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FEMforFrames(FiniteElementMethod)Part1

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FEMforFrames(FiniteElementMethod)Part1
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Introduction
Aframeelementisformulatedtomodelastraightbarofanarbitrarycrosssection,whichcandeformnotonly
intheaxialdirectionbutalsointhedirectionsperpendiculartotheaxisofthebar.Thebariscapableofcarrying
bothaxialandtransverseforces,aswellasmoments.Therefore,aframeelementisseentopossessthe
propertiesofbothtrussandbeamelements.Infact,theframestructurecanbefoundinmostofourrealworld
structuralproblems,fortherearenotmanystructuresthatdeformandcarryloadingspurelyinaxialdirections
norpurelyintransversedirections.ThedevelopmentofFEMequationsforbeamelementsfacilitatesthe
developmentofFEMequationsforframestructuresinthistopic.
Theframeelementdevelopedisalsoknowninmanycommercialsoftwarepackagesasthegeneralbeam
element,orevensimplythebeamelement.Commercialsoftwarepackagesusuallyofferbothpurebeamand
frameelements,butframestructuresaremoreoftenusedinactualengineeringapplications.Athree
dimensionalspatialframestructurecanpracticallytakeforcesandmomentsofalldirections.Hence,itcanbe
consideredtobethemostgeneralformofelementwithaonedimensionalgeometry.
Frameelementsareapplicablefortheanalysisofskeletaltypesystemsofbothplanarframes(two
dimensionalframes)andspaceframes(threedimensionalframes).Atypicalthreedimensionalframestructure
isshowninFigure6.1.Framemembersinaframestructurearejoinedtogetherbyweldingsothatbothforces
andmomentscanbetransmittedbetweenmembers.Inthistopic,itisassumedthattheframeelementshavea
uniformcrosssectionalarea.Ifastructureofvaryingcrosssectionistobemodelledusingtheformulationin
thistopic,thenitisadvisedthatthestructureistobedividedintosmallerelementsofdifferentconstantcross
sectionalareasoastosimulatethevaryingcrosssection.Ofcourse,ifthevariationincrosssectionistoo
severeforaccurateapproximation,thentheequationsforavaryingcrosssectionalareacanalsobeformulated
withoutmuchdifficultyusingthesameconceptsandproceduregiveninthistopic.

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FEMforFrames(FiniteElementMethod)Part1

Figure6.1.Exampleofaspaceframestructure.

FEMEquationsForPlanarFrames
Consideraframestructurewherebythestructureisdividedintoframeelementsconnectedbynodes.Each
elementisoflengthle=2a,andhastwonodesatitstwoends.Theelementsandnodesarenumberedseparately
inaconvenientmanner.Inaplanarframeelement,therearethreedegreesoffreedom(DOFs)atonenodeinits
localcoordinatesystem,asshowninFigure6.2.Theyaretheaxialdeformationinthexdirection,udeflection
intheydirection,vandtherotationinthexyplaneandwithrespecttothezaxis,.Therefore,eachelement
withtwonodeswillhaveatotalofsixDOFs.

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EquationsinLocalCoordinateSystem
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ConsideringtheframeelementshowninFigure6.2withnodeslabelled1and2ateachendoftheelement,it
canbeseenthatthelocalxaxisistakenastheaxialdirectionoftheelementwithitsoriginatthemiddleofthe
element.Asmentioned,aframeelementcontainsboththepropertiesofthetrusselementandthebeamelement.
Therefore,theelementmatricesforaframeelementcanbesimplyformulatedbycombiningelementmatrices
fortrussandbeamelements,withoutgoingthroughthedetailedprocessofformulatingshapefunctionsand
usingtheconstitutiveequationsforaframe.

Figure6.2.PlanarframeelementandtheDOFs.
Recallthatthetrusselementhasonlyonedegreeoffreedomateachnode(axialdeformation),andthebeam
elementhastwodegreesoffreedomateachnode(transversedeformationandrotation).Combiningthesewill
givethedegreesoffreedomofaframeelement,andtheelementdisplacementvectorforaframeelementcan
thusbewrittenas

Toconstructthestiffnessmatrix,thestiffnessmatrixfortrusselements,Eq.(4.16),isfirstextendedtoa6
x6matrixcorrespondingtotheorderofthedegreesoffreedomofthetrusselementintheelement
displacementvectorinEq.(6.1):

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Next,thestiffnessmatrixforthebeamelement,Eq.(5.21),isalsoextendedtoa6x6matrix
correspondingtotheorderofthedegreesoffreedomofthebeamelementinEq.(6.1):

ThetwomatricesinEqs.(6.2)and(6.3)arenowsuperimposedtogethertoobtainthestiffnessmatrixfor
theframeelement:

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Theelementmassmatrixoftheframeelementcanalsobeobtainedinthesamewayasthestiffnessmatrix.
Theelementmassmatricesforthetrusselementandthebeamelement,Eqs.(4.17)and(5.23),respectively,are
extendedinto6x6matricesandaddedtogethertogivetheelementmassmatrixfortheframeelement:

Thesamesimpleprocedurecanbeappliedtotheforcevectoraswell.Theelementforcevectorsforthe
trussandbeamelements,Eqs.(4.18)and(5.24),respectively,areextendedinto6x1vectorscorrespondingto
theirrespectiveDOFsandaddedtogether.Iftheelementisloadedbyexternaldistributedforcesfxandfyalong
thexaxisconcentratedforcesfsx1,fsx2,fsy1andfsy2andconcentratedmomentsms1andms2,respectively,
atnodes1and2,thetotalnodalforcevectorbecomes

ThefinalFEMequationwillthushavetheformofEq.(3.89)withtheelementmatriceshavingtheformsin
Eqs.(6.4)to(6.6).

EquationsinGlobalCoordinateSystem
Thematricesformulatedintheprevioussectionareforaparticularframeelementinaspecificorientation.A
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fullframestructureusuallycomprisesnumerousframeelementsofdifferentorientationsjoinedtogether.As
such,theirlocalcoordinatesystemwouldvaryfromoneorientationtoanother.Toassembletheelement
matricestogether,allthematricesmustfirstbeexpressedinacommoncoordinatesystem,whichistheglobal
coordinatesystem.
Assumethatlocalnodes1and2correspondtotheglobalnodesiandj,respectively.Thedisplacementata
localnodeshouldhavetwotranslationalcomponentsinthexandydirectionsandonerotationaldeformation.
Theyarenumberedsequentiallybyu,vandateachofthetwonodes,asshowninFigure6.3.The
displacementataglobalnodeshouldalsohavetwotranslationalcomponentsintheXandYdirectionsandone
rotationaldeformation.TheyarenumberedsequentiallybyD3i2,D3iIandD3ifortheithnode,asshownin
Figure6.3.Thesamesignconventionalsoappliestonodej.Thecoordinatetransformationgivesthe
relationshipbetweenthedisplacementvectordebasedonthelocalcoordinatesystemandthedisplacement
vectorDeforthesameelement,butbasedontheglobalcoordinatesystem:

where

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Figure6.3.Coordinatetransformationfor2Dframeelements.
andTisthetransformationmatrixfortheframeelementgivenby

inwhich

whereaistheanglebetweenthexaxisandtheXaxis,asshowninFigure6.3,and

NotethatthecoordinatetransformationintheXYplanedoesnotaffecttherotationalDOF,asitsdirectionisin
thezdirection(normaltothexyplane),whichstillremainsthesameastheZdirectionintheglobalcoordinate
system.Thelengthoftheelement,le,canbecalculatedby

Equation(6.7)canbeeasilyverified,asitsimplysaysthatatnodei,uiequalsthesummationofallthe
projectionsofD3i2andD3i1ontothelocalxaxis,andV1equalsthesummationofalltheprojectionsofD3i
2andD3i1ontothelocalyaxis.Thesamecanbesaidatnodej.ThematrixTforaframeelementtransformsa
6x6matrixintoanother6x6matrix.Usingthetransformationmatrix,T,thematricesfortheframeelementin
theglobalcoordinatesystembecome

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Notethatthereisnochangeindimensionbetweenthematricesandvectorsinthelocalandglobalcoordinate
systems.

FEMEquationsForSpaceFrames
EquationsinLocalCoordinateSystem
Theapproachusedtodevelopthetwodimensionalframeelementscanbeusedtodevelopthethree
dimensionalframeelementsaswell.TheonlydifferenceisthattherearemoreDOFsatanodeina3Dframe
elementthanthereareina2Dframeelement.TherearealtogethersixDOFsatanodeina3Dframeelement:
threetranslationaldisplacementsinthex,yandzdirections,andthreerotationswithrespecttothex,yandz
axes.Therefore,foranelementwithtwonodes,therearealtogethertwelveDOFs,asshowninFigure6.4.

Figure6.4.FrameelementinspacewithtwelveDOFs.
Theelementdisplacementvectorforaframeelementinspacecanbewrittenas

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Theelementmatricescanbeobtainedbyasimilarprocessofobtainingthematricesofthetrusselementin
spaceandthatofbeamelements,andaddingthemtogether.Becauseofthehugematricesinvolved,thedetails
willnotbeshowninthistopic,butthestiffnessmatrixislistedhereasfollows,andcanbeeasilyconfirmed
simplybyinspection:

whereIyandIzarethesecondmomentofarea(ormomentofinertia)ofthecrosssectionofthebeamwith
respecttotheyandzaxes,respectively.NotethatthefourthDOFisrelatedtothetorsionaldeformation.The
developmentofatorsionalelementofabarisverymuchthesameasthatforatrusselement.Theonly
differenceisthattheaxialdeformationisreplacedbythetorsionalangulardeformation,andaxialforceis
replacedbytorque.Therefore,intheresultantstiffnessmatrix,theelementtensilestiffnessAE/leisreplacedby
theelementtorsionalstiffnessGJ/le,whereGistheshearmodulesandJisthepolarmomentofinertiaofthe
crosssectionofthebar.
Themassmatrixisalsoshownasfollows:

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where

inwhichIxisthesecondmomentofarea(ormomentofinertia)ofthecrosssectionofthebeamwithrespectto
thexaxis.
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RelatedLinks
TheFiniteElementMethod
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IntroductiontoMechanicsforSolidsandStructures(FiniteElementMethod)Part3
FundamentalsforFiniteElementMethodPart1

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