UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM Doc #: H/W 01

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY Date: April 2016

(CoET) Page: 1 of 10
DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION
ENGINEERING

Course Instructor Dr. A. Shirima Course Code: SD 666

Student’s Name Nestory Alpha Stability Theory

Registration # 2015-06-00508
Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 3
2. OVERVIEW OF THE RAYLEIGH-RITZ METHOD OF ANALYSIS OF
STRUCTURES .......................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. SELECTION OF THE FUNCTION ........................................................................... 3
3. THE TASK ......................................................................................................................... 3
3.1. IDENTIFICATIONS OF THE BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND SOLUTION
FORMULATION ..................................................................................................................... 4
4. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 8
5. APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................ 9

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

1. INTRODUCTION
The main concern of the stability theory is to study the failure of the structure by buckling of
the compression members, so the behaviors of the individual member under loading is worth
of study because the structure’s failure starts with the weakest structural element(structural
element susceptible to buckling failure) in the system.
The study is governed by the criterion that, there exists a particular load above which the
structural system will collapse; this load is Critical Load of the system. The proper
understanding of the equilibrium states of the structural system enhances a better description
of the critical load. Looking from that angle one can define the critical load as the one that
allows the formation of infinite distorted configurations of the structural system but above
which the collapse of the structure is guaranteed. The state of equilibrium at which the infinite
distorted configurations of the structural system occurs is referred as the neutral equilibrium
state.
There are different methods used to study the stability problems among which the Energy
method is one of the reputable method, as far as this task is concern the Rayleigh-Ritz method
will be employed for determining the solution of the propped cantilever strut. One special
aspect of the Rayleigh-Ritz method is, it is the candidates that utilizes the principle of minimum
potential energy.

2. OVERVIEW OF THE RAYLEIGH-RITZ METHOD OF ANALYSIS OF

STRUCTURES

The Rayleigh-Ritz method of analysis of structures is generally a tool used to convert the
system of infinitely many degrees of freedom of a continuous structure into a system containing
finite number of degrees of freedom hence making it possible for solving stability problems.
The use of the Rayleigh-Ritz method is particularly bound to displacement of the system that
is furthermore depending on the continuous functions and the generalized coordinates of the
structural system, in general the designer/engineer uses the mathematical approaches of which
a function for continuity analysis is one of them and have been used in this task. The selected
function must satisfy the kinematic boundary conditions of the structural system, the static
boundary conditions satisfaction is optional.

2.1. SELECTION OF THE FUNCTION

The criterion for the selection of the continuity function is that it must satisfy the boundary
conditions of the statical system for accurate results of the critical load. There are different
mathematical manipulations on the determination of the final polynomial function to be used
in the analysis.

3. THE TASK
The major task is the determination of the first critical load for the propped cantilever strut
shown in Figure 3.1.

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

Figure 3.1: A propped cantilever strut configuration with axial load P

As stated earlier, the critical load is the one that allows the formation of the different number
of deformed configurations of the structural system; however, the analysis only requires the
lowest load above which the collapse is pronounced and this is actually the design margin for
the axially loaded propped cantilever strut under consideration. The rest of the loads are of no
importance as far as this task is concerned but they might be of importance for a different
purpose in structural engineering discipline.
So far so good the first critical load is the one to be studied in this task.

3.1. IDENTIFICATIONS OF THE BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND SOLUTION

FORMULATION
The structural system in Figure 3.1 is having three kinematic boundary conditions and one
static boundary condition at the supports. These are of importance to this kind of solution to
stability problems, as stated earlier the Rayleigh-Ritz method considers the static boundary
conditions as optional.

 At joint A: ϑ(χ = 0) = 0 ; ϑ′ (χ = 0) = 0
 At joint B: ϑ(χ = L) = 0 ; M = EIϑ" (χ = L) = 0
In order to test the accuracy of the method the exact value for critical load acting of the
propped cantilevered strut is known to be 20.19EI/𝐿2 hence the rest of the results will be
compared with this value.

The displacement is expressed in the form

ϑ = 𝑎1 𝜑1 (𝑥) + 𝑎2 𝜑2 (𝑥) …...1

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

Continuity test for selected functions

𝑥 𝑥
𝜑1 (𝑥) = 𝑥 2 ( − 1) 𝜑2 (𝑥) = 𝑥 5 (1 − )
𝑙 𝑙

𝜑1 (𝑥 = 0) = 0 , 𝜑1 (𝑥 = 𝐿) = 0 𝜑2 (𝑥 = 0) = 0 , 𝜑2 (𝑥 = 𝐿) = 0

𝑥2 𝑥5
𝜑 ′1 (𝑥) = (3 − 2𝑥) 𝜑 ′ 2 (𝑥) = (5𝑥 4 − 6 )
𝑙 𝑙

𝜑 ′1 (𝑥 = 0) = 0 𝜑 ′ 2 (𝑥 = 0) = 0

𝑥 𝑥
Functions, 𝜑1 (𝑥) = 𝑥 2 ( − 1) and 𝜑2 (𝑥) = 𝑥 5 (1 − ) have passed the
𝑙 𝑙
continuity test and will be used for analysis. Therefore, the deflection equation of the propped
cantilever strut is given by equation 2

……………………………….2
The manipulation of this equation gives a number of outputs;

…………………………….3

……………………………….4

....5

……6

Equation 5&6 are important parameters to be fed to the Energy equation indicated as number
8

π = W 𝑖 − 𝑊 𝑒 ……………………8
1 𝑙 −𝑃 𝑙
W 𝑖 = ∫0 𝐸𝐼(𝜈 ′′ )2 𝑑𝑥 and W 𝑒 = ∫0 (𝜈 ′ )2 𝑑𝑥
2 2

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

………………9

………………10
Also

…11

Where 𝐾 = 𝐸𝐼
𝜕𝜋 𝜕𝜋
Using the Principle of Minimum Potential of the System put 𝐷 = 𝜕𝑎 = 0 and 𝐹 = 𝜕𝑎 =
1 2
0

…...12

…13
Writing equation 12&13 in Matrix form to get

=
…14
Equation 14 is a typical Eigenvalue formulation, in order to satisfy the equation the determinant
(M) of the matrix must be singular.

Solving for P by putting M=0 one gets

Two values of Critical Load are obtained from the analysis, the bigger value of the Critical load
is of no use in buckling analysis because by the time that values is reached the structures would
have already failed due to the lower value of the critical load.

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

Therefore, the critical load Pcr is 𝑃𝑐𝑟 = 20.517𝐸𝐼⁄𝐿2 , on comparison with the exact value we
get an overestimate of 1.62% that tell us the accuracy of the approach used.
The comparison of the of the load obtained from the analysis and the exact value of critical
load are presented as graph is Figure 3.2, for comparison purpose a 3 m long propped
cantilevered strut is a representative sample.

Figure 3.2: Comparison of the two graphs derived from the final equation of the critical load
obtained from the analysis and the exact value of the system.

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

4. CONCLUSION
The Raylegh-Ritz method has made it possible to arrive at the solution for critical load of a
propped cantilevered strut given in the task, this have been simplified by the use of Symbolic
Mathematics Toolbox MuPAD under MATLAB computing software, details for this are given
as Appendix.
An overestimate of critical load to the tune of 1.62% indicates that the accuracy of the The
Raylegh-Ritz method can be relied when analyzing the complex structural systems, with a low
factor of safety in the order of 1.5 a column working load can be specified and be well below
the critical load.

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Nestory Alpha M.Sc. In Structural Engineering

5. APPENDIX