I've become curious of this question since my time on KSP, and searches have not rendered much.
In the simulator, building large stations even without the micro atmosphere being simulated, can cause them to become unstable from even the slightest rotational torque, and start "wiggling" about.
It seems a little exaggerated in the game, but something tells me their structural stiffness and bendiness values may not be so far off, perhaps?
So as they were building the ISS, and the station's length expanded until the solar arrays were installed, were the re-boosts accounting for the extra torque and off-center of thrust, perhaps with throttling?
I just want to see if structural integrity was ever considered for re-boosts at the station's current size, if there's a paper maybe?
Extra is for info on off-center center-of-thrust and center-of-mass considerations and compensations. (Active systems would add an additional torque, was this considered?)