Tutorial Lab –Week 5

1/ Practice using Microsoft Excel to solve for forces and displacements

for beams

2/ Use the FEM approach to solve for 2-element beam

3/Practice to program in MATLAB for solving a beam problem

1/ Practice using Microsoft Excel to solve for forces and displacements for beams

Homework: Practice using MATLAB to solve this questions and compare results with
hand-caluclation
The beam shown in Figure 1 is a wide-flange W310 * 52 with a cross-sectional area of 6650 mm2 and depth of 317
mm. The second moment of the area is 118.6 * 106 mm4. The beam is subjected to a uniformly distributed load of
25,000 N/m. The modulus of elasticity of the beam is E = 200 GPa. Determine the vertical displacement at node 3,
and the rotations at nodes 2 and 3. Also, compute the reaction forces and moment at nodes 1 and 2.

Notes: Unit conversion

E = 200 Gpa = 200x109N/m2

I = 118.6 * 106 mm4 = 1.186x10-4 (m4)
Load: w = 25x103 (N/m)
Figure 1. A schematic of the beam

Solution:
Remarks:

2 Elements, 3 nodes; for the Beam element, each node has 2 DoF because the Beam
does not have axial deformation/displacement (Euler-B. beam)
So, 4 DoF in Local Stiffness matrix for each element, []4x4
So, 6 DoF in Global Stiffness matrix, []6x6
We will use two elements to represent this problem. The Local
stiffness matrices of the elements are computed

E = 200 Gpa = 200x109N/m2

I = 118.6 * 106 mm4 = 1.186x10-4 (m4)
L=5 m
Substituting appropriate values for element (1), we have
 For convenience, the nodal degrees of freedom are shown alongside the stiffness matrices.
For element (1), we have
DoF 1 2 3 4
1
2
3
4

DoF

Computing the stiffness matrix for element (2), we have

Showing the nodal degrees of freedom alongside the stiffness matrix for element (2), we have
E =200x109N/m2
DoF 3 4 5 6 I = 1.186x10-4 (m4)
3 L2=5 m
4
5
6

DoF
Assembling [K](1) and [K](2) to obtain the global stiffness matrix yields

DoF 1 2 3 4 5 6
1
2
GLOBAL: 3
4
5
6

DoF
1 2 3 4 3 4 5 6
LOCAL
1 3
2 4
3 5
4 6

Element 1 Element 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FKKR2hwLc
 Covert UDL to equivalent point load at ends

New force vectors

Referring to Table 4.2, we can compute the load matrix for elements (1) and (2). The respective load matrices are

Sign convention: Positive Moment: Counter-clockwise; Positive force: Acting upward

 Check force and
Combining the two load matrices to obtain the global load matrix, we obtain moment equilibrium?
1
2
3 Global degree of freedom
4
5 Only 3 DoF are active
6
Applying the boundary conditions U11 = U12 = 0 at node 1 and the boundary condition U21 = 0 at node 2, we reduce
the global stiffness matrix and the load matrix to

1 2 3 4 5 6
1
2
3
4
5
6

Solving the three equations simultaneously results in the unknown nodal values. The displacement result is
 We can compute the nodal reaction forces and moments from the relationship

Performing the matrix operation results in the following reaction forces and moments at each node:

Note that by calculating the reaction matrix using the nodal displacement matrix, we can check the validity of our
results. There is a reaction force and a reaction moment at node 1; there is a reaction force at node 2; there is no
reaction moment at node 2, as expected; and there are no reaction forces or moments at node 3, as expected
Home Work

Assumptions: Beam is considered as Euler-Bernoulli Beam

Solve by hand calculation and use Matlab to have a double check (recommended)

(b) Work out final maximum beam deflection for the case of :
E=1000 N/m2; I =0.1m4; L=5m; P=1500N; M=100N.m