Beam (flexure) Element

*Please review pure bending theory

Displacement function:

Boundary
Conditions:

Assume a displacement function of

the form:

Substituting each BC into displacement

function in turn gives:
 NOW

Solving for the constants

Substituting coefficients into displacement function becomes:

Gathering coefficients of nodal variables, displacement

function becomes:
Stiffness matrix:
e.g.

This system can be reduced by enforcing the boundary conditions

The reduced system becomes:
Equivalent Nodal Loads

e.g.

becomes