PARAMETRIC UNIFICATION OF MATRIX STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS - CLASSICAL FORMULATION AND D-CONNECTED MIXED ELEMENTS

Concepts and techniques from the field of Parametrized Variational Pri nciples (PVPs) are extended to Matrix Structural Analysis (MSA). Free parameters are used as weighting factors of governing discrete equatio ns. Combining this idea with matrix manipulation techniques yields a c ontinuous spectrum of supermatrix equations. Setting parameters to num erical values provides specific solution methods, some of which are we ll known whereas others are not. The approach is applied to the classi cal MSA of truss and framework structures as well as to displacement-c onnected FE models generated by a parametrized mixed functional. The m ain advantage of this ''top down'' derivation of solution schemes is t he unification of seemingly disjoint methods for instructional and cla ssification purposes. In addition, the question of duality between ran ge-space and null-space representations is clarified.