2.

TRUSS ELEMENTS

Computational Mechanics and

Inelastic Structural Analysis
(Prof. Alberto Corigliano)
For a horizontal 1-D truss element:

SB  S A SB  S A
N  cost   a   cost  S ( )  S A  
l l
The kinematics of the structure is linear.

Let us now consider an inclined element (see the following figure):

Replacing the compatibility equation into the constitutive one, we can write:

EA
N  EA A   SB  S A 
l

For equilibrium:

 PA   1
   N
 PB   1 

 PA  EA  1  S A  EA  1 1  S A  SA 

     1 1       k 
 PB  l  1   S B  l  1 1   S B   S B 

2
  H A   PA cos  cos 0 
     
 QA   PA sin   sin  0   PA   PA 
Qi           Ti T    Ti T Pi
 H B   PB cos  0 cos   PB   PB 
     
 QB   PB sin   0 sin  

Analogously, for the nodal displacement vector:

U A  U A 
   
 A  A
S U cos   V A sin    cos  sin  0 0 
 A V   VA 
Si           Ti    TU i i
 S B  U B cos  VB sin   0 0 cos sin   U B  U B 
   
 VB   VB 

Thus,

 
Qi  Ti Pi  Ti k iSi   Ti k iTi  Ui
T T T
 Qi  K i U i ,
 
 Ki 
where K is the stiffness matrix in the global reference system, whose generic coefficient Kij
represents the force in the i-th direction due to a unit displacement in the j-th direction.

c 0 c 0  c 2 cs c 2 cs 
     
s 0  1 1 c s 0 0 EA  s 0  c s c  s  EA  sc s 2  sc  s 2  EA
K         .
0 c   1 1  0 0 c s  l 0 c   c  s c s  l  c cs c
2 2
cs  l
     
0 s 0 s  2 
  sc  s sc s 
2

being c=cos(θ) and s=sen(θ).

The strain energy associated to the truss element can be computed by means of the Clapeyron’s
theorem as:

3
 1 1
Es i  QiT Ui  UiT K i Ui
2 2

Let us now consider the overall truss structure, composed by 𝑁𝑟 rods and 𝑁𝑛 nodes.

After imposing the compatibility between the displacements at the ends of each single rod:

U i  Li U

being Li a Boolean connection matrix and U the global nodal displacement vector, the total
potential energy of the system can be written as:

1 T  Nr T 
E  U   TPE    Es    F U r   Ui K i Ui  U F  U  Li K iLi  U  UT F.
Nr Nn
i 1 Nr T
T T
r
i 1 r 1 2 i 1 2  i 1 
assembly of K

1 E  U 
E  U   UT KU  UT F   KU  F  0
2 U
being K the global stiffness matrix of the system,

 K LL K LU   U L   Fˆ 
     
KUL ˆ   R  reaction forces
KUU   U  

U L  K LL1 Fˆ  K LU U

ˆ
 

 R  KUL U L  KUU U ˆ

The axial forces are given by

Ei Ai EA
Ni   SB  S A i  i i  1 1 TU
i i.
Li Li

4
Example:

Local stiffness matrices (in the global reference system):

 1 3 1 3
   
 4 4 4 4 
 
 3 3

3

3 
EA  4 4 4 4 
K1  K   60    ;
l  1 3 1 3 
  
 4 4 4 4 
 
 3 
3 3 3 
 4 4 4 4 

 1 3 1 3 
   
 4 4 4 4 
 
 3 3 3

3 
EA  4 4 4 4 
K 2  K   60    ;
l  1 3 1 3
  
 4 4 4 4 
 
 3 
3

3 3 
 4 4 4 4 

1 0 1 0 
 
EA  0 0 0 0
K 3  K   0    .
l  1 0 1 0
 
 0 0 0 0 
5
The connectivity matrix, relating the local degrees of freedom of each element to the global ones,
is given by:

DOF
1 2 3 4
FE
1 1 2 3 4
2 3 4 5 6
3 1 2 5 6

Each number in the table represents the global degree of freedom (DOF) corresponding to the
local jth degree of freedom (j: index of column) of the ith element (i: index of row).

Assembly of the global stiffness matrix (6x6)

 Kn ij  K IJ
in which the indexes refer to the connectivity table, as:

i j
N I J

For example,

 K2 34  K56

Remark: since (Kn)ij represents the force in the i-th direction for a unit displacement imposed in the
j-th direction, when a degree of freedom is shared by two or more elements, the corresponding
coefficient IJ of the global stiffness matrix is given by the sum of all the local coefficients (Kn)ij

6
Thus, the global stiffness matrix is equal to:

1 3 1 3 
 1 0   1 0 
4 4 4 4 
 
 3 0 3
0 
3

3
0 0 
 4 4 4 4 
 
 1 3 1 1 3 3 1 3 
     
EA  4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ;
K
l  3 
 
3 3

3 3 3

3

3 
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
 
 1 3 1 3 
 1 0  1   0
 4 4 4 4 
 
0 0
3

3

3
0
3
0 
 4 4 4 4 

with:

U1  U A  0   R1 
       
U 2  VA  0   R2 
       
U 3  U B  U B  F 
U    and F   ;
U 4  VB  VB  F 
       
U 5  U C  U C  0 
       
U  V  0  R 
 6  C     6 

7
  1 3 
  1 
 4 4 
 
 3 
3
0   R1 
 4 4   
  R 
1 1  U   2 
 0   B
EA  2 4   F 
KU  F   V    ;
l  3     F 
B
3
0  U   
 2 4   C  0 
   
 1 3 5  R 
 4 4 4   6 
 
 3 3 3
   
 4 4 4 

  1 1
  2 0  
4
   U B  1
  3 3    Fl  
  0   VB    1  U B   27  3 
  2 4    EA      
   U C   0    V   Fl 1  9  3 
  1 3 5    B  EA 12  
  4 4    U   
  6  2 3 
4 
 C 
 
  1 3    R1   2 
   1      
  R1   4 4  U B    R   F 1  3 
   EA  3 3
    2 2  
  R2     0   VB    R6  1  3 
  l  4 4   
  R6    U 
  3 
C
3 3
    
  4 4 4 

8
Post-processing: axial forces

0
1 3   
 0 0 
 U  EA   1  3 3   0  EA
 
2 2
 1 1 
EA 1
N1 
 1     U B  3VB
l 1 3 l  2 2 2 2  U B  2l
0 0  
 2 2   VB 

N1 
EA F l
2 l 12 EA

27  3  9 3  3 
F
24
 
24  8 3 
F
3
3 3  

U B 
1 3   
  0 0 
 U  EA   1 3   VB  EA
 
2 2
 1 1 
EA 3 1
N2      U C  U B  3VB
l  2 l  2 2 2 2  U C  2l
0 0 1 3 
   
 2 2   0 

N2 
EA F l
2 l 12 EA

6  2 3  27  3  9 3  3 
F
24
 
24  8 3 
F
3

3  3  

0
 
 1 0 0 0   0  EA
N3 
EA
l
 1 1  U 3 
0 0 1 0 
EA
l U C  l
F
 1 0 1 0    U C  3  3 .
6
 
 
 0 