Virtual work

Virtual work arises in the application of

the principle of least action to the study
of forces and movement of a mechanical
system. The work of a force acting on a
particle as it moves along a
displacement will be different for
different displacements. Among all the
possible displacements that a particle
may follow, called virtual displacements,
one will minimize the action. This
displacement is therefore the
displacement followed by the particle
according to the principle of least action.
The work of a force on a particle along a
virtual displacement is known as the
virtual work.

Historically, virtual work and the

associated calculus of variations were
formulated to analyze systems of rigid
bodies,[1] but they have also been
developed for the study of the mechanics
of deformable bodies.[2]

History
The principle of virtual work had always
been used in some form since antiquity
in the study of statics. It was used by the
Greeks, medieval Arabs and Latins, and
Renaissance Italians as "the law of
lever".[3] The idea of virtual work was
invoked by many notable physicists of
the 17th century, such as Galileo,
Descartes, Torricelli, Wallis, and Huygens,
in varying degrees of generality, when
solving problems in statics.[3] Working
with Leibnizian concepts, Johann
Bernoulli systematized the virtual work
principle and made explicit the concept
of infinitesimal displacement. He was
able to solve problems for both rigid
bodies as well as fluids. Bernoulli's
version of virtual work law appeared in
his letter to Pierre Varignon in 1715,
which was later published in Varignon's
second volume of Nouvelle mécanique ou
Statique in 1725. This formulation of the
principle is today known as the principle
of virtual velocities and is commonly
considered as the prototype of the
contemporary virtual work principles.[3] In
1743 D'Alembert published his Traité de
Dynamique where he applied the principle
of virtual work, based on Bernoulli's work,
to solve various problems in dynamics.
His idea was to convert a dynamical
problem into static problem by
introducing inertial force.[4] In 1768,
Lagrange presented the virtual work
principle in a more efficient form by
introducing generalized coordinates and
presented it as an alternative principle of
mechanics by which all problems of
equilibrium could be solved. A
systematic exposition of Lagrange's
program of applying this approach to all
of mechanics, both static and dynamic,
essentially D'Alembert's principle, was
given in his Mécanique Analytique of
1788.[3] Although Lagrange had
presented his version of least action
principle prior to this work, he recognized
the virtual work principle to be more
fundamental mainly because it could be
assumed alone as the foundation for all
mechanics, unlike the modern
understanding that least action does not
account for non-conservative forces.[3]
Overview
If a force acts on a particle as it moves
from point A to point B, then, for each
possible trajectory that the particle may
take, it is possible to compute the total
work done by the force along the path.
The principle of virtual work, which is the
form of the principle of least action
applied to these systems, states that the
path actually followed by the particle is
the one for which the difference between
the work along this path and other
nearby paths is zero (to first order). The
formal procedure for computing the
difference of functions evaluated on
nearby paths is a generalization of the
derivative known from differential
calculus, and is termed the calculus of
variations.

Consider a point particle that moves

along a path which is described by a
function r(t) from point A, where r(t = t0),
to point B, where r(t = t1). It is possible
that the particle moves from A to B along
a nearby path described by r(t) + δr(t),
where δr(t) is called the variation of r(t).
The variation δr(t) satisfies the
requirement δr(t0) = δr(t1) = 0. The
components of the variation, δr1(t), δr2(t)
and δr3(t), are called virtual
displacements. This can be generalized
to an arbitrary mechanical system
defined by the generalized coordinates qi
, i = 1, ..., n. In which case, the variation of
the trajectory qi (t) is defined by the
virtual displacements δqi , i = 1, ..., n.

Virtual work is the total work done by the

applied forces and the inertial forces of a
mechanical system as it moves through
a set of virtual displacements. When
considering forces applied to a body in
static equilibrium, the principle of least
action requires the virtual work of these
forces to be zero.

Introduction
Consider a particle P that moves from a
point A to a point B along a trajectory r(t),
while a force F(r(t)) is applied to it. The
work done by the force F is given by the
integral

where dr is the differential element along

the curve that is the trajectory of P, and v
is its velocity. It is important to notice
that the value of the work W depends on
the trajectory r(t).

Now consider particle P that moves from

point A to point B again, but this time it
moves along the nearby trajectory that
differs from r(t) by the variation
δr(t)=εh(t), where ε is a scaling constant
that can be made as small as desired
and h(t) is an arbitrary function that
satisfies h(t0) = h(t1) = 0. Suppose the
force F(r(t)+εh(t)) is the same as F(r(t)).
The work done by the force is given by
the integral

The variation of the work δW associated

with this nearby path, known as the
virtual work, can be computed to be
If there are no constraints on the motion
of P, then 6 parameters are needed to
completely describe P's position at any
time t. If there are k (k ≤ 6) constraint
forces, then n = (6 - k) parameters are
needed. Hence, we can define n
generalized coordinates qi (t) (i = 1, 2, ...,
n), and express r(t) and δr=εh(t) in terms
of the generalized coordinates. That is,

,
.

Then, the derivative of the variation

δr=εh(t) is given by
then we have

The requirement that the virtual work be

zero for an arbitrary variation δr(t)=εh(t)
is equivalent to the set of requirements

The terms Qi are called the generalized

forces associated with the virtual
displacement δr.

Static equilibrium
Static equilibrium is a state in which the
net force and net torque acted upon the
system is zero. In other words, both
linear momentum and angular
momentum of the system are conserved.
The principle of virtual work states that
the virtual work of the applied forces is
zero for all virtual movements of the
system from static equilibrium. This
principle can be generalised such that
three dimensional rotations are included:
the virtual work of the applied forces and
applied moments is zero for all virtual
movements of the system from static
equilibrium. That is
where Fi , i = 1, 2, ..., m and Mj , j = 1, 2, ...,
n are the applied forces and applied
moments, respectively, and δri , i = 1, 2, ...,
m and δφj , j = 1, 2, ..., n are the virtual
displacements and virtual rotations,
respectively.

Suppose the system consists of N

particles, and it has f (f ≤ 6N) degrees of
freedom. It is sufficient to use only f
coordinates to give a complete
description of the motion of the system,
so f generalised coordinates qk , k = 1, 2,
..., f are defined such that the virtual
movements can be expressed in terms of
these generalised coordinates. That is,

The virtual work can then be

reparametrised by the generalised
coordinates:

where the generalised forces Qk are

defined as
Kane[5] shows that these generalised
forces can also be formulated in terms of
the ratio of time derivatives. That is,

The principle of virtual work requires that

the virtual work done on a system by the
forces Fi and moments Mj vanishes if it is
in equilibrium. Therefore, the generalized
forces Qk are zero, that is

Constraint forces

An important benefit of the principle of

virtual work is that only forces that do
work as the system moves through a
virtual displacement are needed to
determine the mechanics of the system.
There are many forces in a mechanical
system that do no work during a virtual
displacement, which means that they
need not be considered in this analysis.
The two important examples are (i) the
internal forces in a rigid body, and (ii) the
constraint forces at an ideal joint.

Lanczos[1] presents this as the postulate:

"The virtual work of the forces of reaction
is always zero for any virtual
displacement which is in harmony with
the given kinematic constraints." The
argument is as follows. The principle of
virtual work states that in equilibrium the
virtual work of the forces applied to a
system is zero. Newton's laws state that
at equilibrium the applied forces are
equal and opposite to the reaction, or
constraint forces. This means the virtual
work of the constraint forces must be
zero as well.

Law of the lever

A lever is modeled as a rigid bar
connected to a ground frame by a hinged
joint called a fulcrum. The lever is
operated by applying an input force FA at
a point A located by the coordinate
vector rA on the bar. The lever then exerts
an output force FB at the point B located
by rB. The rotation of the lever about the
fulcrum P is defined by the rotation angle
θ.

This is an engraving from Mechanics Magazine

published in London in 1824.

Let the coordinate vector of the point P

that defines the fulcrum be rP, and
introduce the lengths
which are the distances from the fulcrum
to the input point A and to the output
point B, respectively.

Now introduce the unit vectors eA and eB

from the fulcrum to the point A and B, so

This notation allows us to define the

velocity of the points A and B as

where eA⊥ and eB⊥ are unit vectors

perpendicular to eA and eB, respectively.
The angle θ is the generalized coordinate
that defines the configuration of the lever,
therefore using the formula above for
forces applied to a one degree-of-
freedom mechanism, the generalized
force is given by

Now, denote as FA and FB the

components of the forces that are
perpendicular to the radial segments PA
and PB. These forces are given by

This notation and the principle of virtual

work yield the formula for the generalized
force as

The ratio of the output force FB to the

input force FA is the mechanical
advantage of the lever, and is obtained
from the principle of virtual work as

This equation shows that if the distance

a from the fulcrum to the point A where
the input force is applied is greater than
the distance b from fulcrum to the point
B where the output force is applied, then
the lever amplifies the input force. If the
opposite is true that the distance from
the fulcrum to the input point A is less
than from the fulcrum to the output point
B, then the lever reduces the magnitude
of the input force.

This is the law of the lever, which was

proven by Archimedes using geometric
reasoning.[6]

Gear train
A gear train is formed by mounting gears
on a frame so that the teeth of the gears
engage. Gear teeth are designed to
ensure the pitch circles of engaging
gears roll on each other without slipping,
this provides a smooth transmission of
rotation from one gear to the next. For
this analysis, we consider a gear train
that has one degree-of-freedom, which
means the angular rotation of all the
gears in the gear train are defined by the
angle of the input gear.

Illustration from Army Service Corps Training on

Mechanical Transport, (1911), Fig. 112 Transmission
of motion and force by gear wheels, compound train
The size of the gears and the sequence
in which they engage define the ratio of
the angular velocity ωA of the input gear
to the angular velocity ωB of the output
gear, known as the speed ratio, or gear
ratio, of the gear train. Let R be the speed
ratio, then

The input torque TA acting on the input

gear GA is transformed by the gear train
into the output torque TB exerted by the
output gear GB. If we assume, that the
gears are rigid and that there are no
losses in the engagement of the gear
teeth, then the principle of virtual work
can be used to analyze the static
equilibrium of the gear train.

Let the angle θ of the input gear be the

generalized coordinate of the gear train,
then the speed ratio R of the gear train
defines the angular velocity of the output
gear in terms of the input gear, that is

The formula above for the principle of

virtual work with applied torques yields
the generalized force

The mechanical advantage of the gear

train is the ratio of the output torque TB
to the input torque TA, and the above
equation yields

Thus, the speed ratio of a gear train also

defines its mechanical advantage. This
shows that if the input gear rotates faster
than the output gear, then the gear train
amplifies the input torque. And, if the
input gear rotates slower than the output
gear, then the gear train reduces the input
torque.

Dynamic equilibrium for

rigid bodies
If the principle of virtual work for applied
forces is used on individual particles of a
rigid body, the principle can be
generalized for a rigid body: When a rigid
body that is in equilibrium is subject to
virtual compatible displacements, the
total virtual work of all external forces is
zero; and conversely, if the total virtual
work of all external forces acting on a
rigid body is zero then the body is in
equilibrium.

If a system is not in static equilibrium,

D'Alembert showed that by introducing
the acceleration terms of Newton's laws
as inertia forces, this approach is
generalized to define dynamic
equilibrium. The result is D'Alembert's
form of the principle of virtual work,
which is used to derive the equations of
motion for a mechanical system of rigid
bodies.

The expression compatible

displacements means that the particles
remain in contact and displace together
so that the work done by pairs of
action/reaction inter-particle forces
cancel out. Various forms of this
principle have been credited to Johann
(Jean) Bernoulli (1667–1748) and Daniel
Bernoulli (1700–1782).
Generalized inertia forces

Let a mechanical system be constructed

from n rigid bodies, Bi, i=1,...,n, and let the
resultant of the applied forces on each
body be the force-torque pairs, Fi and Ti,
i=1,...,n. Notice that these applied forces
do not include the reaction forces where
the bodies are connected. Finally,
assume that the velocity Vi and angular
velocities ωi, i=,1...,n, for each rigid body,
are defined by a single generalized
coordinate q. Such a system of rigid
bodies is said to have one degree of
freedom.

Consider a single rigid body which moves

under the action of a resultant for F and
torque T, with one degree of freedom
defined by the generalized coordinate q.
Assume the reference point for the
resultant force and torque is the center of
mass of the body, then the generalized
inertia force Q* associated with the
generalized coordinate q is given by

This inertia force can be computed from

the kinetic energy of the rigid body,

by using the formula

A system of n rigid bodies with m
generalized coordinates has the kinetic
energy

which can be used to calculate the m

generalized inertia forces[7]

D'Alembert's form of the

principle of virtual work
D'Alembert's form of the principle of
virtual work states that a system of rigid
bodies is in dynamic equilibrium when
the virtual work of the sum of the applied
forces and the inertial forces is zero for
any virtual displacement of the system.
Thus, dynamic equilibrium of a system of
n rigid bodies with m generalized
coordinates requires that

for any set of virtual displacements δqj.

This condition yields m equations,

which can also be written as

The result is a set of m equations of
motion that define the dynamics of the
rigid body system.

If the generalized forces Qj are derivable

from a potential energy V(q1,...,qm), then
these equations of motion take the form

In this case, introduce the Lagrangian,

L=T-V, so these equations of motion
become
These are known as Lagrange's
equations of motion.

Virtual work principle for a

deformable body
Consider now the free body diagram of a
deformable body, which is composed of
an infinite number of differential cubes.
Let's define two unrelated states for the
body:

The -State : This shows external

surface forces T, body forces f, and
internal stresses in equilibrium.
 The -State : This shows continuous
displacements and consistent
strains .

The superscript * emphasizes that the

two states are unrelated. Other than the
above stated conditions, there is no need
to specify if any of the states are real or
virtual.

Imagine now that the forces and stresses

in the -State undergo the
displacements and deformations in the
-State: We can compute the total virtual
(imaginary) work done by all forces
acting on the faces of all cubes in two
different ways:
First, by summing the work done by
forces such as which act on
individual common faces (Fig.c): Since
the material experiences compatible
displacements, such work cancels out,
leaving only the virtual work done by
the surface forces T (which are equal
to stresses on the cubes' faces, by
equilibrium).
Second, by computing the net work
done by stresses or forces such as
, which act on an individual cube,
e.g. for the one-dimensional case in
Fig.(c):
 where the equilibrium relation

has been used and the

second order term has been neglected.

Integrating over the whole body gives:

– Work done by the body

forces f.

Equating the two results leads to the

principle of virtual work for a deformable
body:

where the total external virtual work is

done by T and f. Thus,
The right-hand-side of (d,e) is often
called the internal virtual work. The
principle of virtual work then states:
External virtual work is equal to internal
virtual work when equilibrated forces and
stresses undergo unrelated but consistent
displacements and strains. It includes the
principle of virtual work for rigid bodies
as a special case where the internal
virtual work is zero.

Proof of equivalence between

the principle of virtual work
and the equilibrium equation
We start by looking at the total work
done by surface traction on the body
going through the specified deformation:

Applying divergence theorem to the right

hand side yields:

Now switch to indicial notation for the

ease of derivation.
To continue our derivation, we substitute
in the equilibrium equation

. Then

The first term on the right hand side

needs to be broken into a symmetric part
and a skew part as follows:
where is the strain that is consistent
with the specified displacement field.
The 2nd to last equality comes from the
fact that the stress matrix is symmetric
and that the product of a skew matrix
and a symmetric matrix is zero.

Now recap. We have shown through the

above derivation that
Move the 2nd term on the right hand side
of the equation to the left:

The physical interpretation of the above

equation is, the External virtual work is
equal to internal virtual work when
equilibrated forces and stresses undergo
unrelated but consistent displacements
and strains.

For practical applications:

In order to impose equilibrium on real

stresses and forces, we use consistent
 virtual displacements and strains in
the virtual work equation.
In order to impose consistent
displacements and strains, we use
equilibriated virtual stresses and
forces in the virtual work equation.

These two general scenarios give rise to

two often stated variational principles.
They are valid irrespective of material
behaviour.

Principle of virtual
displacements

Depending on the purpose, we may

specialize the virtual work equation. For
example, to derive the principle of virtual
displacements in variational notations
for supported bodies, we specify:

Virtual displacements and strains as

variations of the real displacements
and strains using variational notation
such as and
Virtual displacements be zero on the
part of the surface that has prescribed
displacements, and thus the work done
by the reactions is zero. There remains
only external surface forces on the
part that do work.

The virtual work equation then becomes

the principle of virtual displacements:
This relation is equivalent to the set of
equilibrium equations written for a
differential element in the deformable
body as well as of the stress boundary
conditions on the part of the surface.
Conversely, (f) can be reached, albeit in a
non-trivial manner, by starting with the
differential equilibrium equations and the
stress boundary conditions on , and
proceeding in the manner similar to (a)
and (b).

Since virtual displacements are

automatically compatible when they are
expressed in terms of continuous, single-
valued functions, we often mention only
the need for consistency between strains
and displacements. The virtual work
principle is also valid for large real
displacements; however, Eq.(f) would
then be written using more complex
measures of stresses and strains.

Principle of virtual forces

Here, we specify:

Virtual forces and stresses as

variations of the real forces and
stresses.
Virtual forces be zero on the part of
the surface that has prescribed forces,
 and thus only surface (reaction) forces
on   (where displacements are
prescribed) would do work.

The virtual work equation becomes the

principle of virtual forces:

This relation is equivalent to the set of

strain-compatibility equations as well as
of the displacement boundary conditions
on the part   . It has another name: the
principle of complementary virtual work.

Alternative forms
A specialization of the principle of virtual
forces is the unit dummy force method,
which is very useful for computing
displacements in structural systems.
According to D'Alembert's principle,
inclusion of inertial forces as additional
body forces will give the virtual work
equation applicable to dynamical
systems. More generalized principles can
be derived by:

allowing variations of all quantities.

using Lagrange multipliers to impose
boundary conditions and/or to relax
the conditions specified in the two
states.
These are described in some of the
references.

Among the many energy principles in

structural mechanics, the virtual work
principle deserves a special place due to
its generality that leads to powerful
applications in structural analysis, solid
mechanics, and finite element method in
structural mechanics.

See also
Flexibility method
Unit dummy force method
Finite element method in structural
mechanics
 Calculus of variations
Lagrangian mechanics
Müller-Breslau's principle

External links
Examples applications of the virtual
work principle

References
1. C. Lánczos, The Variational Principles
of Mechanics, 4th Ed., General Publishing
Co., Canada, 1970
2. Dym, C. L. and I. H. Shames, Solid
Mechanics: A Variational Approach,
McGraw-Hill, 1973.
3. Capecchi, Danilo (2012). History of
Virtual Work Laws. Milano: Springer
Milan. doi:10.1007/978-88-470-2056-6 .
ISBN 978-88-470-2055-9.
4. René Dugas, A History of Mechanics,
Courier Corporation, 2012
5. T. R. Kane and D. A. Levinson,
Dynamics: theory and applications,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1985
6. Usher, A. P. (1929). A History of
Mechanical Inventions . Harvard
University Press (reprinted by Dover
Publications 1988). p. 94. ISBN 978-0-
486-14359-0. OCLC 514178 . Retrieved
7 April 2013.
7. T. R. Kane and D. A. Levinson,
Dynamics, Theory and Applications ,
McGraw-Hill, NY, 2005.
Bibliography
Bathe, K.J. "Finite Element
Procedures", Prentice Hall, 1996.
ISBN 0-13-301458-4
Charlton, T.M. Energy Principles in
Theory of Structures, Oxford University
Press, 1973. ISBN 0-19-714102-1
Dym, C. L. and I. H. Shames, Solid
Mechanics: A Variational Approach,
McGraw-Hill, 1973.
Greenwood, Donald T. Classical
Dynamics, Dover Publications Inc.,
1977, ISBN 0-486-69690-1
Hu, H. Variational Principles of Theory
of Elasticity With Applications, Taylor &
Francis, 1984. ISBN 0-677-31330-6
Langhaar, H. L. Energy Methods in
Applied Mechanics, Krieger, 1989.
Reddy, J.N. Energy Principles and
Variational Methods in Applied
Mechanics, John Wiley, 2002. ISBN 0-
471-17985-X
Shames, I. H. and Dym, C. L. Energy
and Finite Element Methods in
Structural Mechanics, Taylor & Francis,
1995, ISBN 0-89116-942-3
Tauchert, T.R. Energy Principles in
Structural Mechanics, McGraw-Hill,
1974. ISBN 0-07-062925-0
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 Wunderlich, W. Mechanics of
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