2101-310 Structural Analysis I

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INFLUENCE LINES FOR STATICALLY INDETERMINATE STRUCTURES

Structures under moving load
Planar structures (2D), e.g. truss, beam, floor system, frame
Statically indeterminate
Static redundancy
Static equilibrium insufficient for analysis
Moving load along the prescribed loading path
Responses are functions of load pattern and their locations
Maximum values of responses are of interest

Statically indeterminate structures under moving load

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Structural responses of interest

Similar to the case of statically determinate structures, the following structural responses are
of interest:
Support reactions
Internal member forces, e.g.
Axial force
Shear force
Bending moment
Displacement and rotation at a particular point

Construction of influence lines by a direct approach

The influence lines for statically indeterminate structures can also be constructed in a direct
fashion by using the same standard procedure as that used for statically determinate
structures. The key difference is that the analysis must be performed on the structure that is
statically indeterminate; the presence of the static redundancy of the structure renders the
static equilibrium equations insufficient for completely determining the support reactions and
the internal member forces. The procedure of a direct approach is summarized again as
follow:
Preparation of the structure. The structure is considered to be subjected to a unit
load moving along the loading path. The location of this unit load is a primary
independent variable and all load patterns must be incorporated to ensure that all
points along the loading path are treated. It is important to note that for the floor
systems or any structures with a similar load transferring mechanism, load patterns
required to be considered are only those associated with a unit load acting at the
panel points.
Analysis of the structure. For each load pattern, the structure is analyzed to obtain
the structural response of interest, e.g.

Support reactions
Internal forces, e.g. axial forces, shear forces, bending moments, etc.
Displacement and rotation at certain points

The analysis must be performed for all load patterns in order to obtain the values of
the influence functions at all points along the loading path. Note that various
methods can be used in the analysis of statically indeterminate structures and it is
only a matter of taste.
Sketch of influence functions or influence lines. The influence functions obtained
from the previous step are then plotted along the loading path to obtain the influence
lines. It is noted that for the floor system or any structures with a similar load
transferring mechanism, values of the influence lines are obtained, from the
analysis, at all panel points; the complete influence lines are simply constructed by
connecting those points by straight lines.

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Example 15 For a given statically indeterminate beam shown below, construct the influence
lines of the support reaction RBYI, the bending moment MBI, the shear force VBLI, and the
rotation BI. Given that the Young modulus E and the moment of inertia of the cross section I
are constant for the entire beam.

1
X

A
L

Solution The given structure is statically indeterminate with two degrees of static
redundancy. In the first step, the following two load patterns are treated as indicated below,
one associated with a beam subjected to a unit load moving on the span AB (0 x L) and
the other associated with a beam subjected to a unit load moving on the span BC (L x
2L).
Y

Case I

Case II

A
B

A
L

For the second step, we perform an analysis of the above two load patterns by using the
method of slope-deflection equations. Note that details of analysis are not given here, but the
procedure can be found in textbooks for structural analysis. The results for each case (as
functions of the load location x) are given further below:

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Results for case I:

Results for case II:

2

24 x 17 x
RBYI =


7 L
7 L
3x 2 (L x)
M BI =
7L2
3

VBLI

8 x 15 x
=
7 L
7 L

BI =

(2L x)(L2 + 8Lx 2x 2 )

7L3
2(x L)(2L x)(3L x)
M BI =
7L2
3(x L)(2L x)(3L x)
VBLI =
7L3
(x L)(2L x)(3L x)
BI =
14LEI
RBYI =

x 2 (L x)
7LEI

Finally, the influence lines RBYI, MBI, VBLI, and BI are plotted as shown below.
Y

1
X

A
L

RBYI

1
X

MBI

VBI
X
1

BI
X

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Example 16 For a given statically indeterminate frame shown below, construct the influence
lines of the support reaction RAYI and RDYI, the bending moment in beam MBLI, the shear
force in beam VBLI, the horizontal displacement uBI, and the rotation BI. Given that the Young
modulus E and the moment of inertia of the cross section I are constant for the entire frame
and that the loading path is along the top beam.

D
L

Solution The given structure is statically indeterminate with one degree of static redundancy.
In the first step, the following two load patterns are treated as indicated below, one
associated with a unit load moving on the span AB (0 x L) and the other associated with a
unit load moving on the span BC (L x 2L).

Y
A

Y
C
B

Case I

C
B

Case II

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For the second step, we perform an analysis of the above two load patterns by using the unit
load method. Note that details of analysis are not given here, but the procedure can be found
in textbooks for structural analysis. The results for each case (as functions of the load
location x) are given further below:
Results for case I:

Results for case II:

RAYI

5x 1x
1 +
4L 4L

RDYI

3x 1x
=
2L 2L

M BLI

x x3
= + 2
4 4L

1 2L x 1 2L x
RAYI =
+

4 L 4 L

RDYI

3 2L x 1 2L x
=

2 L 2 L

2L x (2L x )
=
+
4
4L2

M BLI

5x 1x
VBLI = +
4L 4L
1
uBI =
x 3 L2 x
12EI
1
x3

Lx
BI =
12EI
L

1 2L x 1 2L x
VBLI =
+

4 L 4 L
1
3
uBI =
L2 (2L x ) (2L x )
12EI
3

1 (2L x )

BI =
L(2L x )

12EI
L

Finally, the influence lines RAYI, RBYI, MBLI, VBLI, uBI, and BI are plotted as shown below.
1

D
L

RAYI

1
X

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D
L

RDYI

1
X

MBLI
1

VBLI
X
1

uBI
X

BI
X