 | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details. (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kinematic determinacy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Kinematic determinacy is a term used in structural mechanics to describe a structure where material compatibility conditions alone can be used to calculate deflections. A kinematically determinate structure can be defined as a structure where, if it is possible to find nodal displacements compatible with member extensions, those nodal displacements are unique. The structure has no possible mechanisms, i.e. nodal displacements, compatible with zero member extensions, at least to a first-order approximation. Mathematically, the mass matrix of the structure must have full rank. Kinematic determinacy can be loosely used to classify an arrangement of structural members as a structure (stable) instead of a mechanism (unstable). The principles of kinematic determinacy are used to design precision devices such as mirror mounts for optics, and precision linear motion bearings.
See also
References
- Xia, Yong-Qiang; Xiao, Nan; Chen, Hua-Peng; Qian, Xiao-Qian (2019). "Determination of static and kinematic determinacy of pin-jointed assemblies using rigid-body displacements as primary unknown variables". Engineering Structures. 181: 643–652. Bibcode:2019EngSt.181..643X. doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.12.037. S2CID 116061415.
 | This technology-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |