Efficiency and Accuracy of the Flexibility and Stiffness Methods for the Calculation of Beam-Like Redundant Structures

Abstract

In this report a critical study is made of the flexibility and stiffness methods for the static calculation of beam like structures. I found that the computation speed and the accuracy of both methods are essentially determined by the number of elements in the structure and the degree of redundancy. Several computer trials have shown that the flexibility method is the most economic and the most accurate for the calculation of structures with a small degree of redundancy. The stiffness method is the most efficient for the calculation of highly redundant structures.