Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Statically Determinate Structures

Mark A. Austin

University of Maryland
[email protected]
ENCE 353, Fall Semester 2020

September 23, 2020

Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Overview

1 Introduction
Need for Mathematical Test
Benefits of Indeterminacy

2 Statical Determinacy of Trusses

Formulae and Examples

3 Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures

4 Indeterminacy of Beams

5 Indeterminacy of Frames
Tree and Ring Methods

6 Stability
Part 3
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Introduction
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Need for Mathematical Test

Three cases to consider:

Test Structure A: Determinate.

Can compute:
Support reactions. X A B

Member forces. X HA
VA
VB

Test Structure B: Indeterminate.

Can compute:
Support reactions. X A B

Member forces. 7 HA
Too many unknown
VA forces VB
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Need for Mathematical Test

Test Structure C: Unstable.

Can compute:
Support reactions. 7 A B

Member forces. 7 HA
VA
VB

Key Points:
Intuition on notions of determinacy will not scale. We need a
mathematical test to classify structures.
Initial inclination is to design for A and avoid B – it’s
complicated and probably won’t work. Unless, there are
benefits to B?
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Stability
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Stability

Stability of Dynamical Systems

Instability occurs when some of the

system outputs (e.g., displacement) can
increase without bounds. In structural
analysis, equilibrium of displacements
corresponds to a minimum energy state.

Instability of Structures:
External Instability. When support reactions are either
concurrent forces about a point or parallel.
Internal Instability. When a mechanism exists.
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

External Instability

Example 1: Reaction forces are parallel.

VA VB

Three equations of equilibrium but only two reactions (r < 3n).

Example 2: Three parallel reaction forces

VA VB VC

Three equations of equilibrium and three reactions (r = 3n). Still

unstable.
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

External Instability

Example 3. Reaction forces are concurrent about point B.

Example 4. Reaction forces are concurrent.

Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Internal Instability

Example 5. Structural configuration forms a pendulum

mechanism.
VE

HE
E

B C D

VC
A
HA

VA

Three members: n = 3. No reactions r = {HA , VA , · · · , HE } = 9.

Test: r - 3n = 0 ! statically determinate.
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Internal Instability

Example 6: Internal Mechanism.

P
Collapse

Example 7: Sometime internal mechanism are hard to identify.

Collapse

P
P
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Relating Stability to Linear Matrix Equations

Aside: If we compute the reactions and then systematically write

the equations of equilibrium for each joint ! 2j equations, which
can be put in matrix form:

[A] [X ] = [B] . (2)

Here,
X is a vector of truss element forces.
A is a matrix of geometry and boundary conditions.
B is a vector of applied loads.

When the system is statically determinate we can write:

⇥ 1
⇤
[A] [X ] = [B] ! [X ] = A [B] . (3)
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Relating Stability to Linear Matrix Equations

⇥ 1
⇤
Equations 3 only exist when A exists.
And this requires that the individual equations be linearly
independent.
⇥ ⇤
In Example 2, A 1 does not exist because the reactions are
co-linear, meaning that VA can be written as a linear combination
of VB and VC , i.e.,
X
Fy = 0 ! VA + VB + VC = 0. (4)
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Equations in Two Dimensions

Three Types of Solutions:

Unique solution when two lines meet at a point.

No solutions when two lines are parallel but not overlapping.
Multiple solutions when two lines are parallel and overlap.
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Equations in Three Dimensions

Also Three Types of Solutions:

Each equation corresponds to a plane in three dimensions (e.g.,
think walls, floor and ceiling in a room).

Unique solution when three planes

intersect at a corner point.
Multiple solutions where three
planes overlap or meet along a
common line.
No solutions when three planes are
parallel, but distinct, or pairs of
planes that intersect along a line
(or lines).
Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Equations in Three Dimensions

One Solution/Infinite Solutions:

Introduction Statical Determinacy of Trusses Statical Determinacy of Planar Structures Indeterminacy of Beams Indeterminacy of

Equations in Three Dimensions

No Solutions: