What size is the Global Stiffness Matrix in this Example?

[ihebmtir]

TL;DR Summary

4 nodes global stifness matrix

does this Beam, composed of three elements and 4 nodes(considering lateral deflections and slopes) has an 8x8 global stifness matrix
and if so is the global matrix calculated the same way as a 6x6 stifness matrix for the same kind of beam but only with two elements and 3 nodes

 

[Arjan82]

There is tons of info on the web about this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=global+stiffness+matrix

 

[FEAnalyst]

The size of global stiffness matrix is the number of nodes multiplied by the number of degrees of freedom per node.

 

[bob012345]

There is tons of info on the web about this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=global+stiffness+matrix

Yes, all bad. I looked at many sources and none of them follow a straightforward problem without shortcuts that obscure the method or missing key details or not explaining where things go or mixing numbers and matrices or whatever.