Investigation of Damping Energy in Trusses

Abstract

Trusses are important load-bearing constructions. They are widely applied in various areas of contemporary engineering. Considering the elastic-plastic behaviour of trusses is an important step in developing the methods for analysing the mechanics of these constructions. A specific problem that appears when trusses of elastic-plastic behaviour are subjected to cyclic external loads is the damping energy. In the present paper, a general treatment of the damping problem in trusses with elastic-plastic behaviour is presented. The trusses investigated may have arbitrary geometry and external loading. First, damping in static determinate trusses is considered. A general methodology for deriving the damping energy is developed. Determination of the damping energy in statically indeterminate trusses with arbitrary number and location of the supports is also considered. The general treatment of the damping energy problem is applied to a particular static determinate truss configuration loaded by one external cyclic force. Then the damping energy in a statically indeterminate truss that has the same geometry and loading as that of the statically determinate one is analyzed. A parametric study of the damping energy is performed.