A truss is a mechanical structure that consists of rigid members interconnected to each other through joints. A simple planar truss is shown in the figure below. This is a statically determinate truss with the number of members, m = 5, related to the number of joints, j = 4, by the relationship
m = 2j-3
The internal forces in the five members are {f1, f2, .....,f5}. They are all treated as compression forces because the arrows point away from the joints. If the solution is negative, this represents a tension force.
The left end of the truss is supported by a fixed joint with external horizontal and vertical forces, tb and f7. The right end is supported by a roller joint with a vertical external force, ft.
Two external load forces are placed on the truss, a horizontal load gi at joint B due to the wind, and a vertical load g2 at joint C, from an object supported by the truss. Find the five internal member forces and the three external support forces, assuming static equilibrium conditions at all joints.
The angle θ is set to θ = Π/3 and Φ = Π/6. Assume g1 = 250 N and g2 = 1500 N. Use Gauss elimination to solve the resulting matrix for the unknown internal member and support forces.
