Superposition Method The principle of superposition offers a valid approach to the situation for many statically indeterminate situations.

It is usually used to determine the displacement or stress at a point of a member when the member is subjected to a complicated loading. By subdividing the loading into components, the principle of superposition states that the resultant displacement or stress at the point can be determined by first finding the displacement or stress caused by each component load acting separately on the member. The resultant displacement or stress is then determined by algebraically adding the contributions caused by each of the components.

For example, the bar of Figure 2.a, replaced by the bars shown in Figure 2.b and 2.c. At point B, the bar now experiences the displacements P and R due, respectively, to P and RB. Superposition of these displacements, in order that there be no movement of the right end of the bar, yields P + R = 0 By applying the equation for the deformation or deflection of the bar and taking the elongations to be positive, we have ( From which )

 The remaining reaction can be obtained from the condition of statics: RA + RB = P. The method of superposition employed above may be summarized as the following. One of the unknown reactions is designed as redundant and released from the member by removing the support. The remaining member, which is the rendered statically determinate, is loaded by the actual load (P) and the redundant (RB) itself which is considered to be an unknown load. The expressions for the displacements due to these loads are obtained and substituted into the equation of geometric compatibility to calculate the redundant reaction. The other unknown reaction is found by applying statics. There are two conditions must be valid if the principle of superposition is to be applied. The first condition is the loading must be linearly related to the stress or displacement that is to be determined. For example, the equations = P/A and = PL/AE involve a linear relationship between P and or . For second condition, the loading must not significantly change the original geometry or configuration of the member. If significant changes do occur, the direction and location of the applied forces and their moment arms will change, and consequently, application of the equilibrium equations will yield different results. For example, consider the slender rod as shown in Figure 2.a, which is subjected to the load P. In Figure 2.b, P is replaced by two of its components, P= P1+P2. If P causes the rod to deflect a large amount, as shown, the moment of the load about its support, Pd, will not equal the sum of the moments of its component loads, PdP1d1+P2d2, because d1d2d.