Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
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Portal frame — the series

One essay so far on this idea, and more questions about it than one essay answers.
  1. A portal frame swaying under 20 kN. A portal frame pushed sideways, solved by the stiffness method because statics cannot divide the load between two columns. The base shears come out at 10.0 and 10.0 and add to the applied 20; the peak moment is 22.2. The sway is drawn hugely exaggerated, and the moment diagram is plotted on each member's tension face.

    The frame that leans, and what stops it

    A rectangle of pinned bars folds flat. Make the corners rigid instead of adding a diagonal and it does not — which buys an unobstructed opening and costs bending in every member of it.

    part 1 · structures

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