Lecture 4
Statically Indeterminate Structures
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 1
Environmental Engineering
10kN 10kN
(a) Unstable (b) Stable and statically
determinate
10kN
(c) Stable and statically
indeterminate
Stable and Statically Indeterminate
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 3
Environmental Engineering
1. Statically indeterminate structures:
an example
A two-span continuous beam carries a uniformly distributed
load of q per unit length. The beam has a constant flexural
rigidity EI. Find the reactions.
q
Equilibrium equations
R1
Fx=0: R1=0
L L Fy=0: R2+R3+R4=2qL
R2 R4
R3 Mz=0: R2L−R4L=0
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 4
Environmental Engineering
The four support reactions R1, R2, R3 and R4 cannot be
determined by three equations of equilibrium only.
For statically indeterminate structures, the compatibility
conditions and constitutive relations have to be used to solve
the reactions and then internal forces.
Compatibility conditions: Displacements (including
deflection and rotation) are compatible with the support
conditions.
Constitutive conditions: Relations between force and
displacement.
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 5
Environmental Engineering
q q
R3
L L 2L
R3
P + 3 = 0
q
3
P R3
2L 2L
The original continuous beam is equivalent to a simply supported
beam subject to q and R3, under the condition that the combined
displacement at the mid support is zero.
It is convenient to treat the interior support as the
redundant support, and accordingly the reaction R3
is called the redundant reaction (or redundant
force).
1. Release the interior support and consider the
reaction force R3 as an external force.
2. Calculate the displacement caused by the
applied load q and reaction force R3.
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 7
Environmental Engineering
By removing the interior support, the beam becomes statically
determinate as shown below. Its mid-span deflection, ∆P,
under the action of the external load is
5q(2 L)4 5qL4
p = =
384 EI 24 EI
P
2L
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 8
Environmental Engineering
The existence of the interior support prevents any deflection
at that point. The magnitude of this force must be of such
a value that the upward deflection ∆3 at the mid-span due
to R3 totally eliminates the downward ∆P.
3
R3 (2 L) 3 R3 L3
R3 3 = =
48EI 6EI
2L
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 9
Environmental Engineering
3. Therefore the condition of geometrical compatibility is
ΔP − Δ3 = 0
5qL4 R 3 L3
− =0
24 EI 6 EI
the redundant reaction R3 can then be obtained as
5qL
R3 =
4
4. Apply the equilibrium equation to obtain other
reactions: 3qL
R2 = R4 =
8
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 10
Environmental Engineering
q
5. The final BMD of the
1
statically indeterminate beam q( 2 L ) 2
2L 8
can then be obtained by
summing up the two BMDs
of the statically determinate 1 5qL
( 2 L)
beam due to the external load 4 4
q and redundant support
reaction R3: 5qL
R3 =
4
M = M 0 + M R3 2L
1 2
qL
8
M
Summary of the steps for statistically
indeterminate structures
(flexibility method, or force method, or method of
consistent deformation )
1. Select some redundant supports and release them,
and consider the reaction forces corresponding to
the released supports as external forces (redundant
forces). The released structure (or primary
structure) must be statically determinate.
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 12
Environmental Engineering
2. Calculate the deformation of the released structure
subjected to the applied loads and redundant
forces (The virtual work method can be used);
3. Use the compatibility conditions according to the
original structure configuration to solve the
redundant forces.
4. Finally use the equilibrium equations to solve the
remaining unknown forces.
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 13
Environmental Engineering
Formalized approaches
In general, there are two types of methods:
❑ Flexibility method (force method)
− use force as unknowns; study in the first half of S1
❑ Stiffness method (displacement method)
− use displacement as unknowns; more popular, adopted
by all structural analysis software; will study in the second
half of S1
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 14
Environmental Engineering
2. Degree of indeterminacy
Degree of indeterminacy (DI) is the number of
releases to render the structure determinate.
Degree of indeterminacy = the number of unknowns
− the number of equations of equilibrium
For statically determinate structures,
the number of equations of equilibrium =
the number of unknowns (internal forces &
reactions), therefore DI = 0.
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 15
Environmental Engineering
Simple structures
Beam Truss Frame
DI = 1 1 3
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 16
Environmental Engineering
More complicated structures
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 17
Environmental Engineering
1. Plane truss
Adding two members and one
pinned joints does not change
the degree of indeterminacy.
This is because each member of
plane truss has one unknown
force, while at each pinned joint
two equations of equilibrium
can be written.
For a plane truss with m members,
j pinned joints (including
supports) and r reactions, the
statically determinate degree of indeterminacy is
DI = m + r − 2j
m=9, r=3, j=6, DI=0
m=21, r=4, j=10;
DI=21+4−102 = 5
m=31, r=4, j=14;
DI=31+4−142 = 7
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 19
Environmental Engineering
2. Plane frame with rigid joints
Each member of plane frame has
three unknown internal forces
(axial, shear and moment), while
at a rigid joint three equations of
equilibrium can be written:
m=3, r=6, j=4, DI=3
Fx=0, Fy=0, Mz=0
For a rigid-jointed plane frame with
m members, j rigid joints
(including supports) and r
reactions, the degree of
indeterminacy is
DI = 3m + r − 3j m=7, r=4, j=6, DI=7
Department of Civil & Y. Xia Page 20
Environmental Engineering
