THEORY OF STRUCTURES 2

CHAPTER 2 - VERTICAL LOADS ON BUILDING FRAMES

Building frames often consist of girders that are rigidly connected to columns so that the entire structure is better able
to resist the effects of lateral forces due to wind and earthquake. An example of such rigid framework, often called a
building bent, is shown in figure:

In this section we will establish a method for analyzing (approximately) the forces in building frames due to vertical load.
In all cases it should be noticed that most of the simplifying assumptions made to reduce a frame from a statically
indeterminate structure to one that is statically determinate are based on the way the structure deforms under load.

ASSUMPTIONS FOR APPROXIMATE ANALYSIS

Consider a typical girder located within a building bent and subjected to a uniform vertical load, as shown in figure:

The column supports A and B will each exert three reactions on the girder, and therefore the girder will be statically
indeterminate to the third degree (6 reactions – 3 equations of equilibrium). To make the girder statically determinate,
an approximate analysis will therefore require three assumptions. If the columns are extremely stiff, no rotation at A
and B will occur, and the deflection curve for the girder will look like that shown in figure:

An exact analysis reveals that for this case inflection points, or points of zero moment, occur at 0.21L from each support.
If, however, the column connections at A and B are very flexible, then like a simply supported beam, zero moment will
occur at the supports as shown in figure:
In reality, however, the columns will provide some flexibility at the supports, and therefore we will assume that zero
0.21𝐿+0
moment occurs at the average point between the two extremes, i.e., at 2
≈ 0.1𝐿 from each support as shown in
figure:

In summary then, each girder of length L may be modeled by a simply supported span of length 0.80L resting on two
cantilevered ends, each having a length of 0.1L as shown in figure:

The following three assumptions are incorporated in this model:

1) There is zero moment in the girder, 0.1L from the left support.

2) There is zero moment in the girder, 0.1L from the right support.

3) The girder does not support an axial force.

Note: Girder moments at a given floor level should be divided between the columns above and below in proportion to
their stiffness.
 0.1𝐿
𝑀𝐴𝐵 = 0.4𝑤𝐿(0.1𝐿) + 𝑤(0.1𝐿) ( )
2

𝑴𝑨𝑩 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟓𝒘𝑳𝟐

𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛 𝐴𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 = 𝑃 = ∑ 𝑉

𝐼
𝑘= (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟)
𝐿

𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝑀𝐶 = 𝑘𝐶 ∑ 𝑀𝐺

𝑘𝑐 = 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠

𝑘𝑐
𝑘′𝑐 =
∑ 𝑘𝑐

EXAMPLE

Analyze the given frame subjected to vertical loads.

𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏:

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔:

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝑩:

 ∑ 𝑴𝑨𝑩 = 𝟎

𝑴𝑨𝑩 = 40(1) + 10(1)(0.5) = 𝟒𝟓 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝑴𝑨𝑩 = 𝑴𝑩𝑨 = 𝑴𝑫𝑬 = 𝑴𝑬𝑫 = 𝟒𝟓 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝑪:

∑ 𝑴𝑩𝑪 = 𝟎

𝑴𝑩𝑪 = 24(0.6) + 10(0.6)(0.3) = 𝟏𝟔. 𝟐 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝑴𝑩𝑪 = 𝑴𝑪𝑩 = 𝑴𝑬𝑭 = 𝑴𝑭𝑬 = 𝟏𝟔. 𝟐 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒌:

Member K
AD = BE = CF 1/4 = 0.25I
DG = EH = FI 2.5/5 = 0.5I

𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔:

𝑴𝑪 = 𝒌𝒄 ∑ 𝑴𝑮

𝐴𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐴:

0.25
𝑘𝐴𝐷 = =1
0.25

𝑴𝑨𝑫 = 𝑴𝑩𝑨 = 𝟒𝟓 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝐴𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐵:

0.25
𝑘𝐵𝐸 = =1
0.25

𝑀𝐵𝐸 = 𝑘𝐵𝐸 (𝑀𝐵𝐴 + 𝑀𝐵𝐶 )

𝑀𝐵𝐸 = 1(45 − 16.2)

𝑴𝑩𝑬 = 𝟐𝟖. 𝟖 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝐴𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐶

𝑴𝑪𝑩 = 𝑴𝑪𝑭 = 𝟏𝟔. 𝟐 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎

𝐴𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐷
 0.25
𝑴𝑫𝑨 = 𝑘𝐷𝐴 (𝑀𝐷𝐸 ) = (45) = 𝟏𝟓 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.25 + 0.5
0.5
𝑴𝑫𝑮 = 𝑘𝐷𝐺 (𝑀𝐷𝐸 ) = (45) = 𝟑𝟎 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.5 + 0.25

𝐴𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐹:

0.25
𝑴𝑭𝑪 = (16.2) = 𝟓. 𝟒 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.25 + 0.5
0.5
𝑴𝑭𝑰 = (16.2) = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟖 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.5 + 0.25

𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐸:

0.25
𝑀𝐸𝐵 = = (45 − 16.2) = 𝟗. 𝟔 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.25 + 0.50
0.50
𝑀𝐸𝐻 = (45 − 16.2) = 𝟏𝟗. 𝟐 𝒌𝑵 − 𝒎
0.50 + 0.25

𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒏 𝑨𝒙𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆:

𝟐𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒚:

𝑷𝑨𝑫 = 𝑽𝑨 = 𝟓𝟎 𝒌𝑵

𝑷𝑩𝑬 = 𝑉𝐵𝐿 + 𝑉𝐵𝑅 = 50 + 30 = 𝟖𝟎 𝒌𝑵

𝑷𝑪𝑭 = 𝑉𝑪 = 𝟑𝟎 𝒌𝑵

𝟏𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒚:

𝑷𝑫𝑮 = 𝑃𝐴𝐷 + 𝑉𝐷 = 50 + 50 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝒌𝑵

𝑷𝑬𝑯 = 𝑃𝐵𝐸 + 𝑉𝐸𝐿 + 𝑉𝐸𝑅 = 80 + 50 + 30 = 𝟏𝟔𝟎 𝒌𝑵

𝑷𝑭𝑰 = 𝑃𝐶𝐹 + 𝑉𝐹 = 30 + 30 = 𝟔𝟎 𝒌𝑵