Finite Element Displacement Method for Framed Structures

Overview

In this chapter we revisit the Displacement Method for structures such as trusses, beams, and frames which are composed of member type elements. Our objective is to identify the basic steps involved in applying the Displacement Method that can be represented as computer procedures. We utilize matrix notation since it is the natural language of computation, and systematically reformulate the different steps as a sequence of matrix operations. This reformulation is referred to as the Finite Element Displacement Method. It is relatively straight forward to convert these matrix operations into computer code once one selects a computer language.