Matrix Method : Influence lines for elements in bending

Influence lines are very useful to find the influence of a changing position of a unit load on a quantity at a
fixed location in the structure. Influence lines for structures in bending can be obtained for forces (support
reactions, moments and shear forces) or deflections (displacements and rotations). For forces the principle
of Műller-Breslau is used. For deflections Maxwell’s principle is used. The theory and application of
influence lines can be found in the book “Work, energy methods & influence lines”1.

With the Matrix Method, influence lines can also be obtained. For deflections the application is straight
forward. The influence line for displacement at a location can be found by imposing a unit load at this
location. The influence line for the rotation can be found by imposing a unit couple at this location. The
deflected shape of the structure is the influence line. This strategy will work in all cases.
For forces, application of Műller-Breslau’s principle is required. This results in imposing a unit
displacement for the associated degree of freedom to the force, in such a way that the force produces
negative work. The deflected structure is automatically the required influence line.

Finding an influence line for the moment at a fixed location, requires imposing a unit rotation at this point.
For influence lines for the shear force at a fixed location, requires imposing a unit displacement at this
point. For some situations a unit displacement or rotation can easily be imposed in a Matrix Method model
especially for situations at the supports. The reader is asked to try this on a simple example.

For any other position we cannot impose simply a unit rotation within the outlined procedure of the Matrix
Method. In figure 1 a situation for bending is shown. In order to produce negative work the two element
parts need a difference in rotation of 1 radian at the location of interest.

Fig 1 : Negative work by imposing a unit rotation.

This actually requires two degrees of freedom at a single node. In the standard Matrix Method however
only one set of degree of freedoms is connected to a node. In this note a element based procedure will be
described which results in a simple load case to obtain influence lines for forces.

1
Work, energy methods & influence lines, J.W. Welleman, ISBN 978-90-72830-95-1, Bouwen met Staal, 2016.

Hans Welleman, influence lines Jan 2018 1

Element approach
If the required situation is better investigated, it is possible to define a set of expressions for an element in
bending with an imposed unit displacement within the element. In figure 1 an Euler element between node
A and B is presented in a local coordinate system. At a distance a from the left node the location for the
force quantity of the influence line is indicated.

Fig 2 : Euler element in bending with the location for the force quantity of the influence line.
Within the Matrix Method for each element a relation has to be described between the forces at the end of
the element, in transposed vector notation:
T
 Fz(−eA) Ty(−e )A Fz(−eB) Ty(−e )B 

and the degree of freedoms at the end of the element (nodal degree of freedoms), , in transposed vector
notation:
T
 wA( e ) ϕ A( e ) wB( e ) ϕ B( e ) 

Different methods are available to find this relation. In this derivation the ODE method will be applied.
For the element specified in figure 2, two fields are needed to describe the continuous displacement field
between the left and right end of the element. These displacement fields are denoted as w1 ( x) and w2 ( x) .
Each field is described with a polynomial with four integration constants based upon the general solution of
the ODE for bending. In total this element description has eight unknown integration constants which
requires eight conditions. At each of the boundaries of the element two conditions are specified and at the
interface between the two fields, four conditions are specified. The interface conditions depend on the
required influence line.
Influence line for bending
In order to find the element description to be used for finding the influence line for the bending moment M
at a, a unit rotation is imposed at the interface between the two fields. The boundary and interface
conditions are:
 w1 = w2

 w1 = wA  w2 = wB
(e) (e)
ϕ − ϕ = 1
x=0  x=a  2 1 x=l 
(e) V = V (e)
ϕ1 = ϕ A  1 2 ϕ2 = ϕ B
 M1 = M 2

From the solution of the displacement field, the expressions for the forces at the end of the element as
indicated in figure 2, can be obtained with:

V1 (0) = − Fz(−e)A ; M1 (0) = −Ty(−e)A

V2 (l ) = Fz(−e)B ; M 2 (l ) = Ty(−e)B

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This results in the following relations between the forces at the end of the element in terms of the element
degrees of freedom and the imposed rotation:

 Fz(−eA)   l 3 − 6lEI2 − 12l 3EI − 6lEI2   w( e )   6lEI3 (l − 2a) 

12 EI

 ( e )   − 6 EI   (Ae )   2 EI 
 ϕ A   − l 2 (2l − 3a) 
4 EI 6 EI 2 EI
Ty − A  =  l 2 l l2 l

 Fz(−eB)   − 123EI 6 EI 12 EI 6 EI   ( e )  −  − 6 EI (l − 2a) 

 (e)   l l2 l3 l2   wB   l3 
Ty − B   − 6lEI2 2 EI
l
6 EI
l2
4 EI
l
 ϕ B( e )   − 2 EI2 (l − 3a) 
  l 
In this relation the standard element stiffness matrix is recognised. The vector in the right hand side is the
equivalent element “load” vector due the imposed unit rotation.

 6lEI3 (l − 2a ) 
 2 EI 
 − l 2 (2l − 3a) 
f eq( e ) =  6 EI 
 − l 3 (l − 2a) 
 − 2 EI2 (l − 3a) 
 l 
This element load contribution can be added to the system load vector in the appropriate way2. With the
obtained solution of the degree of freedoms in the local element coordinate system, the exact deflection
line of the element can also be obtained. With this description the exact “jump” can be visualised. This
could be useful if the deflection within the element has to be plotted during the post processing phase. If
only results at the nodes are processed the element distributions for the deflection are not so relevant.

w1 ( x) = w(Ae) − ϕ A(e) x + ξ1x 2 − ξ 2 x3 0≤ x≤a

w2 ( x) = a + w(Ae) − (ϕ A(e) + 1) x + ξ1 x 2 − ξ 2 x3 a≤ x≤l

with: ξ1 =
( −3w(e)
A + 2ϕ l +3w +ϕ l + 2l −3a )
(e)
A
(e)
B
(e)
B
; ξ2 =
( −2 w (e)
A +ϕ A( e )l + 2 wB( e ) +ϕ B( e )l +l −2 a )
l2 l3

In case the location of the influence line is positioned at the element mid span the element load vector in
local coordinate system simplifies to:

 0 
 − EI 
f eq( e ) = l 
 0 
 EI 
 l 
In case of a beam structure this results reveals that only two external couples with magnitude EI/l have to
be applied to the element nodes of the element at which at mid span the influence line for bending is
required. This is actually a very simple procedure which can be used in any Matrix Method program to find
an influence line. Since the solution is the exact solution, the element discretisation is not relevant, even a
single element will do for a span of a beam.

2
All derivations are within local coordinate systems, adding contributions to the system requires transformations.

Hans Welleman, influence lines Jan 2018 3

Influence line for shear
In order to find the element description to be used for finding the influence line for the shear force V at a, a
unit displacement is imposed at the interface between the two fields. The boundary and interface conditions
are:
ϕ1 = ϕ2
 w1 = w( e) 
 w2 = wB
(e)
A  w2 − w1 = 1
x=0  x=a  x=l 
V1 = V2
(e) (e)
ϕ1 = ϕ A ϕ2 = ϕ B
 M1 = M 2

In the same way the following relations between the forces at the end of the element in terms of the
element degrees of freedom and the imposed unit displacement can be found:

 Fz(−eA)   l 3 − 6lEI2 − 12l 3EI − 6lEI2   w( e )   − 12l 3EI 

12 EI

 ( e )   − 6 EI 4 EI 6 EI 2 EI
  A   6 EI 
Ty − A  =  l 2 l l2 l  ϕ A( e )   l 2 
 Fz(−eB)   − 12 3EI 6 EI 12 EI 6 EI   ( e )  −  12 EI 
 (e)   l l2 l3 l 2
  wB   l3 
Ty − B   − 6lEI2 2 EI
l
6 EI
l2
4 EI
l
 ϕ B( e )   6 EI2 
  l 
In this relation the standard element stiffness matrix is recognised. The vector in the right hand side is the
equivalent element “load” vector due to the imposed unit displacement.

 − 12l 3EI 
 6 EI 
 2 
f eq( e ) =  12l EI 
 l3 
 6 EI2 
 l 
This element load contribution can be added to the system load vector. This element load contribution in
case of an influence line for shear is independent of a. From this result follows that for shear both
equivalent nodal loads and nodal couples have to be applied at the element nodes. With the obtained
solution for an element, the exact deflection line of the element can also be obtained.

w1 ( x) = w(Ae) − ϕ A(e) x + η1 x 2 − η2 x3 0≤ x≤a

w2 ( x) = 1 + w(Ae) − ϕ A(e) x + η1 x 2 − η2 x3 a≤ x≤l

with: η1 =
( −3 w (e)
A + 2ϕ A( e )l +3wB( e ) +ϕ B( e )l −3)
; η2 =
( −2 w (e)
A +ϕ A( e )l + 2 wB( e ) +ϕ B( e )l −2 )
2
l l3

In figure 3 the equivalent load cases for both influence lines is sketched.

Fig 3 : Element model with equivalent nodal loads for a static indeterminate beam.

Hans Welleman, influence lines Jan 2018 4

Application
The outlined procedure will be demonstrated on a simple static indeterminate structure which is presented
in figure 4.

l = 10.0 m; a = 7.45 m; n = 100

EI = 5000 kN/m 2 ; GA = ∞

Fig 4 : Static indeterminate structure.

For this structure the exact influence line c(x) for location a for both the bending moment M and the shear
force V has been derived based on the outlined theory1.

influence line for M at a : influence line for V at a :

ax3
(3a − 2l ) x x3 3x
c1 ( x) = 3 − 0≤x≤a c1 ( x) = 3
− 0≤ x≤a
2l 2l 2l 2l
ax3 3ax x3 3x
c2 ( x) = 3
− +a a≤ x≤l c2 ( x) = 3
− +1 a≤ x≤l
2l 2l 2l 2l
Subsequently a Matrix Method model is created with FEMDEM3 based on 100 elements. The position of
the influence line is taken at the mid of element 75 which is at 7.45 m from the left support. The number of
elements is not relevant for precision since the described method is exact. However in order to compare the
exact (continuous) solution with a graph of the deflected structure based upon the displacement at the
nodes, a substantial number of nodes is required. The comparison of the data is processed with EXCEL and
presented in figure 5. Both the MAPLE script and the FEMDEM input file are presented in the appendix.

Fig 5 : Influence lines for M and V, exact solution versus Matrix Method solution.
The results found with the Matrix Method by using the outlined method of equivalent nodal loads results in
the exact solution of the influence lines for force quantities for beams.

3
FEMDEM, Finite Element Discrete Element Method, J.W. Welleman, 1995-2012.

Hans Welleman, influence lines Jan 2018 5

APPENDIX: Data files
The exact solution for the presented example is obtained with the MAPLE script which is listed in table 1.

Table 1: MAPLE script.

> restart;

Influence line for a static indeterminate beam:

> ODE1:=-EI*diff(w1(x),x$4)=0;
> ODE2:=-EI*diff(w2(x),x$4)=0;
> sol:=dsolve({ODE1,ODE2},{w1(x),w2(x)}): assign(sol):
> w1:=w1(x); w2:=w2(x);
> phi1:=-diff(w1,x): kappa1:=diff(phi1,x): M1:=EI*kappa1: V1:=diff(M1,x):
> phi2:=-diff(w2,x): kappa2:=diff(phi2,x): M2:=EI*kappa2: V2:=diff(M2,x):
boundary conditions for x=0:
> x:=0: eq1:=w1=0: eq2:=M1=0:
interface conditions for shear:
> #x:=a: eq3:=w2-w1=1: eq4:=M1=M2: eq5:=V1=V2: eq6:=phi1=phi2:
interface conditions for moment:
> x:=a: eq3:=phi2-phi1=1: eq4:=M1=M2: eq5:=V1=V2: eq6:=w1=w2:
boundary conditions for x=L:
> x:=L: eq7:=w2=0: eq8:=phi2=0:
> sol:=solve({eq1,eq2,eq3,eq4,eq5,eq6,eq7,eq8},{_C1,_C2,_C3,_C4,_C5,_C6,_C7,_C8}): assign(sol);
> x:='x':
> w1; w2;
Example with numbers:
> L:=10: a:=7.45: EI:=5000:
> with (plots):
> AA:=plot(w1,x=0..a):
> BB:=plot(w2,x=a..L):
> display({AA,BB});

Hans Welleman, influence lines Jan 2018 6

The Matrix Method model is generated with the FEMDEM input file which is listed in table 2.

Table 2: FEMDEM input file.

# FILE : [Link]
# Parametric beam model for influence lines. Beam length _L, with _n elements.
#
# Influence line for M and V at x=_alpha*_L+_dx/2, at element _Ielem. Element length _dx.
#
# for influence line M use:
# - unit rotation at midspan of _Ielem
# - equivalent nodal loads (moments)
#
# for influence line V use:
# - unit displacement at midspan of _Ielem
# - equivalent nodal loads (loads and moments)
#
# (c) Jan 2018, Hans Welleman
# .........................................................

FORMAT FLOATING FIELD 16 DECIMAL 8

SET 9
VARIABLE _n 100
VARIABLE _alpha 0.75
VARIABLE _L 10
VARIABLE _dx _L/_n
VARIABLE _EI 5000
VARIABLE _TMeq _EI/_dx
VARIABLE _TVeq 6*(_EI/(_dx*_dx))
VARIABLE _FVeq 12*(_EI/(_dx*_dx*_dx))
VARIABLE _Ielem FLOOR(_alpha*_n)

PROBLEM 3
JOBTITLE BEAM
PLOTTITLE Influence line
GRAPHTITLE IMFLUENCE LINES

COORDINATES _n+1
GEN _n+1 NODE 1 X 0.0 STEP _dX Y 0.0 STEP 0.0 Z 0.0 STEP 0.0

ELEMENTS _n
GEN _n BEAM 1 NNODE 2 1 STEP 1 2 STEP 1

BEAM 1
$ beam
1 E _EI IZ 1.000 AX 1.0 AY 1.0e8 NU 0.0 rho 0.0 FREE

# equivalent load for influence line for M(7,45 m)

LOADING 1
NDOF 2 NODE _Ielem PHIY F -(_TMeq)
NODE _Ielem+1 PHIY F (_TMeq)

# equivalent load for influence line for V(7,45 m)

# NDOF 4 NODE _Ielem Z F -(_FVeq)
# NODE _Ielem PHIY F (_TVeq)
# NODE _Ielem+1 Z F (_FVeq)
# NODE _Ielem+1 PHIY F (_TVeq)

SUPPORT 5
NODE 1 X FIXED
NODE 1 Z FIXED
NODE _n+1 X FIXED
NODE _n+1 Z FIXED
NODE _n+1 PHIY FIXED

EXECUTE 1
static linear

PRINT 2
DISP NDOF _N+1 FIRST NODE 1 Z STEP 1
LOAD NDOF 4 NODE _Ielem Z
NODE _Ielem PHIY
NODE _Ielem+1 Z
NODE _Ielem+1 PHIY

end

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