Structural Analysis (151A)

Instructor:
Name: Professor Mohammad Javad Abdolhosseini Qomi
Email: mjaq@uci.edu
Website: http://aimslab.eng.uci.edu/teaching/

Teaching and Grader Assistants:

Head TA: Grader:
Name: Ali Morshedifard Name: Sia Zare, Dongxu Liu
Email: morsheda@uci.edu Email:zares@uci.edu , dongxul@uci.edu

Time & Location:

Classes: Tue-Thu 6:30pm-7:50 pm , HG 1800.
Head TA Review Sessions: Mon 2:00 pm-2:50 pm in PCB 1300.
Thu 1:00-1:50 pm in SSTR 101.
Thu 2:00-2:50 pm in SSTR 101.
Instructor office hours Tue/Thu 8:00-9:00 pm in AIRB 1010.
Head TA office hours: Thu 3:30-5:30 pm in AIRB1010.

Required Textbook:
Russell C. Hibbeler, Structural Analysis (9th Edition). 9th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2008,
ISBN-13 978-0136020608.

Taking Lecture Notes:

151A lectures are based on lecture notes developed by the instructor and are substantially
different from the required textbook. These notes are available on the class website under
151A section. You could also print lecture notes and work/modify them during the
lecture.

Attendance Policy:
We highly encouraged you to attend all classes and not even miss one. As you will
gradually notice, there will be a significant difference between your lecture notes and the
reference textbook. To encourage you to attend classes, some of questions in quizzes and
the final exam will be the same as those solved in the class.

Feedback Policy:
In 151A, we are committed to provide you with the best teaching experience. To
achieve this goal, we need your feedback to monitor our performance and your learning
pace. In addition to online feedback, we welcome your constructive suggestions for
improving the quality of the class.

Laptop and Cellphone Policy:

While laptops and cellphones are indispensible parts of our daily lives, they can be
disruptive and distracting during a mathematically involved and theoretically challenging
learning session. Therefore, laptops are not allowed in our class environment unless
otherwise stated. Also, please have your cellphones silent and in your pockets during the
entire lecture.

Course Learning Objectives:

1- Recognize different structural systems and loads.
2- Determine stability and determinacy of various structural systems.
3- Apply methods of joints and sections to analyze statically determinate trusses.
4- Construct shear and moment diagrams of statically determinate beam systems.
5- Apply elastic beam theory, moment-area and conjugate-beam methods to
calculate the elastic deformation of different structural systems under loading.
6- Apply energy methods including principles of work and energy, virtual work and
Castigliano’s theorem to calculate the deflection in structural systems.
7- Calculate the influence line for beam-assemblage systems.
8- Demonstrate your structural analysis knowledge by designing/building/testing a
spaghetti bridge.
9- Use matrix methods and computer programs to analyze truss systems.

Lecture Topics:
Week 1:
Lecture 0 : Intro to class, spaghetti project, Type of structures and loads
Lecture 1 : determinacy and stability in beams + frames
Week 2:
Lecture 2 : Truss types, determinacy and stability in trusses and analysis methods
Lecture 3 : Shear and moment diagram in determined beams
Week 3:
Lecture 4 : Shear and moment diagram in frames regardless of their determinacy
Lecture 5 : Quiz 1, Shear/moment diagram, Elastic Beam Theory, Double Integration
Week 4:
Lecture 6 : Moment-area theorems and their application in beams and frames
Lecture 7 : Moment-area method for frames, Bress law and undetermined structures
Week 5:
Lecture 8 : Conjugate-beam method for determined and undetermined beams
Lecture 9 : external work and strain energy
Week 6:
Lecture 10: Quiz 2, Principle of virtual work and the unit load method (trusses)
Lecture 11: Application of the unit load method to 2D and 3D beams
Week 7:
Lecture 12: Minimum potential energy and the first Castigliano’s theorem (trusses)
Lecture 13: Application of the first Castigliano’s theorem to beams
Week 8:
Lecture 14: Application of the first Castigliano’s theorem to Frames
Lecture 15: Quiz 3, Influence line analysis
Week 9
Lecture 16: Influence line for determined beam systems and trusses
Lecture 17: Influence line for floor girders, moving load systems and internal loads
Week 10
Lecture 18: Matrix Analysis of truss structures
Lecture 19: Assembling global stiffness matrix and solving for unknowns

Spaghetti Bridge Contest: Week 9, Friday March 9th 9am-5pm in SETH lab

Homework:
It is mandatory for you to form study groups to solve your weekly 151A’s homework.
Please form your groups ASAP during the first week of the classes and no group changes
are allowed during the quarter. You are highly encouraged to discuss within your group,
however, every single student MUST individually submit a homework solution in paper.
No electronic submission is allowed. The assignments are already uploaded on the class
website and will be due the following Friday 5:00pm in the class drop box in front of
CEE headquarter EG 4th floor. Late homework will not be graded.

Quizzes and the Final Exam:

There are three short quizzes and a final exam in this course. Scopes of these
exams are described as follows:
Quiz 1 covers stability, determinacy, truss analysis structures and shear/moment
diagrams.
Quiz 2 covers shear/moment diagrams and deflection calculations using elastic-beam
theory, moment-area and conjugate-beam methods.
Quiz 3 covers energy methods including principle of external work and energy,
virtual work principle, unit load method and Castigliano theorem.
Final exam covers the entire syllabus of the course covered in lectures 1 to 17.

These exams are all closed-book, closed-note and closed-discussion. The short
quizzes will be focused on problems solved in the class, homework, examples and
problem sets in the reference book. Therefore, there should be no surprises if you have
studied them all carefully. The Final Exam will feature new problems that you will not
find in conventional structural analysis textbooks but you will be able to solve them with
techniques you learned in this course.

Spaghetti Bridge Project:

You will demonstrate your knowledge of structural analysis in this class by designing,
constructing and testing a spaghetti bridge. The details of this class-wide competition are
going to be discussed in details in lectures 0.

Grading Policy:
Homework: 8 p-sets (10 points).
Quizzes: 3 short closed book Quizzes (30 points: 7+8+15).
Mandatory Spaghetti Bridge Project: see below (20 points).
Final Exam: Comprehensive closed book exam (40 points).
Total points: X out of 100
Objectives of Lecture 0: (Reading Assignment: pages 3-28, 35-68)

1- Introduction to the Class Structure and Expectations

2- Spaghetti bridge contest

Objectives of Lecture 1: (Reading Assignment: pages 3-28, 35-68)

1- Types of Structures (beams, trusses, Frame, Cable, Arch)

2- Types of loads (Dead Load, Live Load, Wind Load, Earthquake)
3- Define Conventions for Loads, Supports, Structural Members
4- Define Stability and Its Necessary Conditions
5- Stability and Determinacy of Beams and Beam Assemblages
6- Stability and Determinacy of Frames + Pinned Connections

Objectives of Lecture 2: (Reading Assignment: pages 46-68, 83-136)

1- Different types of trusses

2- Stability and Determinacy of trusses
3- The principle of superposition
4- Zero force members in trusses
5- Method of joints
6- Method of sections

Objectives of Lecture 3: (Reading Assignment: pages 139-160)

1- Shear and moment diagram in determined beams

2- Determination of the approximate shape deformation in beams

Objectives of Lecture 4: (Reading Assignment: pages 160-173)

1- Shear and moment diagram in determined frames

2- Superposition of shear and moment diagrams
3- Shear and moment diagram in indeterminate beams and Frames
4- Shear and moment diagram in beam with rotational springs (covered in Pset)

Objectives of Lectures 5: (Reading Assignment: pages 305-320)

1- Quiz on the contents of Lecture 1 through 4.

2- Review of elastic beam theory from mechanics of materials
3- Double integration method

Objectives of Lectures 6: (Reading Assignment: pages 320-330)

1- First and second moment-area theorems

2- Application of moment-area method in beams
Objectives of Lectures 7: (Reading Assignment: pages 320-330)

1- Application of moment-area method in frames

2- Bress law for calculation of deflections in beam assemblages and frames
3- Analysis of indetermined beams using moment-area method

Objectives of Lectures 8: (Reading Assignment: pages 330-338)

1- Conjugate-beam method
2- Conjugate-beam method for analysis of determined beams
3- Conjugate-beam method for analysis of undetermined beams

Objectives of Lecture 9: (Reading Assignment: pages 349-354)

1- External work, strain energy, conservation of energy

2- Conservation of energy applied to beams

Objectives of Lecture 10: (Reading Assignment: pages 354-363)

1- Quiz on the contents of Lecture 3 through 8.

2- Principle of virtual work
3- Unit load method for trusses (temperature and imperfections)
4- Application of unit load method for analysis of trusses

Objectives of Lecture 11: (Reading Assignment: pages 370-381)

1- Unit load method for beams (temperature and settlement)

2- Analysis of 2D beams and frames with unit load method
3- Analysis of 3D beams with unit load method

Objectives of Lecture 12: (Reading Assignment: pages 363-370)

1- Principle of minimum potential energy and the first Castigliano’s theorem

2- Castigliano’s theorem applied to indeterminate trusses

Objectives of Lecture 13: (Reading Assignment: pages 381-388)

1- Formulation of the first Castigliano’s theorem for beams and fames

2- Castigliano’s theorem applied to 2D beams and frames with nodal point loads

Objectives of Lecture 14: (Reading Assignment: pages 387-393)

1- Castigliano’s theorem applied to 3D beams and frames with nodal point loads
2- Castigliano’s theorem applied to 3D beams and frames with distributed loads
3- Symmetric structures + symmetric an anti-symmetric loading
4- Decomposition of a general load to symmetric and anti-symmetric contributions
 5- Applying ideas of parallel and series springs to analyze indeterminate structures

Objectives of Lecture 15: (Reading Assignment: pages 539-559)

1- Quiz on the contents of Lecture 9 through 14.

2- Influence line analysis for structures

Objectives of Lecture 16: (Reading Assignment: pages 205-2340)

1- Definition of the influence line and its application to beams

2- Qualitative influence line
3- Influence line for floor girders

Objectives of Lecture 17: (Reading Assignment: pages 230-255)

1- Application of Influence line for trusses

2- Maximum influence of a moving load system
3- Influence line of moment and shear in beams

Objectives of Lecture 18: (Reading Assignment: pages 539-559)

1- Computer simulation of trusses: nodes, Elements, Connectivity, support and loads

2- Stiffness matrix truss element in global coordinate system
3- Assembling stiffness matrix for a truss structure

Objectives of Lecture 19: (Reading Assignment: pages 539-559)

1- Static condensation and solving for nodal displacements and member forces
2- Analyzing a simple truss with the open source Matlab code
 CEE 151A
Spaghetti Bridge Contest
Loading Session: Friday 3/9
Location: SETH lab

Design Question:
Mr. Ali Morshedifard : morsheda@uci.edu
Dr. Abdolhosseini : mjaq@uci.edu

Fabrication and Loading Questions:

Mr. Sergio Carnalla : scarnall@uci.edu
Spaghetti Bridge Contest
•  Why spaghetti? Why not toothpicks or balsa wood? Spaghetti
is very unforgiving. Design is much more important in a
spaghetti bridge than a toothpick one. Spaghetti is also
available in a nice form for construction, long cylindrical rods.
And, one can’t complain about the cost . . .

•  So, what’s the project goal? To build a bridge out of only

spaghetti and glue that spans a 50 cm, has a width of 25 cm,
weighs no more than 1.0 kg and supports the heaviest load. We
might do moving load this year. I keep you posted on our latest
developments. The bridge is to be supported only by
horizontal surfaces at each end.
Properties of Dry Spaghetti

•  Youngs’s Modulus (E) ~ 1000 Mpa

•  Ultimate Tensile Strength (σy) ~ 10 MPa

•  Buckling load ~ πEI/l2 (I: moment of Inertia , l: length)

•  Radius of Spaghetti Noodles (r) ~ 0.6, 1.25, 2.5 mm

•  Length of Spaghetti Elements (l) : Depends on your design

Glue Materials:
•  1) White glue : Not good. Since it’s water based, the spaghetti is
softened by the glue. Glue joints take forever to dry. Once dry, joints
are not very strong.
•  2) Model airplane glue : So so. Dries relatively quickly but is
slightly flexible when dry. Glue joints should be rigid.
•  3) Hot-melt plastics (glue guns) : Easiest to use, but joints far too
flexible.
•  4) Epoxy : Best solution -- especially the 5 minute kind. Creates
rigid joints. Is messy. Requires careful mixing.
•  5) You are only allowed to apply glue in the joints, if you do
otherwise your bridge will be disqualified from the competition.
Using 5-min Epoxy
•  Purchase variety in two separate tubes with nozzle tips.
(Double plunger varieties are too wasteful.)
•  Mix epoxy and make glue joints on wax paper. Epoxy releases
from wax paper fairly readily.
•  Mix very small batches -- enough for maybe 5 glue joints.
•  Proportions are very important – 50-50. Too far away from this
ratio and epoxy will never harden. Many bridges fail because
of unhardened joints.
•  Squeeze same -size circular blobs of epoxy and hardener onto
wax paper. Look to see that they’re of similar height. (You’re
interested in equal volumes of epoxy and hardener). Mix
together with a matchstick. Dime-size blobs yield enough
epoxy for 6 or so joints.
•  Lacquer thinner (nail polisher remover) is good for cleaning
up uncured epoxy from surfaces and fingers.
Design and Fabrication Procedure
•  Conceptual Design: At this stage, we simply come up with the form
of the structure. We might be inspired by nature, by other designs or
other resources. A good structural form makes a huge difference.
•  Calculation of internal forces: We can calculate the internal forces in
truss members either by hand calculations (method of joints or
sections) or via computer analysis of structure using finite element
method. You Should do this either by hand or via UCI-Structural
Analysis Program.
•  Checking Strength and Stability of members: When the analysis is
done and all internal forces are derived we have to check that the
internal forces are less than the admissible yield force for tensile and
less than buckling load limit for compressive members. If members
fail, we have to change the design and re-run our calculation and
check the strength criterion.
•  Construction: when the design is finalized, we embark on
construction phase. Remember that any fabrication error adds
unwanted forces in your members…
Conceptual Design
•  At this stage we focus on the
shape of the bridge by
considering the loads that are
acting on it.
•  There are infinite ways to connect

www.mnn.com
point A to B. There are a few of
them that are more efficient than
the others.
•  The efficiency is the maximum
load that the bridge can carry
divided by its dead weight.
•  Without any analysis, try to find
how loads will be moving in your
structure. Determine which
elements are in compression and Compression

which ones are in tension.

•  Determine all the nodal positions
(the geometry of your structure).
tension
Calculation of Internal Forces: Manual
•  If you think you cannot manage working with
the software, you are more than welcome to
use a simple determinate structure of your
choice, Maybe a structure from Hibler book,
and analyze it via the method of sections or
method of joint.
•  In this way, you should be able to calculate the
internal forces in your structure with minimum
effort.
Calculation of Internal Forces: UCI-SAP
•  In this class, we use UCI-SAP which is an open-source matlab software
developed by the instructor based on the idea of matrix analysis of structures.
•  The code is consisted of 4 files:
–  Analyze_Truss.m (The main code (engine) that is responsible for the entire analysis.)
–  TrussElement2D.m (It produces the stiffness matrix for each element.)
–  TrussForce2D.m (It calculates the internal force for each element at the end of analysis.)
–  Input_Truss.m (The input file that contains geometry, A, E, BCs and Loading.)
•  UCI-SAP Calculates:
–  Nodal displacements
–  Support forces
–  Internal forces
2m 2m 2m 2m

•  Let’s Solve our first truss

2m

together we, UCI-SAP:

•  A=10^(-2) m2
F
•  E=10^(11) Pa
•  F=10^(4) N
Defining Nodes in UCI-SAP
•  The First step is to define the nodal points in Input_Truss.m
•  The “nodes” matrix contains the X and Y of all nodes in the truss.
•  Each red circle in the truss below indicate a node.
•  Please note that supports are also considered as nodes.
(2,2) (2,2) (4,2) (6,2)
9 (8,2)
10 8 7 6

1 2 3 4 5 (8,0)
(0,0)
(2,0) (4,0) (6,0)

nodes=[0 0; 2 0; 4 0; 6 0; 8 0; 8 2; 6 2; 4 2; 2 2; 0 2];
Defining Elements in UCI-SAP
•  The Second step is to define the Elements in Input_Truss.m
•  The “element” matrix contains the two nodes that are connected via elements.
•  There are 21 elements in the structure below. These elements are numbered as
follows:
(2,2) 9 (2,2) 8 (4,2) 7 (6,2) 6
9 (8,2)
10 8 7 6
15 17 19 21
10 11 12 13 5
14
16 18 20
1 2 3 4 5 (8,0)
(0,0) 2 4
1 (2,0) (4,0) 3 (6,0)

elems=[1 2;2 3;3 4;4 5;5 6 ;6 7;7 8;8 9;9 10;10 1;...
2 9;3 8;4 7;1 9;10 2;8 2;3 9;3 7;4 8 ;4 6 ;5 7];
Defining Boundary Conditions in UCI-SAP
•  The Third step is to define the Boundary Conditions in Input_Truss.m
•  The “bcs” matrix contains three entries for each boundary condition:
1- the node number at which the boundary condition is applied.
2- The degree of freedom (dof) which is constrained (X:1 and Y:2).
3- The amount that this dof moves in the specified direction.
•  There are BCs in the following structure: (node 1 does not move in X and Y
node 5 does not move in Y)
10 9 8 7 6

1 2 3 4 5

bcs=[1 1 0; 1 2 0; 5 2 0];
X
Defining Nodal Forces in UCI-SAP
•  The Forth step is to define the Nodal Forces in Input_Truss.m
•  The “loads” matrix contains three entries for each nodal force:
1- the node number at which the force is applied.
2- The degree of freedom (dof) for the direction of force (X:1 and Y:2).
3- The magnitude of the load.
•  There is one point load in the following structure: (at node 3 in -Y direction
with the magnitude of 10,000 N).
10 9 8 7 6

1 2 3 4 5

Y 10,000 N

loads=[3 2 -1e4];
X
Running UCI-SAP
Undeformed Truss
2.5

•  When input preparation is done, 2

simply type Analyze_Truss in 1.5

matlab terminal. 1

0.5

•  The code analyzes your structure 0

and gives you the following −0.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

results:
Deformed Truss
2.5

–  Undeformed Truss Shape 1.5

–  Deformed Truss Shape 1

–  Nodal Displacements 0.5

–  Nodal Forces (including Reactions) 0

–  Internal Forces −0.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

•  Common Mistakes that causes Matrix Singularity and matlab error:

–  Please refrain from defining repetitive nodal points. It causes singularity.
–  The connectivity (elems ) matrix of your structure. Please triple check it.
–  The boundary conditions are convergent so makes the entire structure unstable.
Interpreting the Results of UCI-SAP
•  UCI-SAP outputs three columns:
–  u : nodal displacements (a column of size
2*number of nodes). The order is as follows:
•  u=[u1_x; u1_y; u2_x; u2_y; …, un_x; un_y];
–  f : Nodal forces (a column of size 2*number of
nodes). The order is as follows:
•  f=[f1_x; f1_y; f2_x; f2_y; …, fn_x; fn_y];
–  F_int : Internal forces (a column of size number of
elements). The order is as follows:
•  F_int=[F_int1;… F_intn];
The Results of UCI-SAP
9 8 7 6
10 9 8 7 6
15 17 19 21

10 11 12 13 5
14
16 18 20
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4
10,000 N
F_int =
u = f =


1.0e+03 *
1.0e-04 * 1.0e+04 *


2.8105
0 -0.0000
7.0017
0 0.5000
7.0017
0.0281 0
2.8105
-0.2557 0
-2.1895
0.0981 0
-2.1895
-0.4224 -1.0000
-7.9983
0.1681 0
-7.9983
-0.2557 0
-2.1895
0.1962 0
-2.1895
0 0.5000
-0.1878
-0.0038 0
4.0034
-0.0219 0
-0.1878
0.0181 0
-3.9746
-0.2576 0
3.0964
0.0981 0
-2.8308
-0.3824 0
4.2403
0.1781 0
4.2403
-0.2576 0
-2.8308
0.2000 0
3.0964
-0.0219 0
-3.9746
Checking Stability and Strength of Members
•  Check the stress limit and buckling stability in
each member of your truss for the maximum
design load.
–  If you are doing manual analysis, you should do
this stage by hand.
–  If you use UCI-SAP, please write a small code that
does this automatically in matlab.
•  |F_inti|/Ai < σy
•  If compressive member : |F_inti|<πEI/l2
How to increase the Load Limit
•  If a member is failing the strength criterion,
you can increase the cross-section of the beam
in your calculations and add extra spaghetti
noodles in that particular beam in your bridge.
•  If a member is failing in buckling mode, you
can either increase the cross-section or
decrease the buckling length by adding extra
supporting elements.
What is the Competition about then?
•  Remember that you have a Maximum Weight
of 1.0 kg.
•  This means that you cannot make your
elements as thick as you might want to.
•  The winning team is the one with the best
design and construction which enables their
bridge to endure the highest load.
Project Outcome and Prize
•  A spaghetti bridge at the competition
•  One report describing the 4 phases of your
design and construction. Maximum 5 pages.
I’ll take the winning team
out for dinner right after
the contest and it will be
my treat.