AN ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH FOR IMPROVED STIFFNESS MATRIX OF BARS WITH SHEAR AND WIDE SUPPORT EFFECTS

In this study, frames including both the shear and the wide support effect was examined analytically, numerically and experimentally. Stiffness method was used for analytical solution and finite element method was used for numerical solution. Explicit expressions for the stiffness matrix that includes both the shear effect and the wide support effect are presented. A model frame was tested experimentally, and a maximum deflection result was obtained. The same frame was modeled and solved with the finite element method and with the proposed method. The results of three methods were compared. The proposed method was verified successfully. The proposed method, which includes both the shear and wide support effects, produced results that were shown to be closer to the experimental results and the results than were the results of the other models that were investigated