THE DETERMINATION OF THE COMPUTATIONAL DEGREES OF FREEDOM OF BAR SYSTEMS1)

This paper proposes a direct method to determine thecomputational degree of freedom $W$ of bar systems in a way of simplicityand uniformity. By taking the bar between any two adjacent joints and thejoints as the analysis objects, the direct method gives a formula$W =3 m -(3g+2h$) for the plane system with $m$ bars, $g$ single rigid joints and $h$ single hinge joints. Compared with the previous algorithms to determine $W$, this method is easy to be applied and may increase the accuracy and the efficiency. It can also be used in determining the degrees of freedom of a statically indeterminate problem.