CE 537, Spring 2009

Two-Span Continuous Beam

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Astaticallyindeterminatestructurewithoneredundantreactioncanbeanalyzedbyeitherthe flexibilitymethodorthestiffnessmethod.Atwospanbeamwillbeanalyzedbyeachmethod below. FlexibilityMethod Thismethodisalsocalledtheclosingthegapmethodinourtextbook.Thetwospan continuousbeambelowhasonemorereactionthancanbecalculatedusingstaticequilibrium alone.

w

ActualStructure:

1 L/2

2 L/2

Intheflexibilitymethod: Oneofthereactionsisremoved,makingthestructurestaticallydeterminate.The deflectionduetotheappliedloadonthebeamiscalculated(load) atthelocationofthe reaction.

w

CaseI:

load 2

Thedeflectionduetothereactiononthebeamisthencalculated(R) atthelocationofthe reaction.

2 R 2

CaseII:

R2

WethensetupanequationinwhichthedeflectionatSupport2intheactualstructure (zero)isequaltothesumofthedeflectionforCaseIandthedeflectionforCaseII.
2 0 = load + R 2 2 Thedeflectionquantitiescanbecalculatedusingformulasfrombeamdeflectiontables(e.g. theonepostedontheclasswebsite).

R2 L3 48 EI 4 R L3 5 wL Therefore: 0 = + 2 384 EI 48 EI WecansolvetheequationaboveforR2sinceweknowalloftheotherquantities. load = 2 5 w L4 , 384 EI and 22 =

R

CE 537, Spring 2009

Two-Span Continuous Beam

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StiffnessMethod TheprimaryequationintheFlexibilityMethodpresentedabovesaysthatthedeflectioncaused bythereactionmustbeequalandoppositetothedeflectioncausedbytheload.Inother words,thetwodeflectionsmustbecompatible(fittogether). IntheStiffnessMethod,theprimaryequationsaysthatthemomentinonebeamend,mustbe equalandoppositetothemomentintheadjoiningbeamend.Inotherwords,thetwo momentsmustsatisfyequilibrium.

w

ActualStructure:

1 L12

2 L23

Inthestiffnessmethod: First,thebeamrotationatajointissettozero(thejointisfixedagainstrotation).
w 1 2
FEM21 FEM23

CaseI:

ThememberendmomentsforthefixedcasearecalledFixedEndMomentsorFEM.Each FEMhasanequalandoppositemomentactingonthejoint. Next,thebeamisallowedtorotateatthejoint,andequationsforthememberend )arewritten. momentsduetothejointrotation( M ij

2

FEM21

FEM23

2
M 23

CaseII:

M 21

CE 537, Spring 2009

Two-Span Continuous Beam

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Thisequationcanbesolvedfor2, then the equations for M can be calculated, and finally the member-end moments in the structure can be calculated from M 21 = FEM 21 + M 21 and
M 23 = FEM 23 + M 23

WefinallywritetheequilibriumequationthatthesumofthemomentsatJoint2=0. M 2 = 0 = FEM 21 FEM 23 M 21 M 23 WecanlookuptheequationsfortheFEMsandtheM intables. ThebeamsinCaseIrepresentproppedcantileverswithauniformload.Themomentatthe supportis: w L2 w L2 w L2 ij 23 21 ,Therefore FEM 21 = ,and FEM 23 = FEM ij = 8 8 8 ThebeamsinCaseIIrepresentasimplesupportedbeamwithamomentappliedtoone end.Theequationrelatingmomenttorotationis: M L 3EI 3EI i = ij ij ,Therefore M = = 2 ,and M 23 2 21 3EI L21 L23 Substitutingtheseequationsintotheequilibriumequationgives: w L2 w L2 3EI 3EI 23 21 2 2 M2 = 0 = 8 8 L21 L23

Ifthereisonlyoneunknowndisplacement(e.g.2), the equilibrium equation can be solved for 2 w L2 w L2 3EI 3EI 23 0 = 21 + + 2 8 L21 L23 8
23 2 = 21 + 8 8 3EI + 3EI

w L2

w L2

L21

L23 3EI L21

and
M 21 =

3EI 2 , L21

wL wL M 21 = + 8 3EI 3EI 8 + L21 L23

2 21 2 23

Unbalanced MomentonJoint

RelativeStiffness ofMemberend21