E = Elastic (or Young’s) modulus
Basic Energy Principles
in Stiffness Analysis
Stress-Strain Relations
The application of any theory
requires knowledge of the physical
properties of the material(s)
comprising the structure. We are
limiting our attention to linear
elastic structural response.
Further assuming that the material
is homogenous and isotropic, we
only need to know two of the
following three material constants:
1 2
Fig. 1: Typical Stress () – Strain (e)
Curves for (a) Steel and (b) Concrete
with a pronounced permanent
elongation at a stress ym (Fig.1a).
High strength steels yield gra-
dually, which requires an arbitrary
definition of its yield strength yh,
such as the commonly used 0.2%3
G = Shear modulus
 = Poisson ratio
Normally, the shear modulus is
expressed in terms of the elastic
modulus and Poisson ratio as
E
G
2 (1   )
The most widely used civil
engineering structural materials,
steel and concrete, have uniaxial
stress-strain diagrams of the types
shown in Fig. 1. Mild steels yield
offset criterion. Yield strengths for
steel vary from less than 250 MPa
to more than 700 MPa. For
practical purposes, steel behaves
as an ideal material in both tension
and compression below the yield
or buckling stress. The elastic
modulus and Poisson ratio for
steel are always close to 200,000
MPa and 0.3, respectively.
Concrete is less predictable, but
under short-duration compressive
stress not greater than u/3 – u/2,
its behavior is reasonably linear 4
1

(Fig. 1b in which typical values for
u are: 30 MPa ≤ u ≤ 50 MPa). An
elastic modulus of E = 22,000 MPa
and Poisson ratio of  = 0.15 are
typical for concrete. In using
concrete for analysis, the ACI code
specifies using the gross cross
area properties to perform
analyses to determine the force
distributions in frame structures,
i.e., ignore the reinforcing steel
and tension cracking in calculating
the force distributions.
5 6
Work and Energy
The principle of conservation of
energy is fundamentally important
in structural analysis. This
principle, expressed as energy or
work balance, is applicable to both
rigid and deformable structures.
Rigid structures only require
multiplying the external forces by
the respective displacements.
Deformable structures also require
the summation of the internal
stresses acting through the

respective deformations. Internal

Limiting attention to gradually
work is called strain energy and
applied forces, i.e., ignoring inertial
must be accounted for in the
forces caused by dynamic loads,
energy balance.
and linear elastic response leads
The work dW of a force F acting to
through a change in displacement 1 1
d in the direction of F is
W 0 Fd  k 
0
 d

dW  Fd (1) 
1 1
k  1 2  F1 1 (3)
2 2
Over 1, the total work is F
1 F1
W 0 Fd (2)
k


7
1 8

2
 Expanding to a vector of forces
where U = strain energy for the
and displacements leads to
element. Equation (5) is a
1 homogeneous, quadratic polyno-
W   F  {} (4)
2
mial in terms of the local coor-
The special case shown dinate element displacements {u}
in the right figure: or global coordinate element
u  1
displacement {v}.
W  12  Fx 0     Fx u
v  2

Expanding (4) for a single element

({F} = [k] {u} or {F} = [K] {v}):
W  12  u  [k]{u}
 12  v  [K]{v}  U (5)
9 10

Principle of Virtual Displacements to constructing stiffness equations.

In prior chapters we established The principle of virtual
the relationships of framework displacements can be stated as
analysis directly utilizing the basic
If a deformable structure is in
conditions of equilibrium and
equilibrium and remains in
displacement continuity. Hence-
equilibrium while it is subject to a
forth, we will use energy principles,
virtual distortion, the external
specifically the principle of virtual
virtual work done by the external
displacements since it permits
forces acting on the structure is
mathematical manipulations that
equal to the internal virtual work
are not possible with direct
done by the stress resultants.
procedures. We restrict our
attention to virtual displacements Recall: virtual  imaginary, not
since this principle is applicable 11 real, or in essence but not in fact12

3
The principle of virtual displacements
is expressed mathematically as
Wext = Wint (6)
F displacement equals the work
F1
Wext
W
 generalized to a system of forces
1

where Wext = F1 = external
virtual work (shaded blue area in
the figure) and Wint = internal
13
virtual work.
The internal virtual work (Wint) is a
function of the structure type.
Since this course focuses on frame
members, only axial and bending
deformations will be considered.
Axial Deformation
Consider the axial force system
shown in Fig. 2. The differential
Fig. 2: Axial Deformation
15
Equation (6) is based on the
conservation of energy principle,
i.e. the work done by the external
forces going through a virtual
done by the internal forces due to
the same virtual displacement.
The external virtual work can be
as
s
Wext    q dx   ( i ) Pi (7)
i 1
14
internal virtual work (dWint) is
d(u)
dWint  Fx dx (8a)
dx
where u = virtual axial displace-
ment and Fx = real axial force.
Recalling from your mechanics of
materials class that axial strain ex =
du/dx and the axial force Fx = x A
(axial stress times area), (8a) can
be rewritten as
dWint  e x  x A dx (8b)
Integrating (8b) over the length of
the element and substituting 16
4
Hooke’s law (x = Eex) leads to work is
L L L
Wint   e x EA e x dx Wint    z M z dx    z EI  z dx
0 0 0
L 2
L
d(u) du d (v) d2v
 EA dx (9)  EI dx (10)
dx dx 0 dx 2 dx 2
0
For the beam bending (flexure)
case (Fig. 3), the internal virtual where v = virtual transverse
displacement; z = d(v)/dx =
virtual rotation; Mz = real moment
about the z-axis; z = d2v/dx2 =
curvature strain about the z-axis;
and Mz = EI kz.
17 18
Fig. 3: Bending Deformation

Analytical Solutions Using

Principle of Virtual Displacements
NOTE: A difficulty in applying the
Consider the simple axial force
principle of virtual displacements is
structure shown in Fig. 4. The real
that functions must be assumed or
developed for the real and virtual L
2
displacement functions in (9) and 1 Fx2, u2
x, u

(10). Development of these

Fig. 4: Axial Deformation Structure
expressions will follow finite
element mechanics, which is displacement u:
covered in a later section. u = x/L u2
The real strain is
ex = du/dx = u2/L
Imposing a virtual displacement
19 20

5
u2 results in an external virtual work We will consider various
of expressions for the virtual
Wext = u2 Fx2 displacement to demonstrate the
In order to calculate the internal principle of virtual displacements.
virtual work First, consider
L
d( u) du u = (x/L) u2
Wint   EA dx
0
dx dx The internal virtual work:
L
expressions for u and u over the u u EA
Wint  2  dx EA 2  u 2 u2
length of the axial deformation L 0 L L
structure must be assumed. We
Equating the external and internal
will consistently assume the real
virtual works gives
displacement u:
u2 Fx2 = u2 (EA/L) u2
u = (x/L) u2 or
21 22

u2 = Fx2 L/EA The internal virtual work:

which is exact. L
u 2 x u
Consider next: Wint 
2L 0  cos
2L
dx EA 2
L
u = (x/L)2 u2
EA
The internal virtual work:  u 2 u2
L
L
2u 2 u EA Which again gives the exact
Wint  2  x dx EA L2  u 2
L
u2
L 0 solution:
Which again gives the exact u2 = Fx2 L/EA
solution: These three virtual displacement
u2 = Fx2 L/EA expressions all resulted in an exact
Lastly, consider: solution since the real displace-
u = u2 sin(x/2L) ment solution was exact. If the
chosen real displacements
23 24

6
 A = A1(1-x/2L)
correspond to stresses that 1
Fx2
x, u
2
identically satisfy the conditions
L
of equilibrium, any form of
Fig. 5: Nonprismatic Axial Deformation
admissible virtual displacement Structure
will suffice to produce the exact Consider next the nonprismatic
solution. axial deformation structure of Fig.
5. We will repeat the process
Notice the adjective “admissible” in
considered for Fig. 4 with
front of virtual displacement.
reference to the geometry of Fig.
Admissible means that the
5. Considering the first case:
chosen function is physically
u = (x/L) u2
continuous and satisfies all
L
essential boundary conditions, i.e., u x )dx E u 2
Wint  2  A1 (1  2L
is appropriately zero at all L 0 L
supports. 25 26

3EA1 Equating the external and internal

Wint  u 2 u2
4L virtual works leads to
Equating the external and internal 3F L
u 2  x2
virtual works leads to 2EA1
4F L
u 2  x2 Considering the third virtual
3EA1
displacement expression:
Considering the second virtual
u = u2 sin(x/2L)
displacement expression:
leads to
u = (x/L)2 u2 L
u 2  x  x u
leads to Wint    1
2L 0  2L 
 cos
2L
dx EA1 2
L
2u 2  x2 
L
u2
Wint  
L2 0 
 x  
2L 
dx EA1
L
 1 1  EA
 u 2    1 u 2
2  L
EA1 EA
 2u 2 u2  u 2 (0.818) 1 u 2
3L 27
L 28

7
 Again, equating the external and
internal virtual works leads to
1.222Fx2 L
u2 
EA1
NOTE: None of the three solutions
match. This is because neither the
real or virtual displacements are
exact. However, we produced
three good approximate solutions.
The exact solution for Fig. 5 is
1.387Fx2 L
u2 
EA1
29
Special Transformations
in Analysis
Congruent Transformation
A matrix triple product in which the
pre-multiplying matrix is the
transpose of the post-multiplying
matrix, e.g.
[C]  [A]T [B] [A] or [D]  [A] [B] [A]T
Significance of the transformation is
that [C] and [D] will each be sym-
metric if [B] is symmetric, which is
one of the reasons all our stiffness
matrices were symmetric.
31
The principle of virtual
displacements has its greatest
application in producing
approximate solutions.
The standard procedure is to
adopt a virtual displacement of
the same form as the real
displacement. Adopting different
forms for the real and virtual
displacements can lead to
unsymmetric stiffness matrices.
30
Contragradience Principal
If one transformation is known, e.g.,
the local to global displacements,
the force transformation will be
transpose of the displacement
transformation provided both sets
of forces and displacements are
conjugate and vice versa. Such a
transformation is known as
contragradient (or contragredient)
under the stipulated conditions of
conjugacy. Conjugate simply
means that the force-displacement
pair only produce work in the
32
direction of the displacement.
8
For linear analysis, this is always
the case when using orthogonal
coordinate systems. A good
example are the coordinate
transformations for a truss member
(17.21) in which the transformation
matrices are rectangular:

{ua} = [Ta] {va}

{Fa }  [Ta ]T {Qa }

cos  sin  0 0 
[Ta ]  
 0 0 cos  sin  
33