Curtin University

School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Exercise 1
Draw BMD, SFD, AFD and deflected shape.

Encastre (fully
fixed) Encastre (fully
fixed)

Kassimali, Matrix Analysis of Structures,

3rd ed, Cengage Learning

We will use the default X-Y plane to do 2D analysis.

Adding Nodes and Members

1. From the menu at the top select Structure : Members : Draw Member. Alternatively, click on
the tool bar, or press CTRL-D
2. Use node 1 in the figure above as frame origin. Type 0.0,0.0,0.0 and press ENTER
3. Type in coordinates of node 2: 0.0,2.5,0
4. Type in coordinates of node 3: 3.0,3.75,0
5. Use relative coordinate system to type in coordinates of node 4: @2,-3.75,0
Alternatively, you can add nodes first and then add members later by connecting nodes.

Right click anywhere on the drawing area, select Zoom Fit, and click in the toolbar on the left hand side
to show member and node labels. Click on the down arrow and select Show Node Numbers, Show Member
Numbers, and Show Section Numbers. The number in the parentheses next to the member number is the
section number. You can also go to the main menu at the top and select Labelling.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

You can check nodal coordinates by going to the main menu and selecting Structure : Nodes : Datasheet

Editing Section Properties

1. Right click on member 1 and select View/Edit Member Properties (Form) from the pop-up menu
2. Enter the values shown in the figure below. Note we may assume Iy = Iz = J in 2D analysis. Press OK.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

We have only one section property for this problem and it has been assigned automatically to all members.
You can check the section number assigned to all members as well as member connectivity by going to the
main menu and selecting Structure : Members : Datasheet

Adding Boundary Conditions / Nodal Restraints

1. Right click on node 1 and select View/Edit Node Properties (Form) from the pop-up menu
2. The BC at node 1 is encastre (fully fixed), i.e. all 3 translational DOFs and 3 rotational DOFs are
restrained. Thus, the restraint is FFFFFF.
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School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

3. Apply the same BC on node 4

4. We are strictly doing 2D analysis and the global out-of-plane DOFs at nodes 2 and 3 need to be
restrained. That means only global DOFs 1,2, and 6 are active for a planar frame on X-Y plane. Right
click on node 2 and apply the following general restraint. Calling it a general restraint means this
restraint will be applied to all nodes that do not have its own prescribed BC. It comes handy when we
need to subdivide a member for 2nd-order analyses in the next lab.

Adding Member Loads

1. Right click on member 1 and select Loads : Distributed Forces from the pop-up menu. Click OK on the
Datasheet dialog box
2. Type in the following values into the table and Click OK to apply the triangular distributed load on
member 1 acting in the global +X direction.

3. Click Cancel on the Load Category and Load Case Title dialog boxes. Load category is a mean to classify
the different classifications of load that the design code uses, such as Dead Load, Live Load, Wind Load,
etc. You can look into its usage on your own.
4. Right click on member 2 and select Loads : Concentrated Forces from the pop-up menu. Click OK on
the Datasheet dialog box
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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

5. Type in the following values into the table and Click OK to apply the 300-kN downward concentrated
load on member 1 acting in the global -Y direction. Note the concentrated load is at the mid-span..

6. Click Cancel on the Load Category and Load Case Title dialog boxes.

Adding Nodal Loads

1. Right click on node 3 and select Loads : Node Loads from the pop-up menu. Click OK on the Datasheet
dialog box.
2. Type in the following values into the table and Click OK to apply the 600kN concentrated force on
member 3 acting in the global -X direction.

3. Click Cancel on the Load Category and Load Case Title dialog boxes.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Go to main menu and click on Analysis : Linear Static Analysis. Alternatively, press CTRL+ALT+L. Click OK and
click OK again when it is done.

Use on the left panel to draw the deflected shape.

Use on the left panel to draw the bending moment diagram.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Use on the left panel to draw the shear force diagram.

Use on the left panel to draw the axial force diagram.

Change the cross-section area to A = 650 mm2. Re-run the linear static analysis and plot the deflected shape and BMD.
Notice what happens and explain the reasons. What would you need to do if you were to neglect axial deformation?

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Checking output:
 Check the deflected shape. Does it make sense the structure deflects to the left? Why? Does it look correct at
the boundary conditions?
 Check the shape of bending moment and shear diagram. Why is the shear-force distribution in member 1 not a
straight line? What type of curve (quadratic, cubic, etc) is it?
 Check the reaction forces (not plotted here, but you can click on the left panel to get them). Are they in
equilibrium with the applied forces?

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Exercise 2
A. The braces are pin-jointed at both ends. Draw BMD, SFD, AFD and deflected shape.

Kassimali, Matrix Analysis of Structures,

3rd ed, Cengage Learning
P = 300 kN

1. Set up the nodal coordinates and member connectivity in the same manner as Exercise 1.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

2. Since there are 3 section properties, it is more convenient to use the datasheet from the main menu:
Structure : Section Properties : Datasheet and type in the cross-sectional area and second moment of
inertia. Again,we may assume Iy = Iz = J in 2D analysis. Press OK.

3. Let’s use the datasheet from the main menu: Structure : Material Properties : Datasheet.

4. Use the datasheet from the main menu: Structure : Members : Datasheet to assign material and
section properties to each member. Note also the braces are pin-jointed members and, thus, DOF 6 of
their member-end fixities has to be released.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

5. Use the datasheet from the main menu: Structure : Node Restraints : Datasheet to enter nodal
restraints

6. Finally, use the datasheet from the main menu: Loads : Node Loads : Datasheet to assign nodal forces.
Press OK and leave Load Case Title blank.

7. Check the setup looks okay. Ensure the braces are pin-jointed by turning on on the left panel.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Deflected Shape

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Bending Moment Diagram

Note bending moment in the braces is zero.

Shear Force Diagram

Note shear force in the braces is also zero. Why?

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School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Axial Force Diagram

Note axial force in the braces is not zero.

B. The braces have rigid joint at both ends.

Except for the member-end fixity for the braces, everything else is the same. You may want to save a copy of
the model before going to Structure : Members : Datasheet to modify the braces.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Deflected Shape

Bending Moment Diagram

Note bending moment in the braces is not zero, but is very small compared to those in the beams and columns.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Shear Force Diagram

Note shear force in the braces is not zero either, but is very small compared to those in the beams and columns. Why?
Look at the value of 2nd moment of inertia of the braces and compare to those of beams and columns.

The fact that bending moment and shear force in the bracing members are very small even though the their connections
are rigid explains why braces can be designed simply as truss member and their connection can be designed as pin joint,
which is cheaper and faster to construct.

C. Unbraced Frame
We can remove the braces by selecting Structure : Members : Datasheet, select the row of member 13 by clicking on
the dark box to the left of member-number column, press and hold SHIFT key while pressing arrow-down key to select
members 13 through 18. Right click and select Delete Rows in the pop-up menu.

Deflected Shape
You may need to adjust the scale of the plot by right-click anywhere on the drawing area, select Scales in the pop-up
menu and then select Scale to Fit for the Displacement Factor. Note the huge lateral displacement in the unbraced
frame. This explains why multi-story buildings require either braces or shear wall to minimise lateral displacement. The
ratio of maximum lateral displacement at the top floor to the height of the frame is called the drift ratio of the building.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Bending Moment Diagram

Note the large bending moments due to lateral force in an unbraced frame.

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Exercise 3
Encastre (fully
fixed)

Encastre (fully
fixed)

Kassimali, Matrix Analysis of Structures,

3rd ed, Cengage Learning

𝐸
Note the relation between Young’s modulus E, shear modulus G, and Poisson’s ratio 𝜈 is 𝐺 =
2 (1+𝜈)

Modelling of 3D frames follows the same steps as those in 2D. However, extra care must be exercised to ensure correct
orientation of the member cross-section. Iy is the second moment of inertia about the member local y-axis, and Iz is the
second moment of inertia about the member local z-axis
The relation between member local axes and global axes in Space Gass is defined in the User’s Manual as follows:

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Member Direction Axis

Member Direction Angle

Member Direction Node

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

You can view the member local axes by clicking on the left hand panel. Similar to the global-axes indicator
at the low left-hand corner of the screen, local x-axis is shown in red, local y-axis in green, and local z-axis in
blue. Make sure they are aligned with the local axes shown in the diagram of the problem statement on page
18.

Input Parameters

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Deflected Shape

Bending Moment Diagram

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Torsional Moment Diagram

Shear Force Diagram

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Axial Force Diagram

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Practice Problem

All supports are Encastre

(fully fixed)

Kassimali, Matrix Analysis of Structures,

3rd ed, Cengage Learning

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Model Setup

Deflected Shape

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Bending Moment Diagram

Torsional Moment Diagram

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Curtin University
School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

STEN 3003 Advanced Structural Analysis – S1 2023

Lab Note 1

Shear Force Diagram

Axial Force Diagram

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