An Alternative Derivation of Castiglianos Theorem, for Linear Systems The reason for doing this is that it enables us to equate

the complementary energy to the elastic strain energy. It is the elastic strain energy that we have learnt to compute in this course. Another motivation is that, for linear systems, we can argue physically and do not have to depend on the graphical representation of the incremental complementary energy xj Pj.

P U* U
x

The arguments are as follows: 1) For linear systems, U=U*. Thus, we can write Castiglianos theorem as U/ Fi =
i

U, being the strain energy rather than the complementary energy, is easy to compute (dU = Pdxj , rather than dU* = xjdP). 2) The final configuration (hence U) is independent of the order of loading. U = U (P1, P2) or, U = ( U/ Pj ) Pj (if Pj alone is incremented) For conservative systems, U = W (F1, F2 ..) i.e., U = W = ( W/ Fi) Fi (if Fi alone is incremented) Since W = U, we can write the above as U = ( U/ Fi) Fi -----------(1) Now, suppose we reverse the order of loading. Then, Fi is the first load to be applied, and causes an initial small strain energy U = ( i) ( Fi). All other forces, being zero, make no contribution. This U is clearly a second order term and can be neglected. The other loads are now applied and the net strain energy increases to U+ U, where U+ U =
i

i
0

Fi d i + ( Fi)

and in which U = ( Fi) i is due to the work done by the initial force Fi in moving through the displacement i that results from all of the loads being applied. Note that U =
i

Fi d i

Thus, we have

U = ( Fi)

-----------------------------(2)

3) Because the history of loading is unimportant in a linear system, the eqs. (1) and (2) must represent the same quantity. Hence, ( U/ Fi) Fi = ( Fi) or, ( U/ Fi ) = and that is Castiglianos theorem.
i i