Computational Structural Analysis

INF-01-Rev0

Principle of Virtual Work

2.3.1 Formulation of Virtual Work

To derive the formulation of the Principle of Virtual Work we state the problem of plane stress, explained
in section 2.2.

Considering a body area A, with boundary S and thickness t:

Figure 4 Solid body in 2D coordinates.

The forces and stresses in equilibrium are the following:

𝑇
𝐹 ′ = [𝐹𝑥′ 𝐹𝑦′ ]

𝑇
𝑓 ′ = [𝑓𝑥′ 𝑓𝑦′ ]

𝑇
𝜎 ′ = [𝜎𝑥′ 𝜎𝑦′ 𝜏𝑥𝑦
′
]

The displacements and strains functions:

𝒖′′ = [𝑢′′ 𝑣 ′′ ]𝑇
𝑇
𝜺′′ = [𝜀𝑥′′ 𝜀𝑦′′ 𝛾𝑥𝑦
′′
]

With the stresses and forces on the system we can compute the equilibrium equations:
′
𝜕𝜎𝑥′ 𝜕𝜏𝑦𝑥
+ + 𝐹𝑥 = 0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
′
𝜕𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝜎𝑦
+ + 𝐹𝑦 = 0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

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We multiply each equation by the corresponding displacement function, sum them up and integrate over
the area, obtaining:

′ ′
𝜕𝜎𝑥′ 𝜕𝜏𝑦𝑥 𝜕𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝜎𝑦′
∫ [( + + 𝐹𝑥′ ) 𝑢′′ + ( + + 𝐹𝑦′ ) 𝑣 ′′ ] 𝑑𝐴 = 0
𝐴 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

We solve the integral applying the chain rule, Green’s identities and considering the boundary equilibrium
equation and finally we obtain the formulation of the Principle of Virtual Work:

∫ (𝜎𝑥′ 𝜀𝑥′′ + 𝜏𝑥𝑦

′ ′′
𝛾𝑥𝑦 + 𝜎𝑦′ 𝜀𝑦′′ ) 𝑑𝐴 = ∫ (𝐹𝑥′ 𝑢′′ + 𝐹𝑦′ 𝑣 ′′ ) 𝑑𝐴 + ∫ (𝑓𝑥′ 𝑢′′ + 𝑓𝑦′ 𝑣 ′′ ) 𝑑𝑆
𝐴 𝐴 𝑆

Where we obtain the equality of the internal work and the external work. With this formulation we can
conclude that:

• The only conditions needed are the equilibrium and the compatibility of the system. The
formulation does not require the constitutive law
• The equilibrated and the compatible system are arbitrary, so they are not related to the actual
condition
• We can exploit the equation to make use of the virtual displacements or virtual forces

If we express the formulation in matrix form, we have:

𝑇 𝑇 𝑇
∫ 𝜀 ′′ 𝝈′ 𝑑𝐴 = ∫ 𝒖′′ 𝑭′ 𝑑𝐴 + ∫ 𝒖′′ 𝒇′ 𝑑𝑆
𝐴 𝐴 𝑆

2.3.2 Virtual Displacements

We can utilize the previous formulation to the case where we have a virtual displacement, 𝛿𝒖. The forces
and stresses are defined as:

𝑭′ = 𝑭 𝑖𝑛 𝐴

𝒇′ = 𝒇 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝜎

𝒇′ = 𝒓 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢

𝝈′ = 𝝈

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The displacements are defined as variation of the actual displacements:

𝒖′′ = 𝛿𝒖 𝑖𝑛 𝐴
𝒖′′ = 𝛿𝒖
̅ = 𝟎 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢

𝜺′′ = 𝛿𝜺
With all these considerations we can obtain the Principal of Virtual Displacements:

∫ 𝛿𝜺𝑇 𝝈 𝑑𝐴 = ∫ 𝛿𝒖𝑇 𝑭𝑑𝐴 + ∫ 𝛿𝒖𝑻 𝒇 𝑑𝑆

𝐴 𝐴 𝐴

If we replace the stresses and strains by means of the constitutive law, we only have as unknown the
displacement.

2.3.3 Virtual Forces

We can utilize the previous formulation to the case where we have a variation of the stresses, 𝛿𝝈. The
forces and stresses are defined as:

𝑭′ = 𝜹𝑭 = 𝟎

𝒇′ = 𝜹𝒇 = 𝟎

𝒇′ = 𝜹𝒓 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢

𝝈′ = 𝜹𝝈

The variation of the applied forces is zero since there are prescribed.

The actual displacements are defined:

𝒖′′ = 𝒖 𝑖𝑛 𝐴
𝒖′′ = 𝒖
̅ 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑢

𝜺′′ = 𝜺
With all these considerations we can obtain the Principal of Virtual Forces:

∫ 𝛿𝝈𝜺𝑇 𝑑𝐴 = ∫ 𝛿𝒓𝑇 𝒖
̅ 𝑑𝑆
𝐴 𝑆𝑢

This formulation will be different from zero only if the structure is statically undetermined. Additionally,
if we replace the stresses and strains by means of the constitutive law, we only have as unknown the
stresses.

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