Symbolic analysis of continuous beams

Husain Jubran Al-Gahtani Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Box 800, KFUPM, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia E-mail: hqahtani@kfupm.edu.sa
Abstract The study presents a direct method for obtaining symbolic solutions for continuous beams. The external applied concentrated forces, distributed forces and moment couples are represented by step/singular functions. The integration of the governing differential equation and the solution of the boundary and support conditions are performed using Mathematica. The output of the code produces closed-form symbolic solutions for the beam deection and its derivatives, as well as all support reactions and moments. Several examples are presented to illustrate the capability of the proposed procedure. Keywords continuous beam; symbolic computation; computer algebra; Mathematica

Introduction Symbolic computation or computer algebra has attracted many researchers in recent years [14]. Examples of the new computer packages performing these computations are Mathematica, Maple, and Macsyma. Unlike traditional computer programs, which perform only numerical computations, these packages have the remarkable capability of manipulating numerical, symbolic and graphical computations. Although, computer-algebra systems have been in existence since 1953 [1], their usage has been restricted to the research of specialist groups and, moreover, their extensive memory required large mainframe computers at that time. Due to the emergence of relatively inexpensive, yet powerful, personal computers, the use of computer-algebra systems has become popular and more widespread. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate the efciency of one of these computer packages, namely Mathematica [5] to obtain symbolic analyses for continuous beams. Governing equations Consider an n-span continuous beam with n 1 intermediate supports, as shown in Fig. 1. EI y IV = Qi 1( x xqi1 ) + Qi 1( x xqi2 ) Pi 0 ( x xpi ) +
i =1 i =1 i =1 Nq Nq Np

R ( x xr )
0 i i i =1

n 1

(1)

where EI is the beam stiffness, y is the deection, Qi is the uniform force acting over 2 the interval xq1 i < x < xqi , Pi is the concentrated force applied at x = xpi, Ri is the
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xmi xqi2 xqi1 xpi Pi

Qi

Mi
Fixed pinned or free

R0

R1 xri

....
L

Ri

....

Rn1

Rn

Fig. 1

General continuous beam.

support reaction at x = xri , Nq is the number of uniform forces and Np is the number of concentrated forces. The singular functions 0 and 1 are dened by: x > {1 0 x< x= ( x ) = { 0 x 1( x ) =
0

(2) (3)

Integrating equation 1 four times, we get the shear force, V(x), the bending moment, M(x), the slope, s(x), and the deection y(x): V ( x ) = EI y = Qi ( x xqi1 ) 1( x xqi1 ) + Qi ( x xqi2 ) 1( x xqi2 )
i =1 i =1 Nq Nq

Pi ( x xpi ) + Ri ( x xri ) + C1
1 1 i =1 i =1

Np

n 1

(4)

M ( x ) = EI y =
Np

1 1 q 2 2 Qi ( x xqi1 ) 1( x xqi ) + Qi ( x xqi2 ) 1( x xqi2 ) 2 i =1 2 i =1

Nq

Pi ( x xpi ) 1( x xpi ) + Ri ( x xri ) 1( x xri ) +

(5)

M ( x xm ) + C
1 i i i =1 N

Nm

s ( x) = y =
N

1 1 q 1 q 3 3 Qi ( x xqi1 ) 1( x xqi ) + Qi ( x xqi2 ) 1( x xqi2 ) 6 i =1 EI 6 i =1

1 p 1 n 1 2 1 ( ( ) ) P x xp x xp + i i i Ri ( x xri )2 1( x xri ) + 2 i =1 2 i =1 +C M ( x xm ) ( x xm )
1 i i i i =1 Nm

(6)

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N

y ( x) =

1 1 q 1 q 4 4 Qi ( x xqi1 ) 1( x xqi ) + Qi ( x xqi2 ) 1( x xqi2 ) 24 i =1 EI 24 i =1 1 p 1 n 1 3 3 Pi ( x xpi ) 1( x xpi ) + Ri ( x xri ) 1( x xri ) + 6 i =1 6 i =1

(7)

1 Nm + C4 Mi ( x xmi )2 1( x xmi ) 2 i =1

It should be noted that if EI is not constant, then the expressions for s(x) and y(x) become: s ( x ) = y = M ( x) dx EI ( x ) (8) (9)

y ( x ) = s ( x ) dx

In order to carry out symbolic integration, the powerful symbolic package Mathematica is utilized. The four constants C1, C2, C3, C4 and the n 1 support reactions, Ri, can be determined by using the expressions for y and its proper derivatives to satisfy four end conditions (two per end) and forcing y to be zero at the n 1 supports. Once these unknowns are determined, the solution y and its derivatives can be obtained in terms of the above singular functions. In order to illustrate the procedure, three examples are considered. Examples Example 1 Let us consider a continuous beam xed at its ends, resting on n 1 equally spaced intermediate supports and subjected to a uniform load, Q0. The results for the support reactions and moments are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The results can be generalized as follows: R0 = Rn = Q0 ( L n ) 2
TABLE 1 Support reactions for the continuous beam with xed ends
n Support reactions/(Q0L) R0 1/2 1/4 1/6 ... 1/2n R1 1/2 1/2 1/3 ... 1/n R2 1/4 1/3 ... 1/n R3 1/6 ... 1/n ... ... 1/n Rn ... 1/2n

(10)

1 2 3 ... n

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TABLE 2

Support moments for the continuous beam with xed ends

Support moments/(Q0L2) n 1 2 3 ... n M0 1/12 1/48 1/108 ... 1/12n2 M1 1/12 1/48 1/108 ... 1/12n2 M2 1/48 1/108 ... 1/12n2 M3 1/108 ... 1/12n2 ... ... 1/12n2 Mn ... 1/12n2

TABLE 3

Support reactions for the continuous beam with simply supported ends
Support reactions/(Q0L/n)

R0

R1

R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

R7

R8 153/388 601/530 349/362

R9 209/530 821/724

R10 571/1448

1 1/2 1/2 2 3/8 5/4 3/8 3 2/5 11/10 11/10 2/5 4 11/28 8/7 13/14 8/7 11/28 5 15/38 43/38 37/38 37/38 43/38 15/38 6 41/104 59/52 25/26 53/52 25/26 59/52 41/104 7 28/71 161/142 137/142 143/142 143/142 137/142 161/142 28/71 8 153/388 110/97 187/194 98/97 193/194 98/97 187/194 110/97 9 209/530 601/530 511/530 107/106 529/530 529/530 107/106 511/530 10 571/1448 821/724 349/362 731/724 361/362 725/724 361/362 731/724

Ri = Q0 ( L i ) , i = 1, 2, . . . , n 1 Mi = Q0 ( L n ) , i = 1, 2, . . . , n 1 12
2

(11) (12)

It is interesting to note that the values of the support reactions and moments are xed functions of the span length (L/n). Other quantities, such as mid-span moments and deections, can be easily obtained from equilibrium. Example 2 Let us repeat example 1 for the case of simply supported ends. The results for this case are obtained for n = 1, 2, . . . , 10, as given in Tables 3 and 4. Unlike the xedends case, all support reactions and moments are not xed functions of (L/n). However, these quantities converge to limiting values as n increases. As an example, each of the end reactions, R0 and Rn, converges to a value of 0.394338 Q0L/n, as shown in Fig. 2. The same thing can be said about reactions and moments at internal supports.
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TABLE 4 Support moments for the continuous beam with simply supported ends
Support moments / (Q0L2/n2) n M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

2 1/8 3 1/10 4 3/28 5 2/19 6 11/104 7 15/142 8 41/38 9 28/265 10 153/1448

1/10 1/14 3/28 3/38 3/38 2/19 1/13 9/104 1/13 11/104 11/142 6/71 6/71 11/142 15/142 15/194 33/388 8/97 33/388 15/194 41/388 41/530 9/106 22/265 22/265 9/106 41/530 28/265 14/181 123/1448 15/181 121/1448 15/181 123/1448 14/181 153/1448

0.405 0.4 0.395

0.394338
0.39 0.385

R0 , Rn / (Q0L/n)

0.38 0.375 0.37 2 4 6

Odd n Even n

10

Fig. 2

End support reaction versus number of spans of pinned continuous beam.

Example 3 This example demonstrates the computational and graphical capabilities of Mathematica to generate inuence lines for continuous beams. Consider the ve-span continuous beam shown in Fig. 3. Inuence lines for various quantities can be obtained by using the above procedure for obtaining symbolic solutions for a unit load located at a variable distance along the beam. The inuence lines for negative moments at the supports and positive moments at the mid-spans are given in Figs 4
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H. J. Al-Gahtani

B A L C

D E L

F G L

H I L

J K L

Fig. 3

Five-span beam subjected to a moving unit load.

MC/L

/L

(a)

ME/L /L

(b)

Fig. 4

Inuence lines for negative moments: (a) moment at the second support (x/L = 1); (b) moment at the third support (x/L = 2).

and 5, respectively. Their maximum values and the corresponding locations of the unit load are given in Table 5. Conclusion The present study presents a simple yet efcient procedure for obtaining symbolic solutions for continuous beams. Such symbolic solutions are very useful
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MB/L
(a)

/L

MD/L
(b)

/L

MF/L
(c)

/L

Fig. 5 Inuence lines for positive moments: (a) moment at the middle of the rst span (x/L = 1/2); (b) moment at the middle of the second span (x/L= 3/2); (c) moment at the middle of the third span (x/L = 5/>).

for parametric studies and structural design optimization. It should be noted that the procedure is valid for any support conditions and load conguration. The number of spans, n, can be as high as desired, provided that the available computer memory is adequate. The procedure can be extended easily to continuous frames and similar problems.
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TABLE 5
Moment MB MC MD ME MF

Maximum positive and negative moments

Maximum value Mmax/(Q0L2/n2) 167 836 112 627 3 289 1672 2 ( 54 + 13 39 ) 3135 13 76

Acknowledgement The author would like to express his appreciation to King Fahd University of Pertoleum & Minerals (KFUPM) for its support. References
[1] A. I. Beltzer, Variational and Finite Element Methods: A Symbolic Computation Approach (Springer, Berlin, 1990). [2] R. Julio, et al., The impulse response in the symbolic computing of modes for beams and plates, Applied Numerical Mathematics, 40(1) (2002), 119135. [3] M. N. Pavlovic, Bending of clamped orthotropic rectangular plates: a variational symbolic solution, Computers and Structures, 77(2) (2003), 117128. [4] M. N. Pavlovic, Symbolic computation in structural engineering, Computers and Structures, 81(22 23) (2003), 21212136. [5] S. Wolfram, Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, 2nd edition (Addison Wesley, New York, 1991).

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