Finite

Element
Method
By the

Direct Stiffness Method (DSM)

Recall from previous

lecture
General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: therefore, for the
element, the global stiffness equation is

Recall from
previous lecture
General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: where the global stiffness
matrix for the element is

()

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Now we write the
global stiffness equation for each
element
To achieve this, we first set a table
of values of relevant data as shown
below

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Table of values
() () ()
1 12
2 23
3 24

45
90
135

2 2
0

2 2

2 2
1

2 2

0.5 0.5 0.5

0
1
0
0.5 0.5 0.5

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Element stiffness matrices.
For member (1)
1
1
,1
,1
0.5 0.5
0.5 0.5
1
1
,1
,1

0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
=
1
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
2
,2
,2

0.5
0.5
0.5
1
1
,2
,2

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Element stiffness matrices.
For member (1)
0.3536
0.3536
=
0.3536
0.3536

0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536

1
,1
1
,1
1
,2
1
,2

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Element stiffness matrices.
For member (2)
2
,2
2
,2
2
,3
2
,3

0 0
0 1
=
0 0
0 1

0 0
0 1
0 0
0 1

2
,2
2
,2
2
,3
2
,3

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Element stiffness matrices.
For member (3)
3
,2
3
,2
3
,4
3
,4

0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

0.5 0.5
0.5
0.5
=
0.5 0.5
2 0.5 0.5
0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

3
,2
3
,2
3
,4
3
,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
3. Globalisation: Element stiffness matrices.
For member (3)

0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536

0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
=
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536

3
,2
3
,2
3
,4
3
,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly: Once the globalised
stiffness equation for each element of
the given structure is determined, the
next task is to merge these elements
stiffness equations into a single
master stiffness equation.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly: The merging
operation must satisfy two
requirements
Equilibrium of forces
Compatibility of
displacements

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
Equilibrium of forces: This implies
that the algebraic sum of all externally
applied forces at a joint are balanced by
the sum of the reactive forces exerted
by all the members meeting at that
joint

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
Equilibrium of forces: For example, the
static equilibrium equation for joint 2 of
the example truss is given by:

2 =

(1)
2

(2)
2

(3)
2

General Procedure
Pre-processing

4.Assembly
Compatibility of displacement: This
means that the joint displacement of all
members meeting at a joint is the same.
Again as an example, the compatibility
equations for joint 2 of the example
truss is
(1)
(2)
(1)
(2)
(3)
3
,2 = ,2 = ,2 and ,2 = ,2 = ,2

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4.Assembly: thus the
equilibrium and compatibility
equations for nodes 1, 2, 3
and 4 are:

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly:
1
2

1 =
(1)
1

(1)
1

=0
2 =

(1)
,2

(2)
,2

(1)
(2)
(3)
2 + 2 + 2
(1)
(2)
3
,2 and ,2 = ,2

(3)
,2

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly:

3
4

3 =
(2)
3

4 =
(3)
4

(2)
3

=0
(3)
4

=0

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly: There are basically

two approaches to the

assembly operation.

A. Manual assembly, and

B. Computer oriented assembly
approach.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4.Assembly
A. Manual assembly is suitable
for hand computation and
consist of two key steps

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4.Assembly
A. Manual assembly
I. Augmentation, and
II. merging

General Procedure

Pre-processing

4.Assembly
A. Manual assembly
I.

Augmentation: This is the process of

expanding the force and displacement
vectors to an order that covers all degree
of freedom in the structure. This is
required for compatibility during the
merging operation to create the global
system stiffness equation.

General Procedure

Pre-processing

4. Assembly
A. Manual assembly
I.

Augmentation: since the truss has

a total of eight (8) DoF, the
equilibrium equations for each
element is expanded such that the
force and displacement fields
become vectors containing eight
elements each.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A. Manual assembly
I.

Augmentation: the stiffness

matrix for each element in the
example truss is thus expanded
to an square matrix

General Procedure

Pre-processing

4. Assembly
A. Manual assembly
I. Augmentation: consequently, the
equilibrium equations for elements (1),
(2), (3) and (4) becomes
(1)
(2)
(3)
1 = 1 + 1 + 1
(1)
(2)
(3)
2 = 2 + 2 + 2

3 =
4 =

(1)
3
(1)
4

(2)
+ 3
(2)
+ 4

(3)
+ 3
(3)
+ 4

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
I.
Augmentation: Thus, the stiffness equation for member (1)
become
(1)

,1

(1)

,1

,1

,1

(1)
,2
(1)
,2
(1)
,3
(1)
,3
(1)
,4
(1)
,4

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0
0

0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0 0 0 0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0 0 0 0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
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 0 0 0

,2
1

,2
1

,3
1

,3
1

,4
1

,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
I.
Augmentation: The stiffness equation for member (2)
becomes
(2)
2
,1
,1
(2)

,1

(2)
,2
(2)
,2
(2)
,3
(2)
,3
(2)
,4
(2)
,4

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
0
0
0
0 0
1 0
0
0
1 0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

,1
2

,2
2

,2
2

,3
2

,3
2

,4
2

,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
I.
Augmentation: And finally the stiffness equation for
member (3) becomes
(2)

,1

(2)

,1

,1

,1

(2)
,2
(2)
,2
(2)
,3
(2)
,3
(2)
,4
(2)
,4

0
0
0
0
=
0
0
0
0

0 0
0 0
0 0.3536
0 0.3536
0 0
0
0
0 0.3536
0 0.3536

0
0
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0.3536
0.3536

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0 0.3536 0.3536
0 0.3536 0.3536
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.3536 0.3536
0
0.3536 0.3536

,2
2

,2
2

,3
2

,3
2

,4
2

,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
I.
Augmentation: Considering the requirement
for compatibility of displacement, the
member identification index can be dropped
from the equations above.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly

A. Manual assembly
II. Merging: in qualitative sense, this is
actually the process of reconnecting
the elements back together. This is
achieved by simply superimposing
the stiffness equations of the
individual elements. This yields

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
II.
Merging
,1
0
0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0 0
,1
0
0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0 0
,2
0
0 0 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0.7072
,2
0.3536 0.3536
0
1.7072 0 1 0.3536
=
,3
0
0
0 0
0 0
0

0
0
0 1
0 1
0
,3
0
0 0.3536 0.3536
0 0 0.3536
,4
0
0 0.3536 0.3536
0 0 0.3536
,4

0
0
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0.3536
0.3536

,1
,1
,2
,2
,3
,3
,4
,4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
A.
Manual assembly
II.
Merging: where the global system stiffness matrix is given by
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
=
0

0
0
0

0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0 0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0 0
0 0 0.3536
0
0.3536 0.7072
0 1 0.3536
0
1.7072
0.3536
0
0 0
0 0
0
0
0 1
0 1
0
0 0.3536 0.3536
0 0 0.3536
0 0.3536 0.3536
0 0 0.3536

0
0
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0.3536
0.3536

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly:
There are different approaches to the
computer oriented assembly operation,
depending on the complexity of the structure
involved.
The simplified assembler as the name
suggest is the easiest assembly procedure
and can be adopted where the following
properties hold true for the DSM
implementation.

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly:

All elements are of the same type. For example, all

elements are made up of 2-node plane bar
Number and configuration of the Degree of Freedom
for all nodes is the same.
The sequence of joint numbering proceeds without
breaks
The support conditions are single freedom
constraints: that is, they can be expressed as
constraints on individual degree of freedom.
The master stiffness matrix is stored a full symmetric
matrix.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly: Other
assemblers such as the Multi Element Type
(MET) assembler and the Multi Element
Type and Variable Freedom Configuration
(MET-VFC) assembler are higher
assembling procedures for more complex
structural forms and are beyond the scope
of this module and hence would not be
covered here.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly:
in the simplified assembler procedure,
instead of the stiffness equation being
augmented, the entries from the elements
stiffness matrix are mapped directly unto
the global system stiffness matrix by the
use of Freedom Pointers

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
An array of the set of these freedom
pointers for an element is called the
Element Freedom Table (EFT).

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
This technique expresses the entries to the
master stiffness matrix as the sum of
entries in the elements stiffness matrix ()
using the following relationship

=
=1

()

and =

= 1, 4,
= 1, 4,
= EFT

=1

= EFT

for
e

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly

B. Computer oriented assembly

The example truss will be used to illustrate the
application of the simplified assembler
procedure.
We will begin by setting the entries of the 8 8
master stiffness matrix to zero. Thus

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly

B.

Computer oriented assembly

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
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 0 0 0 0 0 0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

The numbers written against each row are the global

DoF numbers.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly

B. Computer oriented assembly

Next we assemble the FET for all elements by
computing the freedom pointers (FP)
corresponding to all DoF associated with the
element. The FP for elements in the example
truss are obtained from the relation

2 1
( )

2
The value 2 in the formula represents the number of
DoF in the node under consideration and is the
node number.

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly: The FP
the element are computed thus;
211=1
(1
)
1

=
for node 1, and
21=2
221=3
(1
)
2

=
for node 2
22=4

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly This procedure
is repeated for elements 2 and 3. The
resulting for each element are collected
as shown below
(1) = 1,2,3,4 , (2) = 3,4,5,6, , (3) =
3,4,7,8
The are then used to map entries in the
element stiffness matrix () to the master stiffness
matrix as follows

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
For element 1

(1) =

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536

0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 1
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 2
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 3
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 4

Upon merging with , we have

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
For element 1

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0

0
0
0

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0
0

0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
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
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1
2
3
4

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
For element 2

0 0 0 0 3
0 1
4
0
1
(2)
=
,
0
0
0 0 5
0 1 0 1 6
and upon merging with , we have

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
For element 2

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0
0

0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536
0
0.3536
0.3536 1.3536
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

3
4
5
6

General Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly
For element 3

(3)

0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 3

0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 4
=
0.3536 0.3536 7
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 0.3536 8

When merged with , will result to

General Procedure

Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B.
Computer oriented assembly
For element 3
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0
0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0 0
0.7072
0
0.3536 0.3536 3
0.3536
0 1
0
1.7072
0.3536 0.3536 4
0.3536
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
7
0
0 0 0.35360 0.3536 8
0.3536
0.3536
0
0 0 0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536

General
Procedure
Pre-processing
4. Assembly
B. Computer oriented assembly: The global stiffness
matrix for the truss system is therefore

0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
=
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0
0
0
0.3536
0.3536 0.3536 0
0 0
0.7072
0
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536
0 1
0
1.7072
0.3536 0.3536
0.3536
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0 0 0.35360 0.3536
0.3536
0.3536
0
0 0 0.3536 0.3536
0.3536 0.3536

General Procedure
Pre-processing
5. Boundary Conditions (BCs)
a) Reduction Method
b) Modification Method

General Procedure
Pre-processing
5. Boundary Conditions (BCs)
a) Reduction Method
,2

=
,2
0
,2
0.7072
0
=
1.7072 ,2
0

General Procedure

Pre-processing
5. Boundary Conditions (BCs)
b) Modification Method
0
1
0
0

0
0 = 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0 0 0 0
1
0
0
0 0 0 0
0 0.7072
0
0 0 0 0
0
0
1.7072 0 0 0 0
0
0
0
1 0 0 0
0
0
0
0 1 0 0
0
0
0
0 0 1 0
0
0
0
0 0 0 1

,1
,1
,2
,2
,3
,3
,4
,4

General Procedure
6.Joint Displacement Solution