Algorithm for the Dynamic Analysis of Plane Rectangular Rigid Frame Subjected to Ground Motion

Abstract

Dynamic analysis of frames involves very rigorous method which always requires software programming to take care of cumbersome calculations that are always involved. An easy manual method has been developed here to take care of these rigorous calculations that always require software programming. This method was used to analyze a three storey plane rectangular rigid frame. The condensed matrix gotten from this method was compared with that of Chopra and the result shows high similarity. Eigen value, eigenvector, shear force and base overturning moment of the three storey frame were also determined in the analysis. The results showed that plane rectangular rigid frames can easily be analyzed with this method which is less cumbersome and easy to apply. However this method cannot easily handle more than ten storey frames because of large matrix calculations involved.