BeamElement

ElementaryBeamTheory:

Elementstiffnessequation(localnode:i,j or1,2):

FormalApproach

Toderivethisapproach,theshapefunctionsareintroduced, whichisacubicfunction.

Thedeflectioncanberepresentedas,

whichimpliesthattherigidbody motion ti i isrepresented t d b byth the assumeddeformedshapeofthe beam.

Curvatureofthebeamis,

wherethestraindisplacementmatrixBisgivenby,

Strainenergystoredinthebeamelementis

Thestiffnessmatrixforthesimplebeamelementis

Combiningtheaxialstiffness (barelement),thestiffness matrixofageneral2Dbeam elementcanbewrittenas

Example1 Thebeamshownaboveisclamped p atthetwo endsandacteduponbytheforcePandmoment Minthemidspan.Determinethedeflectionand rotationatthecenternodeandthereaction forcesandmomentsatthetwoends. ends Elementstiffnessmatricesare, Element1:

Element2:

Element1:

Element2:

GlobalFEequationis,

Loadsandconstraints(BCs)are,

ReducedFEequation, equation

FromglobalFEequation,weobtainthereactionforcesandmoments,

Stressesinthebeamatthetwoendscanbecalculatedusingtheformula,

Distributedloads

Ifq(x)=0,thenexactsolutionforthedeflectionvisacubicfunctionofx,whichis whatdescribedbytheshapefunctions functions.

EquivalentNodalLoadsofDistributedTransverseLoad

Example2 Acantileverbeamissubjectedtodistributed lateralloadp.Determinethedeflectionand rotationattherightend,thereactionforceand momentattheleftend end. Theworkequivalentnodalloadsare

ApplyingtheFEequation:

Loadandconstraints(BCs)are,

Reducedequation q is, ,

Thesenodalvaluesarethesameastheexactsolution. Notethatthedeflectionv(x)(for0<x<0)inthebeambytheFEMis,however,different fromthatbytheexactsolution solution.Theexactsolutionbythesimplebeamtheoryisa4thorder polynomialofx,whiletheFEsolutionofvisonlya3rdorderpolynomialofx.More elementshavetobeused. Thereactionforcescanbeobtainedasfollows,

Example3

Constructtheg globalmatrixfor calculatingdeflections,rotationsandreactionforces. Thebeamhasaroller(orhinge)supportatnode2andaspringsupportatnode3.Weuse twobeamelementsandonespringelementtosolvethisproblem. Thespringstiffnessmatrixisgivenby,

addingthisstiffnessmatrixtotheglobalFEequation

GlobalFEequationis,

inwhich