CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO STABILITY
AND DETERMINACY

Main reference : Structural Analysis (R.C. Hibbeler)

PART 1 : STRUCTURES
At the end of this lesson, student should be able to:
• Define the term structure
• Identify the types and elements of structure.
• Identify the types of joints and support in structures.
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE

DUBAI UAE
MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

CHINA
TRADISIONAL

MODERN
 STRUCTURES
 Can be defined as forms or shapes such as building, bridges, dams and walls and are design to
resist any applied load without losing their own strength capacities and any appreciable
deformation.
 Transmit all applied loads to the support systems.
 All structure is required to be strong, stable and functioning.
 Can be categorized into :
 Framed types
 Mass types
 Framed structure resist the applied loads by virtue of their geometry.
 Mass structure are a type of structures which can resist the applied load by virtue of their
weight.
EXAMPLE OF STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS

BEAM COLUMN ARCH WALLS

TRUSSES FOUNDATION SLAB

 TYPES OF JOINTS IN FRAMED
STRUCTURES
TYPES OF CONNECTION

1. Stiff joint
 Considered have fixity at the point of connection and rigid.
 One member meeting at the joint influences another
member.
2. Pinned joint
 Also known as hinged point.
 Common applications: roof trusses and bridges were
constructed using pinned joint.
 Allow relative movement of the member and it cannot resist
bending movement.
Stiff joint

Angle remains
Rigid joint
unaltered

Rotation
Pinned joint

Member not affected

Pinned Rotation
joint

Bending of member
due to load
TYPES OF SUPPORT IN STRUCTURES
TYPES OF SUPPORT IN STRUCTURES
 Foundation Extraordinary
Failure Loads

Unexpected
Faulty Failure Modes
Construction

Bad COLLAPSE Combination of

Design WHY?? Causes
 Food of mind

60kN

A B
C
10m 5m

beam
1. The structure element shows in figure above is ……….
2. The structure above can be categorized as ………………..
Frame Type
3. What types of connection indicated at point A, B and C.
Pinned roller free

4. Identify the number of reaction at point A, B and C 2 1 0

 Covered…..

• Define the term structure

• Identify the types and elements of structure.
• Identify the types of joints and support in
structures.
PART 2 : DETERMINACY
At the end of this lesson, student should be able
to:
• Identified the determinacy criteria of
structure
• Determine the number of redundancy for the
structure.
• Draw FBD for structures
 IDEALIZED STRUCTURE
 An exact analysis of a structure can never be carried out, since estimates
always have to be made of the loadings and the strength of the materials
composing the structure.
 Furthermore, points of application for the loadings must also be estimated.
 It is important, therefore, that the structural engineer develop the ability to
model or idealize a structure so that he or she can perform a practical
force analysis of the members.

Actual IDEALIZED ANALYZED

FBD
Structure STRUCTURE STRUCTURE
 FREE
BODY
DIAGRAM
Actual Structure

Idealized Structure
 Free body diagrams
Any force system acting on a structure is easily analyzed if the
appropriate reactions required to maintain equilibrium are inserted in
a diagrams.

FBD
 5000 lb

Cx
C D

10 ft
Cy Dy
 EQUATION OF EQUILIBRIUM

3D
2D
Single plane
 CONDITIONS OF DETERMINACY

 To state of static equilibrium, it is necessary to establish the

DETERMINACY and STABILITY
 Equilibrium equation provide sufficient conditions for equilibrium. All
forces can be determined strictly from these equation
 Structure is referred as STATICALLY DETERMINATE

 However, structure having more unknown forces than available

equilibrium equation referred as STATICALLY INDETERMINATE
 This can be determined using a free body diagram
BEAMS & FRAMES
DETERMINACY & STABILITY
 BEAM
1. A beam is a horizontal structural member in a building to resist the lateral loads applied to the
beams axis.

2. The structural member which resists the forces laterally or transversely applied to the (beam)
axis is called a beam.

3. In it, the loads are acting transversely to the longitudinal axis, which produces the shear
forces and bending moment.

4. The lateral load acting on beams are the main cause bending of the beam.

5. They are responsible to transfer a load from the slab to the column. 
BEAMS
 FRAME
1. Frame structures are the structures having the combination of beam, column and slab to resist the
lateral and gravity loads.

2. These structures are usually used to overcome the large moments developing due to the applied
loading.
 DETERMINACY OF BEAM / FRAME
Beam and frame are classified as determinate or indeterminate depending upon the internal
forces in the member or external support reaction.

STATICALLY DETERMINATE
When all the forces in a structure can be determined strictly from equilibrium equations.

STATICALLY INDETERMINATE
Structures having more unknown forces than available equilibrium equations are.

The additional equations needed to solve for the unknown reactions are obtained by
relating the applied loads and reactions to the displacement or slope at different points on
the structure.
These equations, which are referred to as compatibility equations, must be equal in
number to the degree of indeterminacy of the structure.
EXAMPLES

HINGE
CONNECTION
CONSIDERED
TO HAVE 2
REATION
 STABILITY OF BEAM / FRAME

1. To ensure the equilibrium of a structure or its members, it is not only

necessary to satisfy the equations of equilibrium, but the members must
also be properly held or constrained by their supports regardless of how
the structure is loaded.
2. Two situations may occur where the conditions for proper constraint
have not been met.
 Partial Constraints
 Improper Constraints
 STABILITY OF BEAM / FRAME
Partial Constraints

Instability can occur if a structure or one

of its members has fewer reactive forces
than equations of equilibrium that must
be satisfied.

The structure then becomes only

partially constrained.
STABILITY OF BEAM / FRAME
Improper Constraints

In some cases, there may be as many unknown forces as there are equations of equilibrium; however, instability
or movement of a structure or its members can develop because of improper constraining by the supports.

This can occur if all the support reactions are concurrent at a point.
 EXAMPLES
Classify each of the structures in Figs. 2–26a through 2–26d as stable or unstable. The structures
are subjected to arbitrary external loads that are assumed to be known.
Food of mind
Food of mind
Food of mind
TRUSSES
DETERMINACY & STABILITY
 TRUSS
1. A truss is a structure composed of slender
members joined together at their end
points.

2. The members commonly used in

construction consist of wooden struts,
metal bars, angles, or channels.

3. The joint connections are usually formed

by bolting or welding the ends of the
members to a common plate, called a
gusset plate.

4. Planar trusses lie in a single plane and are

often used to support roofs and bridges.
ROOF TRUSSES
BRIDGE TRUSSES
TRUSSES

Planar Trusses

Simple truss Compound truss Complex truss

The simplest framework that is Foamed by connecting two or more Its cannot be classified either simple or
rigid and stable – triangle. simple truss. compound truss.
 Assumptions for Design & Analysis Trusses

1. The members are joined together by smooth pins.

2. All loadings are applied at the joints.

3. Because of these two assumptions, each truss member acts as an axial force
member, and therefore the forces acting at the ends of the member must be
directed along the axis of the member.

4. If the force tends to elongate the member, it is a tensile force (T).

5. If the force tends to shorten the member, it is a compressive force (C),

 DETERMINACY OF TRUSS
For any problem in truss analysis, it should be realized that the total number of unknowns
includes the forces in b number of bars of the truss and the total number of external
support reactions r.

Since the truss members are all straight axial force members lying in the same plane, the
force system acting at each joint is coplanar and concurrent.

In particular, the degree of indeterminacy is specified by the difference in the numbers (b +

r) - 2j.
 STABILITY OF TRUSS
1. If b + r < 2j, a truss will be unstable, that is, a loading can be applied to the truss that causes it to
collapse, since there will be an insufficient number of bars or reactions to constrain all the joints.

2. Also, a truss can be unstable if it is statically determinate or statically indeterminate. In this case
the stability will have to be determined either by inspection or by a force analysis to find out
externally unstable or internally unstable.
 STABILITY OF TRUSS
3. Truss externally unstable if all of its reactions are concurrent or parallel.
 STABILITY OF TRUSS
4. The internal stability of a truss can often be checked by careful inspection of the arrangement of
its members.

i. If it can be determined that each joint is held fixed so that it cannot move in a “rigid body”
sense with respect to the other joints, then the truss will be stable. Notice that a simple truss
will always be internally stable, since by the nature of its construction it requires starting from
a basic triangular element and adding successive “rigid elements,” each containing two
additional members and a joint. The truss below exemplifies this construction, where, starting
with the shaded triangle element ABC, the successive joints D, E, F, G, H have been added.

Unstable Stable
 STABILITY OF TRUSS
ii. If a truss is constructed so that it does not hold its joints in a fixed position, it will be unstable
or have a “critical form.” An obvious example of this is shown in Fig. 3–15, where it can be seen
that no restraint or fixity is provided between joints C and F or B and E, and so the truss will
collapse under a vertical load.

Unstable Stable
 EXAMPLES
Classify each of the trusses below either stable, unstable, statically determinate, or statically
indeterminate. The trusses are subjected to arbitrary external loadings that are assumed to be
known and can act anywhere on the trusses.
 Covered…..

• Identified the determinacy criteria of structure

• Determine the number of redundancy for the structure.
• Draw FBD for structures
CONCLUSION BEAMS & FRAMES
CONCLUSION BEAMS & FRAMES
CONCLUSION BEAMS & FRAMES
 CONCLUSION TRUSSES
1. Trusses are composed of slender members joined together at their end points to form a
series of triangles.

2. Trusses can be classified in three ways:

• Simple trusses
• Compound trusses
• Complex trusses

3. If the number of bars or members of a truss is b, and there are r reactions and j joints,
then if
• b + r = 2j the truss will be statically determinate
• b + r > 2j the truss will be statically indeterminate
 CONCLUSION TRUSSES
4. The truss will be externally
unstable if the reactions are
concurrent or parallel.

5. Internal stability can be checked

by counting the number of bars b,
reactions r, and joints j. If b + r <
2j the truss is unstable.

6. If b + r ≥ 2j it may still be
unstable, so it becomes necessary
to inspect the truss and look for
bar arrangements that form a
parallel mechanism, without
forming a triangular element.
 ANY
QUESTIO
N?