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So far, structural mechanics using Direct Stiffness approach

Finite element method is used to solve physical problems

Solid Mechanics
Principles of minimum Fluid Mechanics
Heat Transfer
potential energy and Electrostatics
Electromagnetism
Rayleigh-Ritz ….
Physical problems are governed by differential equations which satisfy
Boundary conditions
Initial conditions

One variable: Ordinary differential equation (ODE)

Multiple independent variables: Partial differential equation (PDE)

Axially loaded elastic bar

A systematic technique of solving the differential equations y A(x) = cross section at x
b(x) = body force distribution
Differential equations (strong) formulation (today) (force per unit length)
x E(x) = Young’s modulus
x u(x) = displacement of the bar
x=0 x=L at x
Variational (weak) formulation

Differential equation governing the response of the bar

d  du 
 AE   b  0; 0 xL
Approximate the weak form using finite elements dx  dx 

Second order differential equations

Requires 2 boundary conditions for solution

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x
x
x=0 x=L

Boundary conditions (examples)

u0 at x  0 Dirichlet/ displacement bc
u 1 at x  L

u0 at x  0
du Neumann/ force bc
EA  F at x  L
dx
Differential equation + Boundary conditions = Strong form
of the “boundary value problem”

Observe:
1. All the cases we considered lead to very similar differential A generic problem in 1D
equations and boundary conditions. d 2u
2. In 1D it is easy to analytically solve these equations  x  0; 0  x 1
dx 2
3. Not so in 2 and 3D especially when the geometry of the domain is u  0 at x  0
complex: need to solve approximately
u  1 at x  1
4. We’ll learn how to solve these equations in 1D. The approximation
techniques easily translate to 2 and 3D, no matter how complex the Approximate solution strategy:
geometry Guess u ( x)  a 0j o ( x)  a1j1 ( x)  a 2j 2 ( x)  ...
Where jo(x), j1(x),… are “known” functions and ao, a1, etc are
constants chosen such that the approximate solution
1. Satisfies the boundary conditions
2. Satisfies the differential equation
Too difficult to satisfy for general problems!!

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Potential energy Strain energy of a linear spring

The potential energy of an elastic body is defined as F x

k k
1 F
  Strain energy (U)  potential energy of loading W  u k
u
F = Force in the spring
u = deflection of the spring
k = “stiffness” of the spring

Hooke’s Law
F = ku

Strain energy of a linear spring Strain energy of a nonlinear spring

dU Differential strain energy of the spring dU dU  Fdu

F for a small change in displacement F The total strain energy of the spring
(du) of the spring
dU  Fdu
u u+du For a linear spring u u+du
dU  kudu u
U   F du  Area under the force  dispalcement curve
The total strain energy of the spring 0

u 1
U   k u du  k u2
0 2

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Potential energy of the loading (for a single spring as in the figure) Principle of minimum potential energy for a system of springs
k1 k2
W  Fu F
x
x d1x d 2x d 3x
k For this system of spring, first write down the total potential
F energy of the system as:
k 1 1 
u  system   k1 (d 2 x ) 2  k 2 (d 3 x  d 2 x ) 2   Fd 3x
 2 2 
Potential energy of a linear spring Obtain the equilibrium equations by minimizing the potential energy
  Strain energy (U)  potential energy of loading W   system
 k1d 2 x  k 2 (d 3 x  d 2 x )  0 Equation (1)
1 d 2 x
Π  ku 2  Fu
2  system
Example of how to obtain the equlibr  k 2 (d 3 x  d 2 x )  F  0 Equation (2)
d 3 x

Principle of minimum potential energy for a system of springs

Axially loaded elastic bar
y A(x) = cross section at x
In matrix form, equations 1 and 2 look like b(x) = body force distribution
F (force per unit length)
 k1  k 2  k 2  d 2 x   0  x E(x) = Young’s modulus
 k 
 2 k 2  d 3 x   F  x u(x) = displacement of the bar
x=0 x=L at x
Does this equation look familiar?
du
Axial strain ε 
Also look at example problem worked out in class dx
du
Axial stress   Eε  E
dx 2
 1 1 du 
Strain energy per unit volume of the bar dU  σε  E 
2 2  dx 
Strain energy of the bar
1 L 1
U   dU   σε dV   σε Adx since dV=Adx
2 x 0 2

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Axially loaded elastic bar Principle of Minimum Potential Energy

Among all admissible displacements that a body can have, the one
Strain energy of the bar that minimizes the total potential energy of the body satisfies the
strong formulation
2
L 1 1 L  du 
U σεA dx   EA  dx
0 2 2 0  dx  Admissible displacements: these are any reasonable displacement
that you can think of that satisfy the displacement boundary
Potential energy of the loading conditions of the original problem (and of course certain minimum
L
continuity requirements). Example:
W   bu dx  Fu(x  L)
0 Any other “admissible”
displacement field w(x)
Potential energy of the axially loaded bar
2
1 L  du  L

2 0
EA  dx   bu dx  Fu(x  L)
 dx  0
Exact solution for the
displacement field uexact(x)
x
0 L

Lets see what this means for an axially loaded elastic bar
y A(x) = cross section at x Potential energy of the axially loaded bar corresponding to the
b(x) = body force distribution “admissible” displacement w(x)
F (force per unit length)
x E(x) = Young’s modulus 2
1 L  dw  L
x  (w)  
2 0
EA 
 dx 
dx   bw dx  Fw(x  L)
0
x=0 x=L
Any other “admissible”
Potential energy of the axially loaded bar corresponding to the displacement field w(x)
exact solution uexact(x)

2
1 L  du  L Exact solution for the
 (u exact )   EA exact  dx   bu exact dx  Fu exact (x  L) displacement field uexact(x)
2 0
 dx  0

x
0 L

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Example:
Now assume an admissible displacement
d 2u wx
AE 2  b  0; 0 xL
dx Why is this an “admissible” displacement? This displacement is
u  0 at x  0
quite arbitrary. But, it satisfies the given displacement boundary
du condition w(x=0)=0. Also, its first derivate does not blow up.
EA  F at x  L
dx
Potential energy corresponding to this admissible displacement
Assume EA=1; b=1; L=1; F=1
2
Analytical solution is 1 1  dw  1

uexact  2 x 
x2
 (w)    
2 0  dx 
dx   w dx  w(x  1)  1
0
2
Potential energy corresponding to this analytical solution Notice
7
since   1
1 1  du exact 
2
1 7 6
 (u exact )   
2  dx 
0
 dx  0 u exact dx  u exact (x  1)  
6  (u exact )   (w)

Principle of Minimum Potential Energy
Among all admissible displacements that a body can have, the one
that minimizes the total potential energy of the body satisfies the
strong formulation
Mathematical statement: If ‘uexact’ is the exact solution (which
satisfies the differential equation together with the boundary
conditions), and ‘w’ is an admissible displacement (that is quite
arbitrary except for the fact that it satisfies the displacement
boundary conditions and its first derivative does not blow up),
then
 (u exact )   (w)
unless w=uexact (i.e. the exact solution minimizes the potential
energy)
The Principle of Minimum Potential Energy and the strong
formulation are exactly equivalent statements of the same
problem.
The exact solution (uexact) that satisfies the strong form, renders
the potential energy of the system a minimum.
So, why use the Principle of Minimum Potential Energy?
The short answer is that it is much less demanding than the strong
formulation. The long answer is, it
1. requires only the first derivative to be finite
2. incorporates the force boundary condition automatically. The
admissible displacement (which is the function that you need to
choose) needs to satisfy only the displacement boundary condition

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Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
Finite element formulation, takes as its starting point, not the
strong formulation, but the Principle of Minimum Potential The minimization of the potential energy is difficult to perform
Energy. exactly.
The Rayleigh-Ritz principle is an approximate way of doing this.
Task is to find the function ‘w’ that minimizes the potential energy
of the system Step 1. Assume a solution
2
1 L  dw  L
 (w)  
2 0
EA 
 dx 
dx   bw dx  Fw(x  L)
0
w( x)  a 0j o ( x)  a1j1 ( x)  a 2j 2 ( x)  ...

From the Principle of Minimum Potential Energy, that function ‘w’ Where jo(x), j1(x),… are “admissible” functions and ao, a1,
is the exact solution. etc are constants to be determined from the solution.

Rayleigh-Ritz Principle Rayleigh-Ritz Principle

Step 2. Plug the approximate solution into the potential energy Step 3. Obtain the coefficients ao, a1, etc by setting

1 L  dw 
2  (w)
L
 0, i  0,1,2,...
 (w)  
2 0
EA 
 dx 
dx   bw dx  Fw(x  L)
0 ai
The approximate solution is
2
1 L  dj 0 dj 
  (a 0 , a 1 ,...) 
2 0
EA a 0
 dx
 a1 1  ... dx
dx 
u ( x)  a 0j o ( x)  a1j1 ( x)  a 2j 2 ( x)  ...
Where the coefficients have been obtained from step 3
  b a 0j 0  a1j1  ... dx
L

 F a 0j 0 ( x  L)  a1j1 ( x  L)  ...

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Example of application of Rayleigh Ritz Principle Example of application of Rayleigh Ritz Principle

E=A=1 For this “admissible” displacement to satisfy the displacement

F x F=2 boundary conditions the following conditions must be satisfied:
x=1 u(x  0)  a0  0
x=0 x=2
u(x  2)  a0  2a1  4a2  0
The potential energy of this bar (of length 2) is Hence, we obtain
2
1  du 
2 a0  0
 (u) 
2 0  dx  dx  Fu(x

 1)
 a1  2a2
   Potential Energy
Strain Energy of load F applied
at x 1
Hence, the “admissible” displacement simplifies to
Let us assume a polynomial “admissible” displacement field
u  a0  a1 x  a2 x 2
u  a0  a1 x  a2 x 2
 a2   2 x  x 2 
Note that this is NOT the analytical solution for this problem.

Now we apply Rayleigh Ritz principle, which says that if I plug

Hence the approximate solution to this problem, using the
this approximation into the expression for the potential energy , I
Rayleigh-Ritz principle is
can obtain the unknown (in this case a2) by minimizing 
2
1 2  du 
2 0  dx 
 (u)    dx  Fu(x  1) u  a0  a1 x  a2 x 2
2  a2   2 x  x 2 
 a2  2 x  x  dx  Fa2  2 x  x evaluated
1  d 2
2 

2 0  dx
 2

 at x 1 
3
4
  2x  x2 
4 2
 a2  2a2
3 Notice that the exact answer to this problem (can you prove this?) is

0
a2
 x for 0  x  1
8 u exact  
 a2  2  0
3 2  x for 1  x  2
3
 a2  
4

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The displacement solution : The stress within the bar:

1.5
Exact solution Exact Stress
1
1

0.8 Approximate
solution 0.5
Approximate
stress

Stress
0.6 0

-0.5
0.4

-1
0.2

-1.5

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
x x

How can you improve the approximation?