ABSTRACT
Applications of the force method and the displacement method have, in some cases, led to the classical procedures known as column analogy and moment distribution. Column analogy can be used in the analysis of a plane frame formed of one closed bent, and therefore statically indeterminate to a degree not higher than three. The analysis is by the force method, with the redundants chosen at a point called the elastic center, and involves calculations similar to those for stresses in a column cross section subjected to combined bending moments and a normal force. In this chapter the column analogy will be used only to determine the stiffness matrix of nonprismatic straight bars and their bending moment, considering only bending deformations. The use of column analogy to determine the bending moment in single-bay frames is omitted in the sixth edition to provide space for new material.
