16.21 Techniques of Structural Analysis and sig Spring 2003 Unit #1 In this course we are going to focus on energy and variational methods for structural analysis. To understand the overall approach we start by con- trasting it with the alternative vector mechanics approach
We are going to consider the forces exerted on a material. These can be external or internal. External forces come in two flavors: body forces(given per unit mass or volume) and surface forces(given per unit area). If we cut a body of material in equilibrium under a set of external forces along a plane as shown in fig. 1. and consider one side of it we draw two conclusions: 1 the equilibrium provided by the loads from the side taken out is provided by a set of forces that are distributed among the material particles adjacent to
For the potato-shaped body given in class to explain the concept of stress, the field of stress vectors t(n)=t(n)(x)on the plane of normal n given by its cartesian components(1,0, 0) known and its cartesian components are given by the expression
A Cauchy stress component at a given(fixed) point P of a structure in equilibrium under the action of external loads is defined when 1. the direction of the face on which the stress component acts is specified 2 the direction of the force from which the stress component is derived is specified None of the above statements
What do you think the eigenvectors of the element stiff- ness matrix represent? 1. a basis in which the stiffness matrix would be diago- nal (if rotated to that basis) 2. a set of nodal displacements for the element corre-
The state of stress at a point is completely determined when: 1. the stress vectors on three different planes are specified 2. the stress vectors on two different planes are speciale 3. the stress vectors one arbitrary plane is spec-
Why is the element stiffness matrix singular in a finite element formulation? 1. So that it can accomodate rigid element dis- placements without introducing spurious nodal 2 Because we made a mistake in the formula- tion the stiffness matrix should not be sin- g 3. Because we havent enforced any displace ment boundary conditions(it's a variational approach after all) Statement(1)
