MATLAB Project Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix

CE 890 Introduction to Matlab

Matlab Project

Assembly of Global Stiffness Matrix

Submitted to Professor Dr. Phanikumar S. Mantha Civil & Environmental Engineering

Submitted By Aqeel Ahmed PID 36846644

Introduction In finite element method (& structural analysis approach), a structure is modeled as an

assembly of elements or components with various forms of connection between them. A

continuous discrete system is modeled with a finite number of elements interconnected

at finite number of nodes. The behaviour of individual elements is characterised by the

element's stiffness or flexibility relation, which altogether leads to the system's stiffness or

flexibility relation. To establish the element's stiffness or flexibility relation, further

leading to the global stiffness/flexibility matrix, MATLAB programming can be

effectively used.

In this project paper, stiffness matrix has been obtained using different approaches for

spring elements and then extended to bar and beam elements. A general code has also

been included that is capable of reading from any text file the connectivity matrix and

compute the global stiffness matrix. Also, the knowledge of cells in Matlab has been

included in the codes which necessarily eased the work. All codes have been developed

for a defined problem in hand and results compared to solutions for verification.

Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix for Spring Elements To develop the stiffness matrix, we take an example of two springs connected together

and a force P equal to 15 kN is applied to it. The spring constants are k1 = 100 kN and

k2 = 200 kN. The layout is as follows:

Figure 1: Spring System for Two Elements Solution

1. Approach to Solution

a. Step 1. It involves discretization of the problem. The domain consists of

two springs/elements and connected at nodes.

b. Step 2. Elements need to have connectivity as follows:

c. Step 3. (Element Stiffness Matrix). To formulate the stiffness matrix for

each spring, we have the stiffness’s of each spring. ( k1 = 100 kN, k2 = 200

kN). Calling the function SpringElementStiffness will give us the 2x2

stiffness matrix for each spring. The details are:

MATLAB Code function y = SpringElementStiffness(k)

% This Function claculates the element stiffness matrix for springs with spring stiffness as k. It returns 2x2 stiffness matirx

Element Number Node i Node j

1 1 2

2 2 3

y = [k -k; -k k];

MATLAB Output

>> k1 = SpringElementStiffness(100)

k1 = 100 -100

-100 100


k2 = 200 -200

-200 200

d. Step 4 (Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix for the System). The

system has three nodes; therefore the global stiffness matrix will be 3x3

matrix. To obtain the K matrix, first we setup the zero matrix of size 3x3

and then call the Matlab function “SpringAssemble” to obtain the

matrix. The details are:

MATLAB Code function y = SpringAssemble(K,k,i,j)

% This function will assemble the element stiffness matrix k at node i(left node) and j (right hand node) into global stiffness matrix K

K(i,i)=K(i,i)+k(1,1); K(i,j)=K(i,j)+k(1,2); K(j,i)=K(j,i)+k(2,1); K(j,j)=K(j,j)+k(2,2);

y = K;

MATLAB Output

>> K = zeros(3,3)

K =

0 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

>> K = SpringAssemble(K,k1,1,2)

K =

100 -100 0

-100 100 0

0 0 0


K =

100 -100 0

-100 300 -200

0 -200 200

The same approach is tested for a six spring system having different connectivity of

nodes. The details are:

Figure 2: Six-element Spring System

Solution

1. Step 1. The domain consists of six elements and five nodes. The

connectivity will be:

Element Number Node i Node j

1 1 3

2 3 4

3 3 5

4 3 5

5 3 4

6 4 2

2. Step 2. Each element has 2x2 stiffness matrix and since there are five

nodes, therefore, K (global) size will be 5x5. Each element stiffness matrix will be

obtained by plugging in the ‘k’ (spring constant in kN) of respective spring. The out put

is as follows:

>> k1= SpringElementStiffness(100)

k1 =

100 -100

-100 100


k2 =

200 -200

-200 200


k3 =

300 -300

-300 300


k4 =

400 -400

-400 400


k5 =

500 -500

-500 500


k6 =

600 -600

-600 600

>> K = zeros(5,5)

K =

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

-100 0 100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

-100 0 300 -200 0

0 0 -200 200 0

0 0 0 0 0


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

-100 0 600 -200 -300

0 0 -200 200 0

0 0 -300 0 300


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

-100 0 1000 -200 -700

0 0 -200 200 0

0 0 -700 0 700


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

-100 0 1500 -700 -700

0 0 -700 700 0

0 0 -700 0 700


K =

100 0 -100 0 0

0 600 0 -600 0

-100 0 1500 -700 -700

0 -600 -700 1300 0

0 0 -700 0 700

Stiffness Matrix for Bar Element

Dealing with bar elements involves 2 degree of freedom (dof) per node (similar to

springs). The problem in hand is to obtain the global stiffness matrix of 4 bars

connected with node connectivity as shown:

Figure 3: Bar Elements with Node Numbering

Solution

Approach - 1

The connectivity will be read through a text file and used in the main program to

obtain the global stiffness matrix. For the problem EA/L is assumed to be constant. The

connectivity is read from the text file (Node1.txt) and can be varied for any number of

elements. The code is as follows:

MATLAB Code clc, clear all elcon = load('Node1.txt') % To read the file regarding the connectivity of the elements [row, col] = size(elcon) % Arranging the data in matrix form % Creating the Stiffness Matrix of Zeros Stiffness = zeros(row + 1) % The size of K(global) is one plus the number of elements %********************************************** % Defining the Element Stiffness matrix % ********************************************* a = [1 -1; -1 1] % Assuming EA/L is constant % ********************************************* % Assembly of Stiffness Matrix %**********************************************

for i=1:row m = elcon(i,2); n = elcon(i,3); Stiffness(m,m) = Stiffness(m,m) + a(1,1); Stiffness(m,n) = Stiffness(m,n) + a(1,2); Stiffness(n,m) = Stiffness(n,m) + a(2,1); Stiffness(n,n) = Stiffness(n,n) + a(2,2); end Stiffness MATLAB Output

elcon =

1 1 2

2 2 3

3 3 4

4 4 5

row =

4

col =

3

Stiffness =

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

a =

1 -1

-1 1

Stiffness =

1 -1 0 0 0

-1 2 -1 0 0

0 -1 2 -1 0

0 0 -1 2 -1

0 0 0 -1 1

Approach – 2

The same problem has been addressed by writing the code in a very generalized form.

This code requires the input of number of elements and length (L) and computes the

global stiffness matrix.

MATLAB Code clc,clear all %********************************************** % Input Data %********************************************** numel = 4 % The number of elements numnodes = numel + 1 % Total number of nodes neq = numnodes connection = [1:numel; 2:numel+1]' % Take care of any number of elements % Location of nodes L = 1 x = [0:numel]'/numel*L K = zeros(neq,neq) % The Assembly of the Global Stiffness Matrix for nel = 1:numel n1 = connection(nel,1); n2 = connection(nel,2); x1 = x(n1); x2 = x(n2); ke = [1 -1;-1 1]; % Assembly of element matrix into Global K Matrix K([n1,n2],[n1,n2])=K([n1,n2],[n1,n2])+ke; end

K MATLAB Output

numel =

4

numnodes =

5

neq =

5

connection =

1 2

2 3

3 4

4 5

L =

1

x =

0

0.2500

0.5000

0.7500

1.0000

K =

1 -1 0 0 0

-1 2 -1 0 0

0 -1 2 -1 0

0 0 -1 2 -1

0 0 0 -1 1

Approach 3

Another approach to obtain the stiffness matrix is using the cell array. The same has

been done using following MATLAB Code

MATLAB Code clc, clear all a = [1 -1;-1 1] % Input the connectivity of the nodes of elements b1 = [1 2] b2 = [2 3] b3 = [3 4] b4 = [4 5] % Assigning the connectivity to cell b = {b1,b2,b3,b4} K = zeros(5,5) for i = 1:4 for m = 1:2 for n = 1:2 K(b{i}(1,m),b{i}(1,n))=K(b{i}(1,m),b{i}(1,n)) + a(m,n) end end end K

Stiffness Matrix for Beams

The methodology can be developed for the beam elements using 2 degree of freedom

per node. The element stiffness matrix will become 4x4 and accordingly the global

stiffness matrix dimensions will change. Consider a beam discretized into 3 elements (4

nodes per element) as shown below:

1 2 3 4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Figure 4: Beam dicretized (4 nodes)

The global stiffness matrix will be 8x8. The MATLAB code to assemble it using arbitrary

element stiffness matrix (4x4) is as follows:

MATLAB Code clc, clear all numel = 3 nnodes = numel+1 dof = {[1 2 3 4],[3 4 5 6],[5 6 7 8]} K = zeros(nnodes*2) k = {rand(4), rand(4), rand(4)} % Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix for i = 1:numel for m = 1:4 for n = 1:4 K(dof{i}(1,m),dof{i}(1,n))= K(dof{i}(1,m),dof{i}(1,n))+k{i}(m,n) end end end K

Conclusion

The global stiffness matrix can be assembled using different techniques as described

above. The approach to address the problem has been improved as understanding of

the MATLAB functions and code writing improved. These can be easily extended to

account for the matrix multiplication to get nodal degree of freedom and nodal

forces/reactions as required.

MATLAB Project Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix

Documents

Transcript of MATLAB Project Assembling the Global Stiffness Matrix