FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

ME751
Mechanical IV/II
Chapter 3
Direct Stiffness Method: Discrete
Finite Elements (Beam)
3.4 BEAM AND FRAME ELEMENT
3.4.1 INTRODUCTION TO FLEXURAL ELEMENT
A flexure (beam) element is a structural component capable of
properly exhibiting transverse bending effects. The element is first
presented as a line (one-dimensional) element capable of bending in
a plane. The development is then extended to two-plane bending and
the effects of axial loading and torsion are added.

A beam is a long, slender structural member generally subjected to

transverse loading that produces significant bending effects as
opposed to twisting or axial effects. This bending deformation is
measured as a transverse displacement and a rotation.

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3.4.2 STIFFNESS OF A BEAM ELEMENT
Consider the beam element shown in Figure. The local nodal forces
are given by fiy’s and the bending moments by Mi’s. and the bending
moments by vi’s and the rotation by qi’s.

The local displacement vector and local force vector are defined as

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Then the force displacement relationship for the element is given by

To determine the first column of the stiffness matrix, let us apply unit
displacement at node i (vi = 1), while keeping other the same. The
resulting force/moment required at each degree of freedom of system
is then given by

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The deflection and slope of a cantilever beam subjected to load P
and moment M0 at its free end, as shown in Figure (ith node) are
given as

Now, solving above equations for P and M0, with d = vi =1 and qi=0,
we get
and
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Then considering equilibrium conditions, we get
and

Hence, the first column of the stiffness matrix is given by

Similarly applying unit displacements at the remaining degrees of

freedom, we can derive

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Hence the stiffness matrix of a beam element with reference to nodal
coordinate system is given by

EXAMPLE 3.6
For the beam shown in Figure E3.6, determine the beam
deformation and end reactions.

Figure E3.6 7
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3.4.3 FLEXURE ELEMENT WITH AXIAL LOADING

We can simply add the spar element stiffness matrix to the flexure
element stiffness matrix to obtain the 6 × 6 element stiffness matrix
for a flexure element with axial loading.
Hence the stiffness matrix corresponding to nodal force vector
is given as

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3.4.4 FLEXURE ELEMENT WITH AN ARBITRARY
ORIENTATION
Figure depicts an element oriented at
an arbitrary angle y from the X axis
of a global reference frame and shows
the element nodal displacements.

Referring to Equation (4.9), we can write directly

where [l] is the transformation matrix that relates element

displacements to global displacements. 9
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In a manner exactly analogous to that of TRUSS, it is readily shown
that the 6 × 6 element stiffness matrix in the global system is given
by

EXAMPLE 3.7
For the rigid frame shown in Figure E3.7, determine the
displacements and rotations of the node 2.

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Figure E3.7
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
3.4.5 A GENERAL THREE DIMENSIONAL BEAM ELEMENT
A general three-dimensional beam element is capable of both axial
and torsional deflections as well as two-plane bending. To examine
the stiffness characteristics of such an element and obtain the
element stiffness matrix, we first consider each case separately and
the assemble them.
Axial Deflection

The stiffness of the element subjected to axial deflection in x' is

given by

and the corresponding nodal displacement vector is .

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Bending in x'z' Plane
The stiffness of the element subjected to bending in x'z' plane is
given by

and the corresponding nodal displacement vector is

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Bending in x'y' Plane
The stiffness of the element subjected to bending in x'y' plane is given
by

and the corresponding nodal displacement vector is

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 Three Dimensional Beam Element
• A general three-dimensional beam
element is capable of both axial
and torsional deflections as well as
two-plane bending.
• we first extend the beam-axial
element of the previous section to
include two-plane bending, then
add torsional capability.

• The y and z axes are assumed to correspond to the principal axes for
area moments of inertia of the cross section.

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equilibrium equations for a two-plane bending element with axial stiffness

For a uniform distributed load !" # = !" ,

the equivalent nodal load vector is found
to be

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Torsional Deflection
The total angle of twist of the
element can be expressed in
terms of the nodal rotations and
twisting moments as

Application of the equilibrium condition M'xi + M'xj = 0 lead directly

to the element equilibrium equations:

so the torsional stiffness is

and the corresponding nodal displacement vector is 16
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
• While this development is, strictly speaking, applicable only to a circular cross
section, an equivalent torsional stiffness !"# $/& is known for many common
structural cross sections and can be obtained from standard structural tables or
strength of materials texts.
• Adding the torsional characteristics to the general beam element, the element
equations become

• and the final stiffness matrix for a general 3-D beam element is observed to be a
12×12 symmetric matrix composed of the individual stiffness matrices
representing axial loading, two-plane bending, and torsion.
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Direct superposition yield the element stiffness matrix for the beam
or frame element in three dimensional space as

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