STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Determinacy and Stability

Before starting the force analysis of a structure, it is necessary to establish the
determinacy and stability of the structure.
Determinacy
The equilibrium equations provide both the necessary and sufficient conditions for
equilibrium. When all the forces in a structure can be determined strictly from these
equations, the structure is referred to as statically determinate. Structures having
more unknown forces than available equilibrium equations are called statically
indeterminate. As a general rule, a structure can be identified as being either
statically determinate or statically indeterminate by drawing free-body diagrams of
all its members, or selective parts of its members, and then comparing the total
number of unknown reactive force and moment components with the total number
of available equilibrium equations.* For a coplanar structure there are at most three
equilibrium equations for each part, so that if there is a total of m parts and r force
and moment reaction components, we have
r = 3m, statically determinate
r >3m, statically indeterminate

Stable/Unstable
A stable structure is one that will not collapse when disturbed. Stability is the
capability for a structure to recover equilibrium. In general, there are many ways
that a structure may become unstable, including buckling of compression
members, yielding/rupture of members, or nonlinear geometric effects (like so-
called P-Delta effects); however, in linear structural analysis, our main concern
is instability caused by insufficient reaction points or poor layout of structural
members.
Internally Stable
An internally stable structure is one that would maintain its shape if all the
reaction supports were removed. A structure that is internally unstable may still
be generally stable if it has sufficient external support reactions. Examples of
internal stability and internal instability are shown in Figure 1.

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 1

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Figure 1: stability of structures

External Determinacy
In an externally statically determinate structure, all of the external reaction force
components may be calculated using only static equilibrium (i.e. using the three
equilibrium equations in 2D). A structure for which the external reactions
component forces cannot be calculated using only equilibrium is called externally
statically indeterminate.
Internal Determinacy
In an internally statically determinate structure, all of the external reaction
component forces and internal forces may be calculated using only static
equilibrium. A structure for which the internal forces cannot be calculated using
only equilibrium is internally statically indeterminate. Typically, if one talks
about `determinacy' (without specifying internal or external), then it
is internal determinacy that is intended.
Redundant Forces
Indeterminate structures have more unknown forces than you can solve using the
three equilibrium equations alone (or six equilibrium equations in 3D). These
extra unknown forces are called redundant forces or redundant.
Degree of Indeterminacy
The degree of indeterminacy for a structure is equal to the number of redundant
forces. An indeterminate structure with 2 redundant may be said to be statically
indeterminate to the second degree or "20."

External determinacy
If a structure is externally determinate, then all of the reactions may be
calculated using equilibrium alone. To determine whether a structure is externally
determinate, the following equations are used:

Statically unstable externally: r<3+ne---------------(1)

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 2

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Statically determinate externally: r=3+ne-------- (2)

Statically indeterminate externally: r>3+ ne ---(3)
Where,

✓ r is the number of reaction components, and

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 3

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

✓ C= is the number of equations of condition.

Equations of Condition
The parameter ec is the number of equations of condition. These are release
conditions within the structure that provide extra equilibrium equations beyond
the three for global equilibrium. For example, if an internal hinge is added to the
structure, as shown in Figure 2, then that hinge provides one equation of
condition to the structure (ec=1) because there is a known internal moment at that
location. If there was no internal hinge in this example, then the structure would
be indeterminate and it would not be possible to find the reaction forces or the
internal forces (since it has four reaction components). The addition of the hinge
provides an additional equilibrium condition which forces the internal moment to
be equal to 0 at point B (∑MB=0). This can be demonstrated by splitting the
structure into two free body diagrams as shown in the lower part of Figure 2. At
point B, there are three internal force components that exist in equal and opposite
action/reaction pairs on either side of point B:

Figure 2

Therefore, one extra equilibrium equation is added to the system due to the
introduction of the hinge: either ∑ 𝑀𝐵𝐴𝐵 = 0 𝑜𝑟 ∑ 𝑀𝐵𝐵𝐶 = 0.

For a structure with an internal roller, such as that shown in Figure 3, both the
force transfer in the direction of the roller and the moment are equal to zero at the

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 4

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

location of the roller. This provides two extra equilibrium equations, and therefore
two equations of condition. For the structure shown in Figure 3, the extra
equations are:

Figure 3: roller support

So, each internal roller adds two equations of condition to the problem: ec=2.

If there are more than two members that frame into a single internal hinge, then there
is an additional equation of condition for each additional member. For example, for
three members connected at a hinge, then there are two independent equilibrium
equations that are added to the system. If I know that two members at the hinge have
zero moment, then I know automatically that the third one must also be zero because
the sum of moments at the hinge must be zero. Therefore, only two of these moments
are independent. So, for a hinge connection with multiple
elements ec=n−1 where n is equal to the number of members connected to the hinge.
Similarly, for a roller connection with multiple members, each additional member
adds two equations of condition, ec=2∗(n−1).

In summary:

For a Hinge: ec=n−1

For a Roller: ec=2(n−1)
where n is the number of members connected to the hinge or roller. For multiple
hinges and rollers, the total ec is the sum of the ec values from each pin or roller.
The degree of indeterminacy ie is given by the following equation, which is based
on equation (3) above
ie=r−(3+ec)

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 5

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

If this equation results in ie=0, the structure is determinate; if it results in ie<0,

then the structure is unstable. Otherwise, ie is the degree of indeterminacy (i.e.
how many extra redundant forces there are).

Internal determinacy
If a structure is internally determinate, then all of the reactions and internal forces
may be calculated using equilibrium alone. Internal determinacy is generally
much more important than external determinacy in structural analysis. To
calculate internal determinacy, the following equations are used:

Statically unstable internally: 3m+r<3j+ec ------------(1)

Statically determinate internally: 3m+r=3j+ ec -------(2)
Statically indeterminate internally: 3m+r >3j+ ec ----(3)
Where;

✓ m = total number of members in the structure,

✓ r =number of reaction components,
✓ j = total number of joints in the structure, and
✓ ec = number of equations of condition.
The degree of indeterminacy ie for internal indeterminacy is given by the
following equation:
ie=3m+r−(3j+ ec)

As it was for external determinacy, if this equation results in ie=0, the structure is
determinate; if it results in ie<0, then the structure is unstable. Otherwise, ie is the
degree of indeterminacy (i.e. how many extra redundant forces there are). Note
that even if a structure seems to be stable according to the equations above,
instability can be caused by additional mechanisms.
Internal Determinacy for Trusses
Trusses are structures where all of the members are connected together at pinned
joints. Since each member in a truss has a pin at the end, the members cannot take

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 6

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

any moment or shear. The stability and determinacy equations for a truss are
simply a special case of the general internal determinacy equations (1) to (3).

Statically unstable internally: 3m+r<3j+ ec --------(1)

Statically determinate internally: 3m+r=3j+ ec ----- (2)

Statically indeterminate internally: 3m+r >3j+ ec --- (3)

Since there is a hinge at each end of each member, there are 2m connections
between members and hinged joints in the structure (where m is the number of
truss members). To find the number of equations of condition at each joint, the
previous equation ec =n−1applies. This equation tells us that for each hinged
joint, there are ec=n−1 equations of condition, where n is the number of
members connected to the hinge. This means that each joint has one less equation
of condition than the number of members connected to it. Therefore, we must
subtract 1 from the total number of hinged connections at for each joint. The total
number of equations of condition for the whole truss then becomes the total
number of connections between members connected to hinged joints, minus the
number of joints (since we have to subtract 1 for each joint).

ec =2m−j--------(4)
where m is the number of truss members and j is the total number of joints
between truss members.

If we sub this value of ec into the general equation for indeterminacy (3):

3m+r>3j+ ec
3m+r>3j+(2m−j)
m+r >2j
If the truss satisfies this inequality, then it is indeterminate. If we repeat this
exercise for the other equations (1) and (2), we get:

Statically unstable internally: m+r<2j-------------(5)

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 7

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Statically determinate internally: m+r=2j---------(6)

Statically indeterminate internally: m+r>2j------(7)
he degree of indeterminacy for trusses is given by the following equation:

ie=m+r−2j---------------(8)
Note that these equations do not necessarily tell the whole story because a truss
can still be unstable due to an internal collapse mechanism as will be described
in the next section. If you try to solve for the internal forces in such an unstable
truss, it will become clear that a solution is not possible.

What is the degree of internal determinacy/indeterminacy for the structure shown

below?

Figure 2.4

Stability
An unstable structure generally cannot be analyzed. Therefore, it is useful to
know if a structure is stable or unstable before you conduct a structural analysis.
There are four main ways that a structure may be geometrically unstable. These
apply only to linear geometric stability and not to instability caused by buckling,
member yielding or nonlinear geometry (which are outside the scope of this
course).

✓ r < 3m unstable
✓ r ≤ 3m unstable if member reactions are concurrent or
parallel components

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 8

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

1. There are not enough reactions: This will generally be clear from an
application of the determinacy equations (1) to (3) (or (4) to (6) for trusses).
Statically unstable internally: 3m+r<3j+ec----------------(1)
Statically determinate internally: 3m+r=3j+ ec -----------(2)
Statically indeterminate internally: 3m+r >3j+ ec ------ (3)

Statically unstable internally (truss): m+r<2j--------------(4)

Statically determinate internally (truss): m+r=2j----------(5)
Statically indeterminate internally (truss): m+r>2j-------(6)
b + r < 2j--------unstable
b + r ≥ 2j-------unstable if truss support reactions are concurrent or parallel
or if some of the components of the truss form a collapsible mechanism
2. The reactions are parallel: All of the reaction components point in the same
direction. An example of such a situation is shown in below. In this example, the
horizontal equilibrium ∑Fx=0 cannot be solved. Since there are no reaction
forces in the x-direction, there will be a net horizontal force on the system with
no resistance.

Figure 2.5
3. The reactions are concurrent: All of the reaction components meet at a point.
This instability is more subtle and may be difficult to spot. An example of such
a situation is shown in Figure 6. Effectively, when the reactions are concurrent,

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 9

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

the system is free to rotate as a rigid body around the point where the reaction
components meet. (ne=ec)

Figure 6
4. There is an internal collapse mechanism: This scenario includes any situation
in which there is an internal mechanism in the system that will cause it to
deform between the supports. In some such situations, this will be clear from
the use of the determinacy equations, but in others, it may not be. In all such
cases, though, the instability will become clear during the structural analysis
because it will be impossible to solve for all of the internal forces. An example
internal collapse mechanism is shown in Figure 7. (ne=ec)

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 10

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Figure 7: internal collapse mechanism

Examples
Determine whether the structures shown in Figure 8 are externally determinate,
internally determinate, externally indeterminate, internally indeterminate or
unstable. If a structure is indeterminate, determine how many degrees of
indeterminacy it has.

Figure 8: structures

A
i. External Determinacy:
ie=r−(3+ ec), r=4, ec =1

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 11

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

(The hinge on the left at the pin does not provide any additional equations of
condition). Therefore, ie=0.Then, is this structure statically determinate? No, it is
unstable because if we take a free-body diagram of the left side of the beam, and
take a sum of moments about the center hinge, the sum of moments will be non-
zero due to the vertical reaction at the left pin (but we know that it has to be zero
due to the existence of the pin).
ii. Internal Determinacy:
ie=(3m+r) −(3j+ ec), m =2, r=4, j=3, ec =1
(Again, the hinge on the left at the pin does not provide any additional
equations of condition). Therefore,
3m+r=10,3j+ ec =10, and ie=0
Then, is this structure statically determinate? No, it is unstable due to the
same reason above.
B
i. External Determinacy:
r=3, ec =0
Therefore, ie=0. Then is this structure statically determinate? No, because
the reactions are concurrent through the pin on the right.
ii. Internal Determinacy:
m=2, r=3, j=3, ec =0
Therefore,
3m+r=9 and 3j+ ec =9
so, the structure appears internally determinate, but it is still unstable due to
the concurrent reactions.

c
i. External Determinacy:
r=3, ec =0
Therefore, ie=0. Since there are no sources of instability, this structure is
externally statically determinate.
ii. Internal Determinacy:

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 12

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

m=6, r=3, j=6, ec =0

Therefore,
3m+r=21 and 3j+ ec =18
So, this structure is internally statically indeterminate to three degrees (or
"3∘ S.I.")
D
A. External Determinacy:
r=5, ec =2
Therefore, ie=0. Since there are no sources of instability, this structure is
externally statically determinate.
B. Internal Determinacy:
m=5, r=5, j=6, ec =2
Therefore,
3m+r=20 and 3j+ ec =20
So, this structure is internally statically determinate (or "S.D.").
Practice Problems
1. Determine whether each of the beams and frames below are internally
determinate, indeterminate, or unstable. If it is indeterminate, to what
degree is it indeterminate?

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 13

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

Question 1
(a) 1∘ S.I.
(b) 3∘ S.I.
(c) Determinate
(d) Unstable (calculation)
(e) Unstable (concurrent reactions)
(f) Determinate
(g) 1∘ S.I.
(h) Unstable (internal collapse mechanism)
(i) 3∘ S.I.

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 14

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

2. Determine whether each of the trusses below are internally determinate,

indeterminate, or unstable. If it is indeterminate, to what degree is it
indeterminate?

2.7a Selected Problem Answers

Question 2

(a) Determinate
(b) 1∘ S.I.
(c) Determinate
(d) 1∘ S.I.
(e) Unstable (internal collapse mechanism)
(f) 2∘ S.I.
(g) Determinate
(h) Unstable (calculation)
(i) Determinate

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 15

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 16

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 17

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 18

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 19

 STABILITY, DETERMINACY OF STRUCTURES

LECTURE NOTE BY ABEBE T. (Msc) 20