ECE 3162 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS

CHAPTER 2. PIN JOINTED FRAME

(TRUSSES)

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Chapter Overview
A structure made up of several bars (or members) riveted
or welded together is known as truss, composed of such
members which are just sufficient to keep the truss in
equilibrium, when the truss is supporting an external load,
then the frame is known as perfecttruss.

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Learning Objectives
Understand statically determinate and indeterminate
truss.
Able to use method of joints and sections to identify
forces.

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Learning Outcomes
Describe pin jointed truss
Solving for the forces in the member of a truss using
method of joints and sections

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Basic Terms
Truss
Pin joint
Statically determinate
Statically indeterminate

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Truss
Truss is a structure comprising straight members forming
one or more triangular units. The members of the truss are
connected together by providing different types of joints or
supports. The joint of a truss are commonly known as
nodes. External forces and reactions are considered to act
only at the nodes and result in forces in the members
which are only axial forces (tensile or compressive).

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Plane truss
When all the members and nodes
lie within a two dimensional plane,
it is known as plane truss, whereas
a truss having members and
nodes
extending
into
three
dimensions is known as space
truss.
Trusses are used in many
structures like bridges, roof
supports, transmission towers,
space stations etc.
There are different types of simple
truss like Warren truss, Pratt truss,
Howe truse, roof truss etc.

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Truss
can be termed as:
Statically determinate: all the unknown forces (support
reaction and member forces) can be determined by
applying equations of static equilibrium, if .
Indeterminate: equation of static equilibrium are not
sufficient to determine unknown forces, if .
Unstable: not suitable to carry load, if .
Where
m=number of member in a truss;
r=number of reaction components;
j=number of joints in a truss.

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Support
Most common types of supports are pin-jointed or hinged,
roller support and fixed support.
Every support provide some restraint (reaction) to the
structural member connected to it.
A pin-jointed support will develop two reactions on the
connected member because it does not allow it to translate in
any direction ( along x and y).
The roller support can provide the reaction only in the
direction other than movement of roller (i.e, perpendicular to
the surface on which the rollers are kept).
A fixed support provide restraint to translation as well as
rotation, therefore it has 3 reactions (2 forces and 1 moment).

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PIN JOINT
A pin joint allows the joined members to swivel as opposed to a rigid
joint that does not. A rigid joint may be welded but a pin joint may be
a bolt, a rivet or any form of swivel pin.

The important points about a pin joint are:

The connected members are free to rotate.
The force in the member can only pull or push along the line of
the member.

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Statically determinate pin-jointed frame

A pin-jointed frame is one in which no bending actions
can be transmitted from one to another, ideally this could
be achieved if the bars were joined together through pinjoints.
Simply stiff - if the frame have sufficient bar to prevent
collapse without the application of external forces
Redundant - if there are more bars than the simply stiff frame

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There are two methods for solving for the forces in the
member of a truss
Method of joints
Method of sections

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The Method of Joints

This method can only be used to determine the internal

forces in the members of statically determinate pin-jointed
trusses.
It consists of isolating each joint of the framework in the form
of a free-body diagram, and then by considering equilibrium
at each of these joints, the forces in the member of
framework can be determined.
Initially, all unknown forces should be assumed to be in
tension. If compression, value will be in negative.
Only two equations of static equilibrium, and . Therefore, it
is important in this method that we should start with the joint
having not more than 2 unknown forces.

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Method of sections
This method is useful if it is required to determine the
internal forces in only a few members.
The process is to make an imaginary cut across the
framework and then by considering equilibrium to
determine the internal forces in the members that lie
across this path.
This method is only possible to use to examine a section
that has a maximum of three unknown internal forces.
Assume all forces in tension, compression will have
negative sign.

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Example 1
Using method of joints determine the forces in all the
members of the pin-jointed plane truss shown in Figure
below

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Solution - Example 1

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Example 2
Using method of sections determine the forces in the
members BC, GC and GF of the pin-jointed plane truss
shown in figure below

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Solution - Example 2

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Solution - Example 2

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Solution - Example 2

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Solution - Example 2

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Solution - Example 2

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REFERENCES
1. Case, Chilver, Ross,(3rd ed.) 1993, StrengthofMaterial,
ELBS.
2. Ferdinand P. Beer, E. Russell Johnston, Jr., (2nd ed.)
1992, MechanicsofMaterials, McGraw Hill, Singapore.
3. R.C. Hibbeler, (8th ed) 2010, Mechanics of Materials,
Pearson.
4. D.K. Singh, (1st ed)2008, Strength of Materials, CRC
Press, Taylor & Francis Group.