SIMPLIFIED GRILLAGE BEAM ANALYSIS WITH ARBITRARY GIRDER END CONSTRAINTS

The theory of beams supported by an elastic foundation has been shown to be particularly well suited to the analysis of grillage beams. A simplified method based on this approach was introduced by Chang not long ago in which he succeeded in uncoupling the governing differential equations by means of a certain matrix transformation. It is shown that the same transformation holds if end moments are treated as external loads and it follows that restriction as to uniformity of girder end constraints is removed. Defined are influence indices of slopes at girder ends due to unit end moments.