Abstract: For the solution of a cyclic symmetric structure, the stiffness matrix of the finite element equations has to carry out the elementary operation as inserting the cyclci symmetric condition. The elementary operation will hange the band-widths and positions of non-zero elements in the stiffness matrix. A Pseudo-element Method (PEM) is presented in this paper for solving the cyclic symmetric structures. In the present method, three kinds of pseudo elements are devised to consider the changes in stiffness matrix during the elementary operations. In the case , the stiffness matrix for the whole structure need not be assembled and the frontal solution program may be directly used. This can greatly reduce the computer in-core storage and CPU time. The calculated results show, in comparison with those of elastic theory, that PEM is an effective and reliable method.

Key words: cyclic symmetric structure, Pseudo-element Method, matrix operation