ANALYTICAL DEFLECTIONS AND STRESS ANALYSIS IN SLENDER BAR FRAMED STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO ANTISYMMETRIC LATERAL LOADS

Abstract

Mechanical analysis of the lateral deflections in slender structures is an interesting task to model the mechanical response to transverse forces like seismic or wind forces. Special interest is focused on buildings, communication towers, or tower cranes, as well as any other kind of framed structures. A pure analytical solution for the lateral deflections and vertical displacements, stresses and bending moments of a framed structure under power-law lateral loads is presented in a non-dimensional form. The internal forces of the structure are stated by the force method which drives to a set of linear equations, which are analytically solved, thus reaching an exact, continuous, and differentiable solution. A parametric analysis is performed on a simplified case to show the influence of the dimensionless parameters on the solution. An explicit solution for deflections and bending moments is included for one and two structural levels. The solution is validated via numerical software, using STR and ABAQUS, upon a population of ten, building-like structures. Keywords: structure, deflections, force method, tower, building, lateral load, non-dimensional, antisymmetric