Continuum modeling of beamlike lattice trusses using averaging methods

A general procedure to determine the equivalent beam properties of beam-like lattice trusses is presented. The method is based on the energy equivalence. Its main features are the use of piecewise linear functions to represent the displacements, and the definition of the continuum stress and strain parameters by their average values over the continuum cell. This allows a unifying approach to be obtained to derive methods for computing the effective beam properties. It is shown that there is only one rigorous method, and this method takes the lattice periodicity into account. Moreover, the classical method based on static condensation is found to be only approximate, The procedure is applied to examples of planar lattice trusses in static analysis. The results prove the effectiveness and the reliability of the present approach, and comparisons are made with results obtained from other classical methods. (C) 1999 Civil-Comp Ltd and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.