CE331,Spring2011 Stability&DeterminacyofTrusses 1/5

Thefirststepinanalyzingatrussistodetermineifthetrussisstableorunstable.Thetrussin
Figure1abelowisnotstable,andisthereforenotastructure.Thejointsofanunstable
structurecanbedisplacedwithoutcausinganyofthememberstodeform(lengthenorshorten
inthiscase),asshowninFigure1b.

Figure1a.UnstableTruss Figure1b.

InFigure2a,adiagonalmemberhasbeenaddedtothetrussofFigure1.Thistrussisstable:a
thehorizontalloadshowninFigure2bcausesthediagonaltostretchandthemembersshown
inbluetoshorten.Thejointscannotbedisplacedwithoutcausingmemberstodeformand
thereforetoresisttheattempteddisplacement.ThebarforcesinthetrussofFigure2bcan
easilybecalculatedusingtheequationsofstaticequilibriumandthetrussissaidtobe
staticallydeterminate.

compression

compression
tension

Figure2a.Stable&DeterminateTruss Figure2b.

InFigure3belowwehaveaddedanothermembertothetrussofFigure2.Thebarforcesof
thistrusscannotbecalculatedusingtheequilibriumequationsaloneandthetrussissaidtobe
staticallyindeterminate.TheforcescanbecalculatedbyhandforthetrussinFigure3,butitis
aninvolvedprocedure.Mostpracticingstructuralengineerswouldcalculatethebarforces
usingastructuralanalysiscomputerprogram.

diagonalsare
notconnected

Figure3.IndeterminateTruss
CE331,Spring2011 Stability&DeterminacyofTrusses 2/5

Staticallyindeterminatetrussesdifferfromstaticallydeterminatetrussesinseveralways
besidescomplexityofanalysisbyhandcalculations.
Indeterminatetrussesareredundant.AsillustratedbythetrussesinFigures1through
3,theindeterminatetrussofFigure3hasoneadditionalmemberthanisrequiredfor
stability.IfoneofthediagonalsinFigure3fails,forexample,theloadwillbeshiftedto
theotherdiagonalandthetrusswillnotcollapse.IfthesinglediagonalofFigure2fails,
however,thetrusswillcollapse.
Indeterminatetrussescanbemorestructurallyefficient (wherestructuralefficiency=
loadatfailure/weightofstructure).ThetwotrussesshowninFigure4belowhave
identicalmembersandloads(atotalof80kipseach),yettheforcesinthechords(the
horizontalmembers)areverydifferent.Asseeninthefigure,themaximumchordforce
intheindeterminatecontinuousspantrussis21.4kips andthemaximumforceinthe
twosimplespantrussesare26.7k.

Figure4a.Chordforces(inkips)inatrusswithtwocontinuousspans(indeterminate)

Figure4b.Chordforces(inkips)intwosimplespantrusses(determinate)

CE331,Spring2011 Stability&DeterminacyofTrusses 3/5

Indeterminatetrussesaremuchmoreeffectedbysettlement.Supportsettlementcan
causelargeforcesinindeterminatetrusses,asillustratedinFigure5below.
Indeterminatetrussesarenotaffectedbysettlement,asseeninFigure6.

(a)

(b)

Figure5.Deflectedshape(a)andchordforces(b)inkipsoftwospancontinuoustrussdueto1
settlementofcentersupport.

(a)

(b)

Figure6.Deflectedshape(a)andchordforces(b)inkipsoftwosimplespantrussesdueto1
settlementofcentersupport.

CE331,Spring2011 Stability&DeterminacyofTrusses 4/5

Proceduresarepresentedbelowfordeterminingifastructureisstableorunstable,and
determinateorindeterminate.Thefirstprocedureinvolvescountingthenumberofunknown
forces,countingthenumberofequilibriumequations,andcomparingthetwonumbers.This
procedureisfairlystraightforwardtofollowbutisnotfoolproof,sinceitdoesnotaccountfor
thearrangementofmembersandsupports.Thesecondprocedureishardertoimplement,but
servesasagoodcheckontheresultsfromthefirstprocedure.

CountingProcedure.Theprocedureisderivedusingthesimpletrussbelowleft.Thetrussis
explodedintonineseparatefreebodydiagrams,oneforeachmemberandoneforeach
joint.

NumberofUnknowns=13forces
2forcespermemberx5members=10
(theforcesarethejointsareequalandoppositetothe
adjacentmemberendforceandarenotcounted)
3reactions

NumberofEquations=13
1equationpermemberx5members=5(FII)
2equationsperjointx4joints=8(FH, FV)

Shortcut:(Usedbysomebooks)
NumberofUnknowns=138
21forcespermemberx5members=105
3reactions

NumberofEquations=138
1equationpermemberx5members=5
2equationsperjointx4joints=8

Sincethenumberofunknownforces=thenumberof
equations,thestructureisstaticallydeterminate(the

memberforcescanbecalculatedusingequilibrium
equations).
CE331,Spring2011 Stability&DeterminacyofTrusses 5/5

Ingeneral:

If Thestructureis
numberofunknowns < numberofequations Unstable
numberofunknowns = numberofequations Stable&Determinate
numberofunknowns > numberofequations Indeterminate

Theprocedureoutlinedabovedoesnotalwaysworkwithregardtostability.Forexample,the
trussbelowhasthesamenumberofunknownsasequations,yetitisunstableasillustratedin
thesecondfigurebelow.

NumberofUnknowns
=9memberforces+3reactions=12

NumberofEquations
=6jointsx2eqns/joint=12

Thestructuredisplaceswithoutanymembers
deforming.

Nomemberdeformationmeansnoresistance
tostructuredisplacement.

Thestructureisthereforeunstable.

Thefigureabovesuggestsanalternateprocedure(thedisplacedshapeprocedure)of
determiningwhetherastructureisstableorunstable.
Ifthedisplacedshapeofthestructurecanbedrawnsothatnomembersdeform,the
structureisunstable.
Ifthedisplacedshapecannotbedrawnwithoutcausingamembertodeform,the
structureisstable.

Themethodcanbeextendedtoalsodetermineifastructureisstaticallyindeterminate.
Ifremovalofoneconstraint(asupportoramemberforce)causesthestructuretobe
unstable(i.e.thestructurecanbedisplacedwithoutdeformingamember),thenthe
originalstructureisstableanddeterminate(seeFigure2foranexample).
Iftwoormoreconstraintsneedtoberemovedtocausethestructuretobeunstable,
theoriginalstructureisstableandindeterminate(seeFigure3foranexample).