevantelementsinthe
localstiffnessmatrixofeachmemberintheglobal
coordinates k
ThesimplestwaytodotheassemblyisbyusingtheLV
vector.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
6.TheloadvectorofthestructureP
Theloadvectorcorrespondstotheloadsactingonthe
directionoftheDOFintheglobalcoordinatesystem
7. SolveforU fromP =K U
Thesolutionprovidesthevaluesofthedeformations
attheDOFintheglobalcoordinatesystem.Inallother
nodes(closedDOF)thedeformationsarezeroor
prescribed.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
8.Thememberforces
Once the DOF in the global coordinate system has
been calculated, the deformations in the local
coordinate system of each member can be determined
through:

u Cu

The local deformations are related to the member

forces via the members stiffness matrix:

p ku

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses
Alternatively!
The forces in each member in the global coordinate
system can be determined via:

p ku

p1 p2
2

Here, the vector u will be taken from the global DOF

vector U, with zero deformation for the restrained
nodes.

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses Example

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses Example

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses Example

StiffnessanalysisinTrusses Example