RITZ METHOD IN THE DISCRETE APPROXIMATION OF DISPLACEMENTS FOR SLAB CALCULATION

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Introduction: The FEM reduces the problem of structural analysis for various building structures to the formation and solution of a system of linear algebraic equations. For this purpose, there are techniques available for obtaining FE stiffness and flexibility matrices where the main structural deformation characteristics are taken into account. However, the FEM can also be considered as a special case of the Ritz method in the discrete approximation of the required functions. In the functional of full potential deformation energy with regard to the considered structure, all adopted stress-strain state characteristics are taken into account. Since it is difficult or impossible to find continuous approximation functions both in the classic version of the Ritz method and in the Bubnov–Galerkin method for some types of edge restraint in such building structures as beams, slabs, or shells, it is possible to use the Ritz method in the discrete approximation of the required functions (by analogy with the FEM). This paper presents a method of such calculations using slab calculations as an example. It is shown that, due to introducing some notations (operators), the process of finding the coefficients of the system of linear algebraic equations creates no difficulties and is easily programmable. The proposed method is not an alternative to the FEM, which is the most effective numerical method for the calculation of complex three-dimensional building structures. Purpose of the study: We aimed to create a method for calculating slabs by the Ritz method in the discrete approximation of the deflection function for edge restraint cases when it is difficult or impossible to find continuous approximation functions in the classic version of the Ritz method and the Bubnov–Galerkin method. Methods: Based on the application of the Ritz variational method in the discrete approximation of displacements for slab calculation, all the basic relations for rectangular finite elements with 12 degrees of freedom are obtained, and an algorithm for forming the coefficients of the system of linear algebraic equations is developed. Results: For the first time, the solution by the Ritz method in the discrete approximation of slab displacements is obtained for the case when two edges of the slab are rigidly restrained and other two edges are free. In this case, the correct solution of the above problem is possible only with the use of the proposed method and FEM. For the test problem, we performed a comparison of the results of the calculation using the proposed method with the results using the classic Ritz method, which showed their very close agreement. The accuracy of the obtained results was assessed.