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Direct method of rigidity using Mathcad Software

Article in IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering · January 2021
DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

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10th EASN 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1024 (2021) 012093 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

Direct method of rigidity using Mathcad Software

Odhise Koça1, Anis Sulejmani1 and Parid Alimhilli1

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Polytechnic University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. Static indeterminate structures are difficult structures to solve by hand or using
classical methods. They required data and time to solve. New methods for calculating them are
Direct Method of Rigidity (DMR). These structures, increasingly complex, are finding use in
various fields of engineering as well as in the field of aviation and space. Therefore, introducing
these methods into aircraft structures, helicopters or space structures is a pretty nice and difficult
challenge. An example of this is the structure of a helicopter [1] and through DMR methods; we
determine the internal forces important for other designations. The calculation procedure goes
through several stages. The structure and its elements in local and global coordinates are studied,
and then we create the matrix of rigidity. Through matrix transformations, it became possible to
program algorithms for solving both methods in Mathcad software. In conclusion, we have all
the graphs of the moment, the shear force and the normal force required for further studies of the
structure.

1. General knowledge of structure elements in local and global coordinates

Figure 1. In this figure is show a helicopter with all of it elements. Our case of study is the roof
structure focused on internal forces [1]

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
10th EASN 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1024 (2021) 012093 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

Static indeterminate structures consist of branches and nodes. Branches can be divided into even smaller
non-uniform parts according to the external load, into elements.

Figure 2. The roof structure taken from helicopter structure that we called equivalent structure
elements. Every branch has length a, b, c, d and h depend on schema. p is distributed load.

The node the place where the elements come together and can form nodes with two, three or more
elements. If we know the displacements of the nodes or the factors inside the nodes as well as the load
on them, all the factors in the complete can be determined. A particular element can be studied in many
ways. The dependencies between the joint force factors with the joint displacements can be determined.
Each element of a structure has two nodes. Each node actually represents a cross section. The cross
section in the plan performs three movements, horizontally, vertically, and rotationally. These
movements also represent joint degree of freedom. If we had horizontal, vertical, and internal force,
these factors would do work, so any movement (displacement) is linked to a force factor when we use
energy theorems.

Figure 3. Element and forces acting on each node.

In general structure all the elements are connected with each other according to the principle of
construction, where the continuity of the deformation and the balance of the joints in the elements are
fulfilled.

2. The equivalence of external loads in the node

External loads may be in the structure at different locations and may not match the nodes of the elements.
Despite the various maneuvers we can do, at the distributed load must be equivalent to the joints, because
at the joints we have displacements. Equivalence will be done according to potential energy or internal
work, so the work of the forces in the scheme is equal to that of the equivalent forces in the joints. A
simple method of determining equivalent forces is to find the reactions of the particular element scheme.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1024 (2021) 012093 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

Figure 4. Real schema and equivalent force in case where concentrate force acting on bar.

We know that the work of external forces is equal to the work of internal forces (but with a minus sign
ahead). External forces are divided into active forces, that do work and reactions that do not.
𝑀𝑀 2
𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 , 𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) = 𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 ) = −𝐸𝐸𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = − ∑ 2∙𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 (1)
3
� � 3
𝐴𝐴 2 = 𝐴𝐴(+) − 𝐴𝐴(−) (𝐼𝐼 = ) (2)
2

We remove the real connection and place imaginary support where the active force act. When we do
this, the reactions become active forces and active force became non-active force. In this case reactions
𝑀𝑀 2
𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 , 𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) = 𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ) = ∑ 2∙𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 (3)
𝑀𝑀 2
−𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) = − ∑ 2∙𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝐴𝐴(𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ) ⟹ 𝐹𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = −𝐹𝐹𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 (4)

So, the conclusion here is that equivalent forces are opposite to the reactions because the do the same
work. In figure 5 are show some example of equivalent forces where force is concentrated (case a),
distributed load (case b) and difference in temperature (case c).

Figure 5a. Equivalent force in case where concentrate force acting on bar.

Figure 5b. Equivalent force in case where distributed load acting on bar.

Figure 5c. Equivalent force in case where difference in temperature is between two sides of bar

3. Rigidity matrix of elements in local coordinates

The bar can also be placed obliquely, thus forming an angle with the horizontal axis. In this case the
axis from the first node of the element to the second node is called the local axis. The dependence

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1024 (2021) 012093 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

between forces and displacements derived in relation to these axes, called rigidity matrix in local
coordinates. We consider for each node three degrees of freedom and the general case of the element
with three degrees of freedom. The forces at each node according to the local axes are normal force,
shear force and bending moment. They are located in both element nodes and they form the vector of
forces in local coordinates. The same is done for generalized displacement of element nodes as it showed
in equation (5).
𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 (5)

The element may have loads from the outside, which we equivalent them in the nodes according to the
templates (figure 5a, 5b and 5c). These forces are called equivalent forces. They form the vector of
equivalent forces, which must be identified to be deducted at the end of the calculations, because it is
something imaginary and serves for a specific purpose not for all purposes. The same we can do for
displacement [4].

Figure 6. Element with force components in nodes and vector of equivalent force 𝑆𝑆𝐿𝐿 and vector of
displacement 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 .

Figure 7. Element with equivalent force components in nodes.

The general equilibrium of the element is expressed in this matrix form, equation (6).
𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 + 𝑟𝑟𝐿𝐿.𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 − 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿.𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 ⟹ 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 + 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿.𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝑠𝑠�𝐿𝐿 = 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 (6)

Rigidity matrix in the local coordinates for the general case according to the theory of structure [2] is
showed in figure 8.

4. Rigidity matrix of elements in global coordinates

For building an entire system of structure is required a matrix transformation. In this case, all sizes into
the local system coordinates must be transformed into sizes of the global system coordinates.

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Figure 8. Rigidity matrix of an element.

Switching from local coordinates to global coordinates for a node, also knowing the rotation angle of
axis, we have:

Figure 9. Rigidity matrix on global coordinates

𝑋𝑋 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 − 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 𝑥𝑥 𝑥𝑥 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 𝑋𝑋

�𝑌𝑌 � = � 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0� ∙ �𝑦𝑦� 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 �𝑦𝑦� = �− 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0� ∙ �𝑌𝑌 � (7)
𝑍𝑍 0 0 1 𝑧𝑧 𝑧𝑧 0 0 1 𝑍𝑍
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 − 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0
𝑅𝑅𝑁𝑁 = � 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0� (8)
0 0 1

Switching from local coordinates into global for an element we have:

𝑍𝑍1 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 − 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 0 0 0 𝑧𝑧1
𝑍𝑍2 𝑧𝑧
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0 0 0 0 2
⎛ ⎞
𝑍𝑍
⎜ 3⎟ = ⎜ 0 0 1 0 0 0 ⎞ ∙ 𝑧𝑧3 (9)
⎜𝑍𝑍4 ⎟ ⎜ 0 0 0 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 ⎟ ⎜
− 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 ⎟ ⎜𝑧𝑧4 ⎟
⎟
𝑍𝑍5 0 0 0 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0 𝑧𝑧5
⎝𝑍𝑍6 ⎠ ⎝ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ⎠ ⎝𝑧𝑧6 ⎠
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 − 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 0 0 0
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0 0 0 0
⎛ 0 0 1 0 0 0 ⎞
𝑅𝑅 = ⎜ (10)
⎜ 0 0 0 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 − 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 0 ⎟
⎟
0 0 0 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝛼𝛼 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝛼𝛼 0
⎝ 0 0 0 0 0 1⎠
𝑍𝑍𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑧𝑧𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑧𝑧𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝑍𝑍𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺 (11)

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Where 𝑍𝑍 and 𝑧𝑧 are the vectors in global coordinates and local coordinates respectively.
𝑆𝑆𝐺𝐺 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 ; 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝑆𝑆𝐺𝐺 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐷𝐷𝐺𝐺 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 ; 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝐷𝐷𝐺𝐺 (12)
𝑆𝑆𝐺𝐺 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐿𝐿 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝐷𝐷𝐺𝐺 (13)
𝑆𝑆𝐺𝐺 = 𝑘𝑘𝐺𝐺 ∙ 𝐷𝐷𝐺𝐺 ⟹ 𝑘𝑘𝐺𝐺 = 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 ∙ 𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝑇𝑇 (14)

5. Direct Method of Rigidity (DMR)

Direct method of rigidity has some benefits compared with classic methods. Direct method of rigidity
avoids matrix multiplications. Matrices have a lot of zeros and the formal rigidity method takes up a lot
of space. Direct method of rigidity is more efficient when building the K and F matrix in the formal
process. With this method is calculated rigidity matrix directly from local rigidity matrix, one after the
other. For this purpose, we use the correspondence vector. The process can be realized by programming
an algorithm using Mathcad Software. Also, this method construct directs the rigid matrix of entire
system [2], [3].

Figure 10. Matrix form of structure composed by rigidity matrix of each elements.

The basic system of equations is singular and cannot be solved, since the kinematic conditions have not
been taken into account so far and this system is mobile. If we take in consideration the kinematic
conditions, we should eliminate the row and the column of some specific system equations. Its solution
can be done even without removing the rows and column. By placing in the diagonal element, a very
large number e.g. 1020, then the problem is solvable without breaking the rigidity matrix.
𝐹𝐹1 −𝑘𝑘1,2 ∙𝐷𝐷2 −𝑘𝑘1,3 ∙𝐷𝐷3 …𝑘𝑘1,11 ∙𝐷𝐷11 −𝑘𝑘1,12 ∙𝐷𝐷12
𝐷𝐷1 = [𝑘𝑘1,1 =1020 ]
=0 (15)

According to the matrix rules, system solution is:

𝐷𝐷 = 𝐾𝐾 −1 ∙ 𝐹𝐹 (16)

Once we determine the displacements, we recalculate the local internal force factors.
[𝑗𝑗] [𝑗𝑗] [𝑗𝑗]
𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿 = (𝑘𝑘𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑅𝑅 𝑇𝑇 )[𝑗𝑗] ∙ 𝑑𝑑𝐺𝐺 − 𝑠𝑠𝐿𝐿.𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 (17)

We can facilitate the solution by not introducing to the unknowns the kinematic conditions in the
contour, i.e. everything that we know, and we mark zero. If preliminary displacements of one or more
nodes are given in one or more directions, then we modify the system of equations. We multiply i-th
column by the rigidity matrix with the given displacement∆𝑖𝑖. We derive it from the other side of the

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1024 (2021) 012093 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1024/1/012093

equation, where the vector of the external forces is located. The corresponding column and row of i-th
becomes zero and the term of the main diagonal becomes 1.

6. Conclusion
The equivalent forces are the opposite of the reactions. Using an element stiffness matrix by simplifying
the algorithm and load equivalence. Create of the rigidity matrix of the structure, without create the
rigidity matrix of the element. Solution without “condensing” the stiffness matrix of the structure by
“touching” only the element of the main diagonal. Design Computational Algorithm (with Mathcad),
compact and simple to intervene and use the result as desired.

I. Appendix
In this section is show application of this method using Mathcad Software. Step by step all the necessary
procedures are presented as follow:

Figure I.1 Input the parameters and mechanical properties.

Figure I.2 Discretization. Figure I.3 Discretization.

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Figure I.4 Element table create Figure I.5 Node load equivalent

Figure I.6 Rigidity matrix of elements, transform of rigidity matrix and rigidity matrix of structure

Figure I.7 Solve algorithm for internal force and bending moment in the structure after the result

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References
[1] Weigand M 2012 Statisch Unbestimmte Lagerungen Vorlesung , Uni-Wien
[2] Pojani N, Lako N, Baballëku M, Luka R 2009 Metodat energjetike ne teorine e strukturave vol
1, Botimet Toena, pp 130-320
[3] Jerome J. Connor, Susan Faraji 2013 Fundamentals of Structural Engineering Second Edition,
Springer
[4] Kai-Uwe Bletzinger, Dieringer F, Fisch R, Philipp B 2015 Aufgabensammlung zur Baustatik
Übungsaufgaben zur Berechnung ebener Stabtragwerke , Springer

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