Book Description

The book describes in great detail the Matrix Methods of Structural Analysis used extensively for the analysis of skeletal or framed structures. The book gives complete coverage to the subject starting from the basics. It is organized in four parts: • Part 1 contains basic knowledge required to understand the subject i.e. Matrix operations, Methods for solving equations and concepts of flexibility matrix and stiffness matrix methods. • Part 2 deals with the applications of stiffness and flexibility matrix methods using system approach. By taking simple examples, the steps involved in both the methods are discussed and it is concluded why stiffness matrix method is more suitable for analysis of skeletal structures. • Part 3 covers the Stiffness matrix (displacement) method with member approach (direct Stiffness method) which is extensively used in the analysis of framed structures. It gives the details of the method, the steps involved in the method and its application to plane truss, space truss, beams, plane and space frames and grids. • Part 4 includes a unified computer program written in FORTRAN/C for the analysis of framed structure. The development of computer program, explanation of various subroutines, input output formats with examples is given in this section. An accompanying CD with the book contains source code, explanation of INPUT/OUTPUT and test examples. Though, the concepts have been presented in quite general form so that the book serves as a learning aid for students with different educational backgrounds as well as the practicing engineers, the primary objective is to present the subject matter in a simple manner so that the book can serve as a basic learning tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students of civil engineering.