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Prof. Suvranu De
Principles of minimum
potential energy and
Rayleigh-Ritz
Reading assignment:
Section 2.6 + Lecture notes
Summary:
Potential energy of a system
Elastic bar
String in tension
Principle of Minimum Potential Energy
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
A generic problem in 1D
d 2u
x 0;
0 x 1
2
dx
u 0 at x 0
u 1 at x 1
Potential energy
F
k
F
u
dU Fdu
u u+du
dU kudu
The total strain energy of the spring
1
k u du k u 2
2
dU Fdu
The total strain energy of the spring
u u+du
u
W Fu
x
k
F
k
1 2
ku Fu
2
Example of how to obtain the equlibr
k2
k1
F
x
d1x
d 2x
d 3x
For this system of spring, first write down the total potential
energy of the system as:
system
1
1
2
k1 (d 2 x ) k 2 (d 3 x d 2 x ) 2 Fd 3x
2
2
system
d 2 x
system
d 3 x
k1d 2 x k 2 (d 3 x d 2 x ) 0
Equation (1)
k 2 (d 3 x d 2 x ) F 0
Equation (2)
k 1 k 2
k
2
k 2 d 2 x 0
k 2 d 3 x F
x=0
du
dx
du
Axial stress E E
dx
Axial strain
1
1 du
dU
E
Strain energy per unit volume of the bar
2
2 dx
L 1
1
dV
Adx
x
0
2
2
since dV=Adx
1
1 L
du
A dx EA dx
2
2 0
dx
W bu dx Fu(x L)
0
L
1 L
du
EA dx bu dx Fu(x L)
0
2 0
dx
Lets see what this means for an axially loaded elastic bar
y
F
x
x=L
x=0
L
1
du exact
(u exact ) EA
dx bu exact dx Fu exact (x L)
0
2 0
dx
L
L
1
dw
(w) EA
dx bw dx Fw(x L)
0
2 0
dx
L
Example:
d 2u
AE 2 b 0;
0xL
dx
u 0 at x 0
du
EA
F at x L
dx
x2
2x
2
1
1 du exact
7
(u exact )
dx u exact dx u exact (x 1)
0
2 0 dx
6
1
1
1 dw
(w)
dx 0 w dx w(x 1) 1
0
2 dx
1
Notice
7
since 1
6
(u exact ) (w)
(u exact ) (w)
L
1
dw
(w) EA
dx 0 bw dx Fw(x L)
0
2
dx
L
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
The minimization of the potential energy is difficult to perform
exactly.
The Rayleigh-Ritz principle is an approximate way of doing this.
Step 1. Assume a solution
w( x) a 0 o ( x ) a11 ( x) a 2 2 ( x) ...
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
L
1
dw
(w) EA
dx 0 bw dx Fw(x L)
0
2
dx
L
d1
1
d 0
(a 0 , a 1 ,...) EA a 0
a1
... dx
0
2
dx
dx
b a 0 0 a11 ... dx
0
F a 0 0 ( x L) a11 ( x L) ...
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
(w)
0, i 0,1,2,...
ai
The approximate solution is
u ( x) a 0 o ( x) a11 ( x) a 2 2 ( x) ...
E=A=1
F=2
x=1
x=0
x=2
1 du
(u) dx Fu(x 1)
0 dx
2
Potential Energy
2
Strain Energy
of load F applied
at x 1
u a0 a1 x a2 x 2
Note that this is NOT the analytical solution for this problem.
u(x 0) a0 0
u(x 2) a0 2a1 4a2 0
Hence, we obtain
a0 0
a1 2a2
Hence, the admissible displacement simplifies to
u a0 a1 x a2 x 2
a2 2 x x 2
1 du
(u) dx Fu(x 1)
2 0 dx
2
1 d
a2 2 x x 2 dx F a2 2 x x 2
2 0 dx
4 2
a 2 2 a2
3
2
0
a2
8
a2 2 0
3
3
a2
4
evaluated
at x 1
u a0 a1 x a2 x 2
a2 2 x x 2
3
2x x2
4
Notice that the exact answer to this problem (can you prove this?) is
u exact
x for 0 x 1
2 x for 1 x 2
Exact solution
1
Approximate
solution
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
x
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
1.5
Exact Stress
Stress
0.5
Approximate
stress
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
x
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8