01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Citation
McGuire, W., Gallagher, R. H., & Ziemian, R. D. (2000). Matrix Structural Analysis (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Free electronic edition: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/books/7/
Chapter Summary
The second edition has thirteen chapters. According to the authors' description, the first edition set out to give proper emphasis to the methods of matrix structural analysis used in practice and to lay the groundwork for more advanced subject matter; this extensively revised second edition accounts for the changes in practice over the intervening twenty years. It treats both elementary concepts and relatively advanced material, and contains about 150 illustrative examples. It is packaged with MASTAN2, a MATLAB-based program for interactive structure definition, linear and nonlinear analysis and display of results. A publisher summary adds that the book covers the linear analysis of frameworks by matrix methods, the underlying theory of elasticity, the principles of virtual work, and application issues such as the solution of linear equations and the treatment of constraints.
Chapters 1–3: Introduction; Definitions and Concepts; Formation of the Global Analysis Equations
The opening chapters introduce the subject, define the basic concepts and set out how the equations for a whole structure are assembled. They provide the vocabulary and framework on which the method rests.
Chapters 4–5: Stiffness Analysis of Frames—I; Stiffness Analysis of Frames—II
Two chapters on the matrix stiffness method for frames, the core of the linear analysis in the book. The authors' keywords include the direct stiffness method and the finite element method.
Chapters 6–7: Virtual Work Principles; Virtual Work Principles in Framework Analysis
The principles of virtual work are developed first in general and then applied to the analysis of frameworks. These chapters connect the stiffness method to its energy foundations.
Chapters 8–10 and 12: Nonlinear Analysis of Frames—An Introduction; Geometric Nonlinear and Elastic Critical Load Analysis; Material Nonlinear Analysis; Solution of Nonlinear Equilibrium Equations
The authors describe the introduction to nonlinear analysis as spread over four chapters: a general introduction (Chapter 8), geometric nonlinearity (Chapter 9, which also covers elastic critical load analysis), material nonlinearity (Chapter 10) and the solution of nonlinear equilibrium equations (Chapter 12).
Chapter 11: Solution of Linear Algebraic Equations
A chapter on the solution of the linear algebraic equations that matrix analysis produces.
Chapter 13: Special Analysis Procedures
The final chapter collects special analysis procedures.
Key Concepts
Chapters 1–7: Linear analysis
- Global analysis equations: the assembled equations for an entire structure formed from member behaviour.
- Stiffness analysis of frames: the matrix stiffness method for framed structures.
- Virtual work: the energy principles that underlie the stiffness approach.
Chapters 8–13: Nonlinear analysis and solution
- Geometric nonlinearity and elastic critical load: second-order effects on frame behaviour and the loads at which a frame loses stability.
- Material nonlinearity: the effect of inelastic material behaviour on the analysis.
- Solution of nonlinear equilibrium equations: numerical methods for solving the nonlinear problem.
- Solution of linear algebraic equations: the computational step in every analysis.
Critical Analysis
Strengths
- Free to read. The authors made the second edition freely downloadable from Bucknell's digital repository in January 2015, with a paperback also available, so cost is not a barrier.
- Linear and nonlinear analysis in one book. The chapters move from the basic stiffness method to geometric and material nonlinearity and elastic stability, so a reader can follow the subject from elementary concepts to advanced topics.
- Software to apply the theory. MASTAN2 is built on the formulations in the book and provides graphical structure definition, first- and second-order, elastic and inelastic analysis of two- and three-dimensional frames and trusses, and display of results.
- Many worked examples. About 150 examples apply the developments of consequence in the text.
- Authors with relevant experience. The authors include a coauthor of an earlier steel-structures textbook, a pioneer of the finite element method, and a developer of structural analysis software.
Limitations
- Assumes prior structural analysis. The book is aimed at readers who already know structural analysis; the authors describe the material as running from elementary to relatively advanced, and the nonlinear chapters are advanced.
- Not a first course in structural analysis. There is no introductory classical-methods chapter in the table of contents; the book begins directly with matrix methods.
- Several publication forms. The second edition appeared from Wiley around 1999–2000 and has been available since January 2015 as a free electronic edition and a print edition, so confirm which version a course cites.
Where It Fits in the Course
In this civil and structural engineering course, McGuire, Gallagher and Ziemian is the specialist text on computer-oriented analysis of frames. Hibbeler's Structural Analysis covers classical and modern methods for determinate and indeterminate structures, and Megson's Structural and Stress Analysis brings mechanics of materials and structural analysis together up through energy methods, statically indeterminate structures and matrix methods. Either gives the background on which this book builds. Gordon's Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down and Ji, Bell and Ellis's Understanding and Using Structural Concepts are non-technical or visual introductions to how structures carry load.
Chopra's Dynamics of Structures is a textbook on structural dynamics through earthquake engineering, and the two books complement each other: Chopra for the dynamic response of structures, McGuire, Gallagher and Ziemian for the stiffness and nonlinear static analysis that computer programs for frames rely on.
How to Use This Book
The book is for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and practising structural engineers who already know classical structural analysis and basic matrix algebra, and who want to understand what analysis software does. The free electronic edition makes it easy to use alongside a course.
A practical plan:
- Core: Chapters 1–5 for the linear stiffness method. Work the examples by hand on small frames first.
- Foundations: Chapters 6–7 on virtual work, if the course is theoretical or leads on to the finite element method.
- Further: Chapters 8–10 and 12 for geometric and material nonlinearity and the solution of nonlinear equations, with Chapter 11 for the solution of linear equations.
- Software: Download MASTAN2 and use it to check hand calculations, then analyse larger frames.
Do not skip the examples; the authors designed them to apply every development of consequence in the text.