Finite element method 1 – lecture notes.

TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 1 of 10

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TRUSSES AND FRAMES

Trusses - structures made of simple straight bars (members), joined at their ends (nodes).
External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in forces in the members which are either tensile or
compressive forces. Other internal forces are explicitly excluded because all the joints in a truss are treated as articulated joints.

The examples of 2D truss and 2D frame

Frames are the structures with members that are rigidly connected - e.g. with welded joints. The members of frames can be loaded by
concentrated and distributed forces. As a result they carry all possible internal forces (normal and shear forces, bending moments and torsinal
moments).
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 2 of 10
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TRUSSES
2D trusses

Relation between the nodal displacements in local (element) coordinate systems and in global coordinates

 q  e =  q1 , q2  e along the axis of the rod  qg  = u1 ,υ1 , u2 ,υ 2  e in x,y coordinate system
e

y qi = ui cos α + υ1 sin α . (i = 1,2)

v 2 q2  u1 
 q1  cos α sin α 0 0  υ1 
u2   =   ,
e q2 e  0 0 cos α sin α  u2 
υ2 
e
q1
v1
u1 {q}e = [Tk ]{q q }e
x
Finite element of a plane truss

Strain energy of the element

c2 sc − c 2 − sc

 q  [ k ]e {q}e =  qq  e [Tk ] [ k ]e [Tk ] {qq }e

1 1 T
EA sc s2 − sc − s 2
Ue =
T
 k g  =
2 1×2 2×2 2×1 2 1×4 4×2 2×2 2×4 4×1 e le − c 2 − sc c2 sc (*)

− sc − s 2 sc s2
 qq   k g  {qq } ,
1
Ue =
2  e  e e s = sin α , c = cos α
The stiffness matrix of the truss element in global coordinate system
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 3 of 10
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Example.
Find the displacement vector of the node 4 of the simple 2D truss for the case β 1 = β 2 and the horizontal force P (γ = 0) .

q6 q5 l
Element 1 nodes 1 and 4 slope angle α 1 = β 1 length l1 = .
3 cos α 1
3
q8
P
l
q4 2 Element 2 nodes 2 and 4 slope angle α2 = 0 length l2 = .
q3 q7 cos α 2
2 2 =
1 4 l
Element 3 nodes 3 and 4 slope angle α 3 = −β 2 length l3 = .
1
cos α 3
q2
q1
1

[k ] , [k ] , [k ]
Rozwiązanie
1 2 3
.The stiffness matrices of the three elements ij e ij e ij e are defined by (*).
The system of FE equations:
k111 k121 0 0 0 0 k131 k141  0   F1 
1
k21 1
k22 0 0 0 0 1
k23 1
k24 0  F 
   2 
0 0 k112 k122 0 0 k132 k142  0   F3 
   
0 0 k212 k222 0 0 k232 k242  0   F4 
 = 
0 0 0 0 k113 k123 k133 k143  0   F5  .
0 0 0 0 3
k21 3
k22 3
k23 3
k24  0   F6 
   
1
k31 1
k32 k312 k322 k313 k323 1
k33 + k332 + k333 1
k34 + k342 + k343 q
 7  P cos γ 
1
k41 1
k42 k412 k422 3
k41 3
k42 1
k43 + k432 + k43
3 1
k44 + k442 + k44
3  q   P sin γ 
 8  
Taking into account that q j = 0 for j = 1, 6 the set of quations may be reduced to
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 4 of 10
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 3 ci2 3
si ci 
∑ ∑  q7   P sin γ 
i =1 li i =1 li
EA  3  =  
 si ci    .
3
si    
2

∑ ∑   q8   P cos γ 
 i =1 li i =1 li 

Assuming β1 = β 2 = β γ =0
EA 1 + 2c 0   q7   P 
3

  =  
l  0 2s 2 c   q8   0  ,
where c = cos β , s = sin β .
Then
Pl
q7 =
EA(1 + 2c3 ) ,
q8 = 0 .
The normal forces in the elements are calculated from the nodal displacements in the local (element) coordinate systems
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 5 of 10
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3D truss element in the coordinate system x,y,z

z w2
cx2 cx c y cx cz −cx2 −cx c y −c x cz
v2 u1
v1 cx c y c 2y c y cz − cx c y −c 2y − c y cz
z u2 w1 EA cx cz c y cz cz2 −c x cz − c y cz −cz2
2 {q}e= u  k g  =
w1 v1
y
v2
2 e le −cx2 − cx c y − c x cz cx2 cx c y c x cz
y x
w2 −cx c y −c 2y − c y cz cx c y c 2y c y cz
u1
1 − c x cz − c y cz −cz2 c x cz c y cz cz2
x

where cx = cos α x , c y = cos α y , cz = cos α z .

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FRAMES
2D frame element in the local coordinate system
The stiffness matrix of a frame element assembled from the stiffness matrices of the beam element with four degrees of freedom and the rod
element with 2 degrees of freedom:
1 2 3 4 5 6
 EA EA 
 l 0 0 − 0 0 
le
q3 q6  e 
 12 EI 6 EI −12 EI 6 EI 
q2 q5  0 le3 le2
0
le3 le2 
 
q1 q4  6 EI 4 EI −6 EI 2 EI 
1 2  0 le2 le
0
le2 le 
[ k ]e =
 − EA EA


e
 l 0 0 0 0 
le
 e 
 −12 EI −6 EI 12 EI −6 EI 
 0 le3 le2
0
le3 le2 
 
 6 EI 2 EI −6 EI 4 EI 
 0 le2 le
0
le2 le 
 

The stiffness matrix of a frame element in local coordinate system

The element with 6 DOF , the deformation defined by the functions u (ξ ) i w(ξ ) in the local c.s. It is called also 2D beam element.
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 7 of 10
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2D frame element in the global coordinate system xy

y q6 2
q1 u1
v2 q4 q2 v1
q5
q3 1
u2 {q}e= q {q g }e= u
q3 le 4 2
1
q5 v2
v1 q1 q6 2
q2
u1

The vectors of DOF of the frame element in the local c.s. {q}e and in the global c.s. {qg}e

The relation between the displacement of a node 1 in local (element) coordinate system and in global coordinate system
 q1 = u1 cos α + υ1 sin α ,

 q2 = −u1 sin α + υ1 cos α ,
q = θ .
 3 1

 q1   u1 
q  υ 
 2  1
 q3  θ1 
  = [Tr ]   = [Tr ] ⋅ {qg }e ,
q4  u2 
 q5  υ2 
   
q6 e θ 2 
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where the transformation matrix [Tr ] is

c s 0 0 0 0
−s c 0 0 0 0 

0 0 1 0 0 0
[Tr ] =  0 0 0 c s 0

 .
0 0 0 −s c 0 
 
 0 0 0 0 0 1 
Strain energy of the element

 q  e [ k ]e {q}e =  qg  e [Tr ] [ k ]e [Tr ]{qg }e ,

1 1
Ue =
T

2 2
U e =  qg  e  k g  {qg }e ,
1
2 e

 k g  = [Tr ] [ k ]e [T ] ,
T
where e
is the stiffness matrix of the 3D frame element in global c.s.
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3D frames (beams)

x'
z' 1
y' w2
w'1
z'
v'1 1 v2
y'
The local (element) coordinate system is connected with the axis of the element. 1

The element x’is oriented along the element. u2

u'1 x'
The y’ axis is automatically set parallel to the global xy plane 1 2

(If the element is perpendicular to the xy plane the x’ is located T

x' y' z' x' y' z'
{q}e= u '1 , v 1' , w 1' , 1, 1, 1, u '2 , v 2' , w2' , 2, 2, 2
in parralel to the global y axis)
The element input data include:
- the node locations
z w2
- the cross-sectional area
v2
- 2 moments of inertia about the principal axes of the section
w1 x
- the parameters defining shear stiffness in the principal directions 1 u2
y' v 2
and the torsional stiffness z' 1

x'
y z
1
y
1 1
u1
x
T
x y z x y z
{q}e= u 1 , v 1 , w 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , u 2 , v 2 , w2 , 2 , 2 , 2
Finite element method 1 – lecture notes. TRUSSES AND FRAMES Page 10 of 10
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x'
z' 1  EA 
w2  l macierz symetryczna 
y'
w'1  e 
z'
v'1 1 v2  12 EI z ′ 
y'
 0 
1
 le3 
u2  12 EI y ′ 
u'1 x'  0 0 
1 2  le3 
 
T  0 GI s 
x' y' z' x' y' z' 0 0
{q}e= u '1 , v 1' , w 1' , 1, 1, 1, u '2 , v 2' , w2' , 2, 2, 2  le 
 
 6 EI y ′ 4 EI y ′ 
 0 0 − 2
0 
l le
 e

w2  6 EI z ′ 4 EI z ′ 
z  0 0 0 0 
le2 le
v2 [ k ]e = 
 EA EA 
w1 x
− 0 0 0 0 0 
1 u2  le le 
y' v 2  12 EI z ′ 6 EI z ′ 12 EI z ′ 
z' 1  0 − 0 0 0 − 0 
 
3 2
x' l e le le3
y z  
1
 0 12 EI y ′ 6 EI z ′ 12 EI y ′ 
1 y
u1 0 − 0 0 0 0
1  l 3
l2
le3 
x  e e

 GI s GI s 
T  0 0 0 − 0 0 0 0 0 
{q}e= u 1 , v 1 , w 1 , x
, y
, z
, u 2 , v 2 , w2 , x
, y
, z le le
1 1 1 2 2 2  
 6 EI y ′ 12 EI z ′ 6 EI y ′ 4 EI y ′ 
 0 0 − 2
0 0 0 0 2
0 
 le
l le
le 
 6 EI z ′ 2 EI z ′ 6 EI z ′ 4 EI z ′ 
 0 0 0 0 0 − 0 0 0 
 le2 le2 le2 le 
 

3D beam element and the corresponding stiffness matrix in the local (element) coordinate system x′y′z′