Introduction © The matrix stiffness method is the basis of almost all commercial structural analysis programs. « Itisa specific case of the more gencral finite element method and was in part responsible for the development of the finite element method. Basic Concepts Node « The more general name for a connection between adjacent members is termed a node. « For trusses and frames the terms joint and node are interchangeable. For more complex structures (e.g. plates), they are not. Element For trusses and frames element means the same as member. For more complex structures this is not the case. Degree of Freedom The number of possible directions that displacements or forces at a node can exist in is termed a degree of freedom (dof). Some examples are:Plane truss: has 2 degrees of freedom at each node: translation/forces in the x and y directions, Beams: have 2 degrees of freedom per node: vertical displacement/forces and rotation/moment. Plane Frame: has 3 degrees of freedom at each node: the translations/forces similar to a plane truss and in addition, the rotation or moment at the joint. Space Truss: a truss in three dimensions has 3 degrees of freedom: translation or forces along each axis in space. Space Frame: has 6 degrees of freedom at each node: translation/forces along each axis, and rotation/moments about each axis. Thus a plane truss with 10 joints has 20 degrees of freedom. A plane frame with two members will have three joints (one common to both members) and thus 9 degrees of freedom in total. Local and Global « Forces, displacements and stiffness matrices are often derived and defined for an axis system local to the member. « However there will exist an overall, or global, axis system for the structure as a whole.¢ We must therefore transform forces, displacements etc from the local coordinate system into the global coordinate system. ‘Types of Finite Elements 2D Plane) Element FD ina omen <> ee hs (Spring, truss, beam, pipe, etc.) (Membrane, pat, shall, ete) $0 Gol Element | wet beled lotr LT eat XY Ba (-D fields - temperature, displacement, stress, ow velocity) Elements & Nodes - Nodal Quantity Basic Approach Individual Element * We consider here the most basic form of stiffness analysis. We represent a structural member by a spring which has a node (or connection) at each end. ¢ We also consider that it can only move in the x-direction. © Thus, it only has 7 DOF per node, At each of its nodes, it can have a force and a displacement (again both in the x-direction): Notice that wehave drawn the force and displacement vector arrows in the positive xdirection. Matrix analysis requires us to be very strict in our sign conventions. Using the basic relationship that force is equal to stiffness times displacement, we can determine the force at node | as: Fores, f hood ft 2 ft * Deflection, 8 = io ( (a) Linear spring element with nodes, nodal displacements, and nodal forces. (b) Load-deflection curve, G a) Le y f _& de) iAssuming that both the nodal displacements are zero when the spring is undeformed. the net spring deformation is given by ty and the resultant axial force in the spring is f= kO=Kuy—m) For equilibrium, fir~h=0 0 =f. Then, in terms of the applied nodal forces as fi= ak un) f= ky, — 1) Which can be expressed in matrix form as [i THe e{ ff = wow =tn where k Tk [kel = [ pg ] Stiffness matrix for one spring element is defined as the element stiffness matrix in the element coordinate system (or local system), {u} is the column matrix (vector) of nodal displacements, and { (} is the column matrix (vector) of element nodal forces Assemblies of Elements Consider the following simple structure: (4,40) "7 od Wp Ch, ets) 4 Zz leg 3 Thus we can write the force displacement relationships for both elements as:fk -k]fu is “l-k kw (15) 7 k, -k, |{u, 16 [5 ky Ke} ns we can write the force displacement relationships for both elements as: F) [kk -k OJfu, Fh=|-k k ORw, (1.7) FJ} [0 0. Offu, F) fo 0 0)fu, Fb=|0 kk, Hu, (1.8) FJ lo -& &, |lu We can add equations (1.7) and (1.8) to determine the total of both the forces and displacements at each node in the structure: F, k, -k, 0 Ju, Fyp=|-k, ky +k, -k, |p, F) Lo -& & Sly As can be seen from this equation, by adding, we have the total stiffness at each node,with contributions as appropriate by each member. In particular node 2,where the members meet, has total stiffness kl + k2 . We can re-write this equation as: {F}=[K]{u} (1.10) In which: © {F} is the force vector for the structure; ¢ [K] is the global stiffness matrix for the structure; © {u} is the displacement vector for the structure.Example 1.1 Given: _ For the spring system shown above. k,=100N/mm, k,=200N/mm, k, =100N/mm P=500N, =u, =0 Find: (a) the global stiffness matrix (b) displacements of nodes 2 and 3 (©) the reaction forces at nodes 1 and 4 (@) the force in the spring 2 Solution (a) The element stiffness matrices are _[ 100-1007 A, 1 *=|-100 100 | @ ome | atm) o -200 200 aa ss 100-100 i 5 -100 100 | “= 8)Applying the superposition concept, we obtain the global stiffness matrix for the spring system as 4, I u, 4, uy 100°” “160 0 0 +100 100+200 —200 oO “| 0 = 200 2004 100" 100) o oO —100. 100. or 100 -100 0 0 -100 300 -200 0 0 200 300 -100 0 0 -100 100 which is symmetric and banded. Equilibrium (FE) equation for the whole system is 100 -100 0 0 Tu, . =100 300-200 9 ||u| _ Jo 0-200 300 -100/}1, “|p 0 0 ~100 100 Jiu) LF () Applying the BC (1, =1, =0) in Eq(4), or deleting the 1” and 4® rows and columns, we have300 —200]{u, oO ia {+200 300 fluJ~ LP. Solving Eq.(5), we obtain | _ [P1250] _ [2 i é uf 7 |3P/500{ 7 |3f @™ a (c) From the 1° and 4" equations in (4), we get the reaction forces 200 (N) 300 (N) F,=—100u F, =—100u. (d) The FE equation for spring (element) 2 is [ 200 co {f| {+200 200 }lu,J~ LF, Here i= 2, j=3 for element 2. Thus we can calculate the spring force as F=f,=-f,-[-200 zon} Us =[-200 zon} 200 (N)Example 1.2 Problem: For the spring system with arbitrarily numbered nodes and elements, as shown above, find the global stiffness matrix. Solution: First we construct the following Element Connectivity Table Element | Nodei (1) | Nodej (2) T 4 2 Huw which specifies the global node numbers corresponding to the Toca node numbers for each element. Then we can write the element stiffness matrices as followswy uy k, ky : ky My Us uu, x,=[% aes Finally, applying the superposition method, we obtain the glol stiffuess matrix as follows % uy ts ki -k | 0 0 0 —k, htk+k —-k —k 0 K=| 0 “ig +k 0 ky 0 ~k, ORO oo TREO The matrix is symmetric, banded, but singular.