Truss analysis: the stiffness method

Dorian Depriester1
1
MSMP laboratory (EA 7350), École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et
Métiers, 2 cours des Arts et Métiers, 13617 Aix-en-Provence, France

November 1, 2020

In structural analysis, the stiffness method is an easy way to estimate

the mechanical behaviour of a structure composed of slender elements (or
beam elements), assuming that linear elasticity apply. Such a structure is
called a truss. This paper provides with short demonstrations of the basic
calculus used for this method and proposes a simple algorithm for numerically
computing the stiffness matrices of larger structures (in the sense of degrees
of freedom).

1 Elementary beam undergoing tensile stresses

1.1 Length variation of the beam
Consider a slender beam connecting nodes A0 and B0 in its reference configuration (no
external load), as illustrated in Figure 1. Let A and B be the displaced positions of
points A0 and B0 , respectively. One can define uA and uB as the displacement vectors
at A0 and B0 :

uA = A A
uB = B B

The length of the beam in its deformed state, denoted ` below, is just the Euclidean
distance from A to B. It comes:

`2 = kABk2
= kAA + A B + B Bk2
= k`0 k + uB − uA k2

1
 ey uB
B0

FB
`0

FA
k
uA ex
A0

Figure 1: Representation of slender beam with ends at A0 and B0 in its reference state
(no load).

where `0 is the initial length of the beam and k is the unit orientation vector of the
beam. The law of cosine gives:

`2 = `20 + kuB − uA k2 + 2`0 k · (uB − uA ) (1)

Let ∆` be the length variation of the beam, so that ∆` = ` − `0 . Eq. (1) leads to:
q
∆` = `20 + kuB − uA k2 + 2`0 k · (uB − uA ) − `0 (2)
s 
 2
kuB − uA k k · (uB − uA )
= `0  1 + +2 − 1 (3)
`0 `0

Under the small strain assumption, it is assumed that all the displacements are small
compared to the characteristic lengths of the problem. Thus:

kuB − uA k
1
`0
Under this assumption, (3) can be linearised using the Taylor’s expansion of the square
root function1 , that is:
s
kuB − uA k 2
 
k · (uB − uA ) k · (uB − uA )
1+ +2 ≈1+
`0 `0 `0

leading to:
∆` ≈ k · (uB − uA ) (4)

1
√ x
As a reminder: 1+x=1+ 2
+ ox→0 (x).

2
 Let uAx , uAy , uBx , and uBy be the components of uA and uB in a given basis (ex , ey ),
so that:

uA = uAx ex + uAy ey
uB = uBx ex + uBy ey

Eq. (4) becomes:

∆` = (uBx − uAx ) kx + (uBy − uAy ) ky (5)
where kx and kx are the components of k:

k = kx ex + ky ey

1.2 Nodal forces

Assuming that linear elasticity applies here, the tensile force undergone by the beam is:
∆`
T = ES (6)
`0
where E denotes the Young’s modulus of the material of the beam and S is the cross
section of the beam. If ∆` > 0, the beam undergoes tensile load; if ∆` < 0, the beam
undergoes compressive load. Let FA and FB be the forces applied on nodes A and B,
respectively. Since the beam is subjected by those two forces only, we have:

FA = −FB = −T k (7)

Let FAx , FAy , FBx , and FBy be the components of FA and FB so that:

FA = FAx ex + FAy ey (8a)

FB = FBx ex + FBy ey (8b)

Eqs. (5) to (8) lead to:

ES
(uAx − uBx ) kx2 + (uAy − uBy ) kx ky
 
FAx = −T k · ex =
`0
ES
(uAx − uBx ) kx ky + (uAy − uBy ) ky2
 
FAy = −T k · ey =
`0
ES
(−uAx + uBx ) kx2 + (−uAy + uBy ) kx ky
 
FBx = T k · ex =
`0
ES
(−uAx + uBx ) kx ky + (uAy − uBy ) ky2
 
FBy = T k · ey =
`0
The previous system of equations can be summed as the following matrix system:
   
FAx uAx
 FAy   uAy 
FBx  = Ke uBx 
   

FBy uBy

3
where K e is the so-called elementary stiffness matrix, defined as follows:
 2
−kx2 −kx ky

kx kx ky
ES  kx ky ky2 −kx ky −ky2 
Ke = 2
 (9)
`0  −kx −kx ky kx2 kx ky 
−kx ky −ky2 kx ky ky2

It is worth mentioning that K e can be written as follows:

 
kx
ES  ky 
Ke = t ⊗ t with: t =  −kx 
 (10)
`0
−ky

where ⊗ denotes the outer product2 .

1.3 Properties of the stiffness matrix

It is clear that K e , as defined in (9), is symmetric. In addition, it is singular. Indeed, it
can be shown that:
det (Ke ) = 0
More precisely, its rank is one because each row of Ke is a linear combination of the first
one.

2 Stiffness of a truss
In the context of the nodal method, a truss is considered as an assembly of slender
beams. If the truss is composed of n nodes, the 2D problem has 2n degrees of freedom
(dof). In this case, the overall stiffness matrix is of size 2n × 2n. According to the
superposition principle, it can be assumed that the overall stiffness matrix is just the
sum of all elementary stiffness matrices. Nevertheless, those elementary matrices must
be written in a global reference frame and a special attention should be paid about the
indices of each component of the matrix, with respect to the pattern used for numbering
the nodes.

2.1 Example
As an example, consider the truss composed of three beams with equal length `, as
illustrated in Figure 2. The elementary stiffness matrices of beams AB, AC and BC

2
That is: (u ⊗ v)ij = ui vj .

4
 C

` `

A ` B

Figure 2: Schematic representation of a equilateral triangular truss.

can be computed from (9), taking into account their respective orientations, that is:
 
1 0 −1 0
ES  0 0 0 0

KAB = (11a)
` −1 0 1 0

0 0 0 0
√ √ 
−1
√ − 3

√1 3
ES 1  3 3
√ − 3 √ −3 
KAC =  (11b)
` 4 −1

√ − 3 √1 3 
− 3 −3 3 3
√ √ 
− 3 √ −1

√1 3
ES 1  − 3 √3 3 −3
√ 

KBC =  (11c)
` 4 √ −1 3 1
√ − 3
3 −3 − 3 3

All those matrices can be assembled, taking into account their connectivity (i.e. to which
nodes each beam is connected), leading to the following matrix system:
   
FAx uAx
 FAy   uAy 
   
FBx  uBx 
FBy  = K uBy 
   
   
FCx  uCx 
FCy uCy
with: √ √
−1 − 3
 
1 +√14 0 + 43 −1 0 4
√ 4
− 3 −3
0 + 43 0 + 43 0 0√
 
4 √4

1 +√14 0 − 43 1 3
 
 −1
ES  0 − 
K= √4 4 
−3
` 
 0 0√ 0 − 43 + 34
0√ 4
3
√ 4 √ 

 −1 − 3 −1 3 1 1 3 3
+ 4 − 4
 4 4 √4 4 √4 4

√ √
3 −3 3 −3 3 3 3 3
− 4 4 4 4 4 − 4 4 + 4

5
For the sake of clarity, all the components of K in the previous equation are coloured
with respect to the colours of elements in Figure 2 and those of the elementary matrices
(11c) as well, evidencing the “superposition” of stiffness contributions. As a conclusion,
the stiffness matrix of the truss presented in Figure 2 is:
√ √ 
−1 − 3
 3
5
4 4 −1 0 4 4
 √3 3
√
− 3 −3 
 4 4 0 0
√ 4 √4 

−
 −1 5 3 −1 3
ES  4
 0 4
√ 4 √4 4 

K= − 3 3 3 −3 
`  0
 0√ 4 4 4 4 
 −1 − 3 −1 √
3 1 
 4
√ 4 √4 4 2 0 
− 3 −3 3 −3 3
4 4 4 4 0 2

2.2 Programming
In 2D, the x component of the i-th node is written at the (2i − 1) -th row of the overall
stiffness matrix whereas the y component is written at the 2i -th row. Algorithm 1 gives
the pseudo-code one can use for computing the stiffness matrix of a truss, given the
coordinates of the nodes and the list of beams (where each beam is defined as a pair of
node indices).

3 3D trusses
All the considerations above slightly change if the truss is 3D (i.e. if the nodes coordinates
are defined in 3D). Indeed, in the orthogonal basis (ex , ey , ez ), Eq. (10) for the elementary
stiffness still applies with:  
kx
 ky 
 
 kz 
t=  
−kx 

−ky 
−kz
and
k = kx ex + ky ey + kz ez
In a 3D truss with n nodes, the problem has 3n dof. Thus, the x component of the i-th
node is written at the (3i − 2) -th row of the overall stiffness matrix, the y component
is written at the (3i − 1) -th row and the z component is written at the 3i -th row.

4 Conclusion
In this paper, the mechanical behaviour of a single beam, subjected to tensile load only
along its axis, has been formalized as a matrix system involving the nodal displacements
of the beam and the applied forces at those nodes. This elementary system has been

6
Algorithm 1 Pseudo-code for computing the stiffness matrix of a truss. Ei and Si
denote the Young’s modulus and the cross section of the i-th beam, respectively.
dof ← 2 × Number of nodes
P ← List of nodes coordinates
K ← dof × dof matrix of zeros . Initialize the stiffness matrix
for i = 1, ..., nbr. of beams do
[p, q] ← beami . The i-th beam is between the p and q -th nodes
A ← Pp
B ← Pq
` ← kABk
k ← AB/`
 t
t ← kx ky −kx −ky
K e ← Ei`Si t ⊗ t . Elementary stiffness matrix
for j = 1, ..., 4 do . Loop over the rows of K e
if j ≤ 2 then
r ← 2p − 2 + j . j relates to A
else
r ← 2q − 2 + j . j relates to B
end if
for k = 1, ..., 4 do . Loop over the columns of K e
if k ≤ 2 then
s ← 2p − 2 + k . k relates to A
else
s ← 2q − 2 + k . k relates to B
end if
Krs ← Krs + Kjk e . Increment K
end for
end for
end for

7
used to model the mechanical behaviour of trusses, that is systems composed of multiple
beams. Finally, an algorithm has been proposed to numerically compute the stiffness
matrices of trusses.