Lattice transmission towers, steel truss bridges or roof support systems can be modelled accurately by employing truss elements. In this section, the element stiffness matrix is derived for a linear-elastic truss (or bar) element. Local and global co-ordinate systems are introduced to facilitate the formulation. Each element has its own local co-ordinate system which is designated by lower case letters, x, y, z whereas the global co-ordinate system (i.e., reference co-ordinate) is indicated by upper case letters X, Y, Z (Figure 6.9(a)). Similarly, the displacement components with respect to local co-ordinate system are indicated by the lower case letters u, v, w and those in the global co-ordinate system are shown by the upper ...
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