POTENTIAL ENERGY, .

The total potential energy of an elastic body , is

defined as the sum of total strain energy (U) and the
work potential (WP) .
= U + WP

For linear elastic materials , the

strain energy per unit volume in
1
the body is T
2

For elastic body total strain

energy (U) is U = 1 T dv
2

The work potential is given by

WP = u fdV u Tds u Pi
.

T
i

The total potential energy for the general

elastic body is
.
.
1 T
T
T
T
= dv u fdV u Tds ui Pi
V
S
2
i

Principal of minimum potential

energy
For conservative systems, of all the
kinematically admissible displacement
fields, those corresponding to equilibrium
extremize the total potential energy . If the
extremum condition is a minimum , the
equilibrium state is stable

Example
1
1

K2`
2

K1`
q2
K3

q1
q3 K4
3

4
Figure-1

Figure 1 ,shows a system of spring .

The total potential energy is given by

1
1
1
1
2
2
2
= k11 + k2 2 + k3 3 + k4 42 F1q1 F3q3
2
2
2
2

where 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 are extensions of four spring .

since
1 = q 1 - q 2
2 = q 2
3 = q 3 - q 2
4 = - q 3

we have
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
= k1 ( q1 q2 ) + k2 q2 + k3 ( q3 q2 ) + k4 q32 F1q1 F3q3
2
2
2
2

where
q 1 , q 2 , and q 3 are the displacements of nodes
1 , 2 and 3 respectively

 For equilibrium of this 3- DOF system , we need

to minimize to with respect to q 1 , q 2 , and q 3
the three equations are given by

qi

=0

i = 1 ,2 ,3

which are

q1

= k1 (q 1 - q 2) - F1 = 0

q2

q3

= -k1 (q 1 - q 2) + k2 q2 - k3 (q 3 - q 2) = 0

= k3 (q 3 - q 2) + k4 q3 F3 = 0

Equilibrium equation can be put in the form of

K q = F as follows

K1

-K1

-K1

K1+ K2+ K3

-K3

-K3

K3+ K4

q1
q2
q3

F1
=

0
F3

.. .. 1 1

If on the other hand , we proceed to write the

equilibrium of the system by considering the
equilibrium of each separate node as shown in
figure 2
We can write
K11 = F1
K22 - K11 - K33 = 0
K33 - K44 = F3
Which is precisely the set of equations represented in
Eq-1

We see clearly that the set of equation 1

is obtained in a routine manner using the
potential energy approach, without any
reference to the free body diagrams .
This make the potential energy approach
attractive for large and complex problems .

RAYLEIGH-RITZ METHOD
Rayleigh-Ritz method involves the construction of
an assumed displacement field, say
u = ai i ( x, y, z)

i = 1 to L

v = aj j( x, y, z)

j = L + 1 to M

w = ak k( x, y, z)

k = M + 1 to N

N > M > L

Eq-1

The functions i are usually taken as

polynomials. Displacements u, v, w must
satisfy boundary conditions.

Introducing stress-strain and straindisplacement relation Substituting

equation 1 in to (PE)

= ( a1, a2, a3, ... ar )

where r = no of independent unknowns
the extremum with respect to ai,( i = 1 to r)
yields the set of r equation

ai

=0

i = 1, 2, 3 ,r

Example

The potential energy of for the linear 1-D

rod with body force is neglected , is

1
=
2

EA du

dx
where u1= u

(x = 1)

d x 2 u1

E = 1, A= 1
X

1
2

let as consider a polynomial function

u = a1 + a2x + a3x3 this must satisfy
u = 0, at x = 0
u = 0 at x = 2
thus

0 = a1
0 = a1 +2 a2+ 4a3

Figure- 2

Hence
a2 = -2a3
u = a3 (-2x + x2)
u1 = -a3
du
= 2a3 ( 1 + x )
dx

then ,

and

2
1
= EA du dx dx 2u1
20

2
= 2a + 2a3
3
2
3

we set

=0

a3
Resulting in a3 = -0.75
u1 = - a3 = 0.75

the stress in bar given by

du
=E
= 1.5 (1 x )
dx

exact solution is obtained if piecewise

polynomial interpolation is used in the
construction of u .

GALERKINS METHOD
Galerkins method uses the set of governing
equations in the development of an integral form.
It is usually presented as one of the weighted
residual methods.
Let us consider a general representation of a
governing equation on a region V
Lu = P
Where , L as operator operating on u

For the one-dimensional rid considered in

previous example
Governing equation

(
dx

EA du

=0
)
dx

We may consider L as operator, operating

on u
d EA d ( )
dx
dx

 The exact solution needs to satisfy Lu=P

at every point x .
If we seek an approximate solution u , if
introduces an error ( x ), called the residual

(x ) =

Lu P
The approximate methods revolve around
setting the residual relative to a weighting
function Wi ,i = 0 to n

W ( Lu P ) dV = 0
i

The weighting function Wi are chosen from

the basis functions used for constructing
n

u = Qi Gi
i =1

Here ,we choose the weighting function to

be linear combination of the basis function
Gi . Specifically ,consider an arbitrary
function

Given by

i=1

iG

Where the coefficient i are arbitrary , except

for requiring that satisfy boundary
conditions were u is prescribed.

For elastic materials

x xy xz
V [( x + y + z + f x ) x + ......]dV = 0

V x dV = V x dV + S nxdS
T
T
T
T

)
dV

fdV

TdS

Example
let us consider the problem of the previous
example and solve it by Galerkins approach.
The equilibrium equation is

dx

EA du

dx

=0

u=0 at x=0
u=0 at x=0
Multiplying this differential equation by
Integrating by pars, we get

Figure- 2

dx ) (
1

du

EA

dx

Where

is zero at x = 0 and x = 2.

EA du

dx

+ EA du

+ EA du

dx )

=0

dx is the tension in the rod ,which

takes a jump of magnitude 2 at x = 1 , thus

2

EA du

d
dx

dx

+ 21 = 0

Now we use the same polynomial (basis ) for u

and
if u1 and are the value at x = 1 ,thus

u = ( 2 x x ) u1
2

= ( 2x x ) 1
2

Substituting these and E = 1, A = 1 in the

previous integral yields
2

2
u1 (2 2 x ) d x + 2 = 0
0

1 8 3 u1 + 2 = 0
This is to be satisfied for every 1 .
We get

u1 = 0.75