1 Introduction 1.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS From an engineering point of view, the purpose of most structures is to transmit certain loads from their points of application to the points of support, usually the ground. In the case of a bridge, vehicles or pedestrians constitute the loads and the weight of these mst be transmitted through the structure to the bridge abutments or to inter- mediate piers. In a building, the weight of the contents is transmitted by means of the floors to the beams, from these to the colums and finally down to the foundations. On their way through the structure, these loads give rise to stresses at all points in the material. The material becones strained in consequence and the elements of the structure becone slightly distorted. In turn the geometry of the whole structure will be slightly different in the loaded condition from what it was when unloaded. Other influences, such as temperature change, may also bring about structural distortion. The purpose of structural analysis is to investigate a structure, either existing or proposed, with a view to predicting possible unser- viceability due to overstressing, excessive deformation, instability or other causes. In order to make these predictions it is necessary for the analyst (4)__ to determine the path of the forces from their points of application to the support points and to estimate the magnitude of the stresses throughout the material, and (ii) to determine the material strains and hence the changes in geometry of the structure. It is usually necessary to pursue these two aims concurrently since in the majority of structures the changes in geometry, although small, have a marked effect upon the path taken by the forces, i.e. upon the stress distribution throughout the structure. If given a choice, the forces prefer the paths less liable to deformation (the stiffer parts of the structure) just as water, given a choice of paths through a pipe network, will favour the larger pipes. In most structures the distortions are not visible, but even so they may be unacceptable. A deflection of 20 mm in the floor of a normal building would be difficult to detect by eye but it would result in the floor being rather springy and would thus be considered unacceptable Thus not only is the study of change of geometry usually inseparable from the study of stress distribution, but it is also important in itself. The acceptability of a structure is largely determined by its geonetry changes under service loads. 1.2 STRUCTURAL IDEALIZATION It is hardly ever possible to make a complete mathematical analysis of a structure as it appears in reality. The analysis is carried out on_— 4 a structure whose geometry and material properties only approximate those of the real structure. This is often called an idealized structure. A bean is often idealized as a sifigle line to which uniform section Properties are ascribed. In many beams, the section properties are Clearly not uniform, and probably no beam has absolutely uniform proper- ties. A truss is usually idealized as a set of line members of no thickness joined together by frictionless pins. The approximations inherent in this concept are obvious. Loads applied over a small length of beam, or a small area of floor, are represented approximately by point loads. ‘The analyst attempts to simplify the real structure as much as possible while still obtaining values for stresses and strains which do not differ too much from those which occur in the real structure. However, knowledge of the error involved in any approximation implies some knowledge of the "true" answer, either by experiment or by nore accurate analysis. Much of structural research is directed towards the investigation of the degree of error involved in commonly used structural idealizations. For some idealizations, the errors: are known within limits. In other cases, the errors involved are not known within very wide limits, and reliance is placed simply on customary usage. Frequently a two-stage analysis is employed. In the first stage a eparse approximation is used to determine the general pattern of stresses and geometry changes throughout the structure. In the second stage local stress and strain conditions are examined by means of a rather more accurate analysis. Suppose we are designing a thin-webbed I-beam (plate- web girder) to support a central load. ‘The idealization shown in Fig.1.1(a) will yield bending moments and shear forces which are adequate to proportion the web and the flanges. This idealization, would however, disguise the fact that the thin web beneath the point load is in danger of buckling. Web stiffners, as indicate in Fig.1.1(b), are needed to prevent this. To design these a more detailed analysis of the-region near the point load is required. In this stage it is clearly inadequate to assume that the beam has no depth. Pp —— (a) (b) Once the idealized structure is selected, a mathematical analysis is made. It is comparatively rarely that an "exact" analysis can be made. Even the idealized structure usually exhibits features which call for approximate mathematical techniques, frequently numerical methods. ‘The final values of stresses and displacements thus usually involve ‘two phases of approximation. In the first place the real structure is replaced by an "idealized" structure whose main merit is that it is cap- able of analysis. The approximations made here vary considerably and in some structures may introduce errors of unknown, and possibly quite large, magnitude. Secondly, the mathematical calculations may call fornumerical, or other approximate, techniques. The approximations made in this phase are usually smaller and the errors more susceptible of reason- { able estimate. It may be remarked that there is little point in using a refinement of mathematical techniques in the second phase which is out of { proportion to the approximations introduced in the first phase, namely the structural idealization. : ‘The present book is concerned with the second phase which is usually referred to as structural analysis. 1.3 LAYOUT OF THE BOOK In view of the fact that the physical significance of some of the concepts and theorems is sometimes difficult to perceive when these are stated in a general form, the terms and procedures used in structural analysis will first be described with reference to pin-jointed trusses. In such trusses the paths of the forces through the structure are limited to a few well-defined lines. By using small trusses, the nunber of quantities is reduced and the significance of a theorem or a procedure is easy to comprehend. The work on trusses comprises Part I of the book, chapters 1-9. In Part II, chapters 10-17, the methods are extended to the analysis of rigid-jointed frames. The theorems enunciated in Part I each have their counterparts in Part II, presented now in a rather more general form. It is hoped that comprehension will be assisted by reference back to the corresponding section of Part I. ‘The same theorems and procedures may be applied to structures other than trusses and frames but such applications are not pursued in this book.