I have all the members modeled as frame elements that have flexural and axial stiffness. The top and bottom chords are modeled as continuos and the verticals and diagonals have moment releases at their ends. The top and bottom chords will have moments but they will be very small in comparison to...
I am modeling a 2D truss using frame elements. The truss members are built up box members consisting of four plates and 4 connecting angles. The flange plates have 12"x18" perforations spaced at 3'-6" on center. Because of the perforations the area and stiffness vary along the chord members. I...
Thank you very much for all your comments. It was the shear deformations that were causing such dramatic changes in the results. I have a matrix analysis book by Kassimali and throughtout the book shear deformations are ignored in the calculation of the stiffness matrices. Hidden at the very...
I have been running continuous beam models in SAP2000 and trying to verify those results using hand calculations. The models consist of twenty equal spans with cantilever end spans and a uniform load across the entire beam. The hand method I am most familiar with is moment distribution and the...