DETERMINACY

OF STRUCTURES
PREPARED BY:

ENGR. PRECIOUS PRINCESS T. SABA

Instructor

1ST SEMESTER / AY 2020-2021

 SUPPORTS AND CONNECTIONS IN STRUCTURAL
ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES
 An exact analysis of a structure can never be carried out, since estimates always have to be made of the loadings
and the strength of the materials composing the structure.
 Furthermore, points of application for the loadings must also be estimated. It is important, therefore, that the
structural engineer develop the ability to model or idealize a structure so that he or she can perform a practical
force analysis of the members..

 Structural members are joined together in various ways depending on the intent of the designer. The three types
of joints most often specified are the pin connection, the roller support, and the fixed joint.
 Idealized models used in structural analysis that represent pinned and fixed supports and pin-connected and
fixed-connected joints are shown.
 Supports are arguably one of the most important aspects of a structure, as it specifies how the forces within the
structure are transferred to the ground. This knowledge is required before solving the model, as it tells us what the
boundary conditions are.
 It is imperative that you understand the different types of supports from the beginning as they have the potential to
incorrectly represent your model. This can cause incorrect results that do not accurately simulate the real life
situation.
TYPES OF
SUPPORTS AND CONNECT

1. Fixed Support
A fixed support is the most rigid type of support or connection. It constrains the member in all
translations and rotations (i.e. it cannot move or rotate in any direction). The easiest example of a fixed
support would be a pole or column in concrete. The pole cannot twist, rotate or displace; it is
basically restricted in all its movements at this connection.
Application: Fixed supports are extremely beneficial when you can only use a single support.
The fixed support provides all the constraints necessary to ensure the structure is static. It is
most widely used as the only support for a cantilever.
Limitations: Fixed supports offers absolutely no 'give'. In a sense, its greatest advantage can also
be its downfall, as sometimes a structure requires a little deflection or 'play' to protect other
surrounding materials. For instance, as concrete continues to gain its strength it also expands.
So if a support is not designed correctly the expansion could lead to a reduction in durability.
2. Pinned Support
A pinned support is a very common type of support and is most commonly
compared to a hinge in civil engineering. Like a hinge, a pinned support
allows rotation to occur but no translation (i.e. it resists horizontal and
vertical forces but not a moment). Think of your elbow; you are able to
extend and flex the elbow (rotation) but you cannot move your forearm
left to right (translation).
Application: Pinned supports can be used in trusses. By linking multiple
members joined by hinge connections, the members will push against
each other; inducing an axial force within the member. The benefit of this
is that the members contain no internal moment forces, and can be
designed according to their axial force only.
Limitations: A single pinned support can not completely restrain a
structure, as you need at least two supports to resist the moment.
3. Roller Support
Roller supports can resist a vertical force but not a horizontal force. A roller
support or con- nection is free to move horizontally as there is nothing
constraining it.
Application: The most common use of a roller support is in a bridge. In civil
engineering, a bridge will typically contain a roller support at one end to
account for vertical displacement and expansion from changes in
temperature. This is required to prevent the expansion causing damage to a
pinned support.
Limitations: This type of support does not resist any horizontal forces. This
obviously has limitations in itself as it means the structure will require
another support to resist this type of force.
 Other types of supports or connection:
4) Cables
Cables are flexible structures that support the applied transverse loads by the tensile resistance developed in its
members. Cables are used in suspension bridges, tension leg offshore platforms, transmission lines, and several
other engineering applications.
5) Rocker
Rocker support is similar to roller support. It also resists vertical force and allows horizontal translation and rotation.
6) Slider / Guide
The Slider support allows the member to move in only one direction. This means there are two reactions, the force
perpendicular to the direction of the motion and the moment. .

Cable Rocker (same as mechanism

of slider)
 The types of connections most commonly encountered on coplanar structures are given in the table below. It is important to be
able to recognize the symbols for these connections and the kinds of reactions they exert on their attached members. This can
easily be done by noting how the connection prevents any degree of freedom or displacement of the member.
 In particular, the support will develop a force on the member if it prevents translation of the member, and it will develop a moment
if it prevents rotation of the member.
 For example, a member in contact with a smooth surface (3) is prevented from translating only in one direction, which is
perpendicular or normal to the surface. Hence, the surface exerts only a normal force F on the member in this direction.
The magnitude of this force represents one unknown. Also note that the member is free to rotate on the surface, so that a moment
cannot be developed by the surface on the member.
 As another example, the fixed support prevents both translation and rotation of a member at the point of connection. Therefore,
this type of support exerts two force components and a moment on the member. The “curl” of the moment lies in the plane of the
page, since rotation is prevented in that plane. Hence, there are three unknowns at a fixed support.
 In reality, all supports actually exert distributed surface loads on their contacting members. The concentrated forces and moments
shown in the table represent the resultants of these load distributions. This representation is, of course, an idealization; however, it
is used here since the surface area over which the distributed load acts is considerably smaller than the total surface area of the co
nnecting members.
EQUATIONS OF EQUILIBRIUM
 It may be recalled from statics that a structure or one of its members is in equilibrium when it maintains a balance of
force and moment. In general this requires that the force and moment equations of equilibrium be satisfied along three
independent axes, namely,

Fx = 0 Fy = 0 Fz = 0
Mx = 0 My = 0 Mz = 0
 The principal load-carrying portions of most structures, however, lie in a single plane, and since the loads are also
coplanar, the above requirements for equilibrium reduce to

Fx = 0
Fy = 0
Mo= 0

 Here and represent, respectively, the algebraic sums of the x and y components of all the forces acting on the structure
or one of its members, and represents the algebraic sum of the moments of these force components about an axis
perpendicular to the x–y plane (the z axis) and passing through point O.
 Whenever these equations are applied, it is first necessary to draw a free-body diagram of the structure or its members.
If a member is selected, it must be isolated from its supports and surroundings and its outlined shape drawn. All the
forces and couple moments must be shown that act on the member.
 DETERMINACY
Before starting the force analysis of a structure, it is necessary to establish the determinacy and stability of the structure.
The equilibrium equations provide both the necessary and sufficient conditions for equilibrium.
 As a general rule, a structure can be identified as being either statically determinate or statically indeterminate by drawing free-
body diagrams of all its members, or selective parts of its members, and then comparing the total number of unknown reactive
force and moment components with the total number of available equilibrium equations.
 When all the forces in a structure can be determined strictly from the three equilibrium equations equations, the structure is
referred to as statically determinate
 In an externally statically determinate structure, all of the external reaction component forces may be calculated using only
static equilibrium.
 In an internally statically determinate structure, all of the external reaction component forces and internal forces may be
calculated using only static equilibrium.

 Structures having more unknown forces than available equilibrium equations are called statically indeterminate.
A structure for which the external reactions component forces cannot be calculated using only equilibrium is externally statically
indeterminate.
 A structure for which the internal forces cannot be calculated using only equilibrium is internally statically indeterminate.
 Typically if one talks about 'determinacy' (without specifying internal or external), then it is internal determinacy that is meant,
since we are determining if both all external reactions and internal forces can be solved using the equilibrium equations. Internal
determinacy is generally much more important than external determinacy in structural analysis.
 Indeterminate structures effectively have more unknowns than can be solved using the three equilibrium equations
(or six equilibrium equations in 3D). These extra unknowns are called redundants.
 The degree of indeterminacy for a structure is equal to the number of redundants. An indeterminate structure with
2 redundants may be said to be statically indeterminate to the second degree or "2∘ “.
 For a coplanar structure there are at most three equilibrium equations for each part, so that if there is a total of
m parts and r force and moment reaction components, we have
DI = r – 3m
If :DI = 0 (statically determinate)
1 DI > 0 (statically indeterminate)
DI< 0 ( statically unstable)

 Determinacy of a structure can also be calculated using this internal determinacy equation:
DI = 3m+ r−(3j + ec)
2 If :DI = 0 (statically determinate)
DI > 0 (statically indeterminate)
Where: DI< 0 ( statically unstable)
DI = degree of indeterminacy
m = no. of parts or members
r = no. of reactions
j = no. of joints
ec = no. of equations of condition
For a Hinge: ec = n−1
For a Roller: ec = 2(n−1) where n is the number of members connected to the hinge or roller.
 Determining number of joints:
 There is no specific way that a structure must be split into members and joints for the purposes of the determinacy
analysis. Any division of the structure is okay as long as the members and joints are consistent with each other;
however, joints should be placed at least at the following locations:
• Support
• Reactions
• Intersections of three or more elements

Stability
 In general, then, a structure will be geometrically unstable—that is, it will move slightly or collapse. If the structure is
unstable, it does not matter if it is statically determinate or indeterminate. In all cases such types of structures must be
avoided in practice
 An unstable structure generally cannot be analysed. Therefore, it is useful to know if a structure is stable or unstable before
a structural analysis is conducted. There are four main ways that a structure may be geometrically unstable (these apply only
to linear geometric stability and not to instability caused by buckling, member yielding or nonlinear geometry):
1) There are not enough reactions: This will generally be clear from an application of the determinacy equations. If DI < 0,
the structure is unstable.
2) The reactions are parallel: All of the reaction components point in the same direction. An example of such a situation is
shown, in this example, the horizontal equilibrium ∑Fx=0 cannot be solved and there will be no resistance in horizontal
direction.
3) The reactions are concurrent: All of the reaction components meet at a point. An example of such a situation is shown .
Effectively, the system is free to rotate as a rigid body around the point that the reaction components meet at.

4) There is an internal collapse mechanism: This is any situation in which there is an internal mechanism in the system that
will cause it to deform between the supports. An example internal collapse mechanism is shown

Note:
Not all structures with DI>0 are stable. Though reactions are enough, if a structure
satisfies at least one (1) of conditions 2 – 4 stated above, the structure would still be
unstable.
DETERMINACY OF TRUSSES
 Trusses are structures where all of the members are connected together at pinned joints. Since each member in a
truss has a pin at the end, the members cannot take any moment or shear. The stability and determinacy equations
for a truss are simply a special case of the general internal determinacy equation DI = 3m+ r−(3j + ec)
 Since there is a hinge at each end of each member, there are 2m connections between members and hinged joints in
the structure (where m is the number of truss members). To find the number of equations of condition at each joint,
the previous equation ec=n−1 applies. This equation tells us that for each hinged joint, there are ec=n−1 equations of
condition, where n is the number of members connected to the hinge. This means that each joint has one less
equation of condition than the number of members connected to it. Therefore, we must subtract 1 from the total
number of hinged connections at for each joint. The total number of equations of condition for the whole truss then
becomes the total number of connections between members connected to hinged joints, minus the number of joints
(since we have to subtract 1 for each joint): ec=2m−j
 where m is the number of truss members and j is the total number of joints between truss members.
If we sub this value of ec into the general equation for indeterminacy (3):
DI = 3m+r - (3j+ec)
DI = 3m+r- [3j+(2m−j)]
DI = m+r - 2j
If :DI = 0 (statically determinate)
3 DI > 0 (statically indeterminate)
DI< 0 ( statically unstable)