ANALYSIS OF THE DEFLECTION OF A TRUSS WITH A DECORATIVE LATTICE

Introduction. A scheme is proposed for a planar symmetric statically determinate beam truss with a rectilinear lower belt, struts, multidirectional braces and a polygonal outline of the upper belt. The belts of the truss are rectilinear, the hinges are ideal. The truss belongs to the class of regular trusses having periodic cells. The supporting rods are not deformable. The truss is evenly loaded around the nodes of the lower belt. Materials and methods. The task is to deduce the dependence of the deflection of the truss on the number of panels in the span. The deflection is obtained from the Maxwell-Mora formula under the assumption that all the rods have the same rigidity. Forces in the structural rods from the effective uniform load and from the unit vertical in the middle of the span are determined by the method of cutting the nodes. The matrix of the system of linear equations of node equilibrium is made up of the cosines of the forces with the coordinate axes. To compile a system of equations and solve it, the program of symbolic mathematics Maple is used. To obtain the general formula, a number of problems of trusses with a number of panels from 2 to 29 are solved. Sequences of the coefficients of the deflection formula have common terms for which homogeneous recurrence equations are also compiled using the methods of the Maple system using specialized operators. Results. The solutions of recurrence equations have the form of polynomials with coefficients that depend on the parity of the number of panels and contain trigonometric functions. The graphs of the solutions obtained are constructed and analysed. Sharp changes of deflection characteristic for such truss and their non-monotonic character are noted. It is shown that for a fixed, independent on the number of panels, length of the span and the total load, the relative deflection with increasing number of panels first decreases, then varies little. Conclusions. The asymptotic property of the solution is obtained by the methods of the Maple system: an inclined asymptote is found. The slope is calculated using the analytical capabilities of Maple. A simple formula is derived for the horizontal displacement of the mobile support from the action of the load. The dependence is monotonic. The height of the truss is included in the denominator of the formula.