MANE 4240 & CIVL 4240

Introduction to Finite Elements

Principles of minimum
potential energy and
Rayleigh-Ritz
Prof. Suvranu De
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
1 1
0 0
1 0 ; 0
2
2
= =
= =
< < = +
x at u
x at u
x x
dx
u d
Approximate solution strategy:
Guess
Where
o
(x),
1
(x), are known functions and a
o
, a
1
, 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!!
... ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2 2 1 1 0
+ + + = x a x a x a x u
o

Potential energy
( ) W loading of energy potential (U) energy Strain = H
The potential energy of an elastic body is defined as
F
u
F

x

k

k

u
k
1
Hookes Law
F = ku
Strain energy of a linear spring
F = Force in the spring
u = deflection of the spring
k = stiffness of the spring
Strain energy of a linear spring
F
u
u+du
Differential strain energy of the spring
for a small change in displacement
(du) of the spring
Fdu dU=
For a linear spring
kudu dU=
The total strain energy of the spring
2
u
0
u k
2
1
du u k U = =
}
dU
Strain energy of a nonlinear spring
F
u
u+du
Fdu dU=
The total strain energy of the spring
curve nt dispalceme force the under Area du F U
u
0
= =
}
dU
Potential energy of the loading (for a single spring as in the figure)
Fu W=
Potential energy of a linear spring
( ) W loading of energy potential (U) energy Strain = H
Fu ku
2
1

2
=
F

x

k

k

u
Example of how to obtain the equlibr
Principle of minimum potential energy for a system of springs
For this system of spring, first write down the total potential
energy of the system as:
3x
2
2 3 2
2
2 1
Fd ) d d ( k
2
1
) d ( k
2
1

+ = H
x x x system
Obtain the equilibrium equations by minimizing the potential energy
1
k
F

x

2
k
1x
d
2x
d 3x
d
) 2 ( 0 ) d d ( k
d
) 1 ( 0 ) d d ( k d k
d
2 3 2
3
2 3 2 2 1
2
Equation F
Equation
x x
x
system
x x x
x
system
= =
c
H c
= =
c
H c
Principle of minimum potential energy for a system of springs
In matrix form, equations 1 and 2 look like
(

=
(

+
F
x
x
0
d
d
k k
k k k
3
2
2 2
2 2 1
Does this equation look familiar?

Also look at example problem worked out in class
Axially loaded elastic bar
x
y
x=0
x=L
A(x) = cross section at x
b(x) = body force distribution
(force per unit length)
E(x) = Youngs modulus
u(x) = displacement of the bar
at x
x
F
dx
du
= Axial strain
Axial stress
dx
du
E E = = o
Strain energy per unit volume of the bar
2
dx
du
E
2
1

2
1
dU
|
.
|

\
|
= =
Strain energy of the bar
Adx
2
1
dV
2
1
dU U
L
0 x
} } }
=
= = = since dV=Adx
Axially loaded elastic bar
Strain energy of the bar
} }
|
.
|

\
|
= =
L L
0
2
0
dx
dx
du
EA
2
1
dx A
2
1
U
Potential energy of the loading
L) Fu(x dx bu W
0
= + =
}
L
Potential energy of the axially loaded bar
L) Fu(x dx bu dx
dx
du
EA
2
1
0 0
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
L L
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
Admissible displacements: these are any reasonable displacement
that you can think of that satisfy the displacement boundary
conditions of the original problem (and of course certain minimum
continuity requirements). Example:
Exact solution for the
displacement field u
exact
(x)
Any other admissible
displacement field w(x)
L
0
x
Lets see what this means for an axially loaded elastic bar
A(x) = cross section at x
b(x) = body force distribution
(force per unit length)
E(x) = Youngs modulus
x
y
x=0
x=L
x
F
Potential energy of the axially loaded bar corresponding to the
exact solution u
exact
(x)
L) (x Fu dx bu dx
dx
du
EA
2
1
) (u
exact
0
exact
0
2
exact
exact
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
L L
Potential energy of the axially loaded bar corresponding to the
admissible displacement w(x)
L) Fw(x dx bw dx
dx
dw
EA
2
1
(w)
0 0
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
L L
Exact solution for the
displacement field u
exact
(x)
Any other admissible
displacement field w(x)
L
0
x
Example:
L x b
dx
u d
AE < < = + 0 ; 0
2
2
L x at F
dx
du
EA
x at u
= =
= = 0 0
Assume EA=1; b=1; L=1; F=1
Analytical solution is
2
2
2
x
x u
exact
=
6
7
1) (x u dx u dx
dx
du
2
1
) (u
exact
1
0
exact
1
0
2
exact
exact
= =
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
Potential energy corresponding to this analytical solution
Now assume an admissible displacement
x w =
Why is this an admissible displacement? This displacement is
quite arbitrary. But, it satisfies the given displacement boundary
condition w(x=0)=0. Also, its first derivate does not blow up.
1 1) w(x dx w dx
dx
dw
2
1
(w)
1
0
1
0
2
= =
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
Potential energy corresponding to this admissible displacement
Notice
(w) ) (u
1
6
7
exact
H < H
<
since
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 u
exact
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
(w) ) (u
exact
H < H
unless w=u
exact
(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 (u
exact
) 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
Finite element formulation, takes as its starting point, not the
strong formulation, but the Principle of Minimum Potential
Energy.
Task is to find the function w that minimizes the potential energy
of the system
From the Principle of Minimum Potential Energy, that function w
is the exact solution.
L) Fw(x dx bw dx
dx
dw
EA
2
1
(w)
0 0
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
L L
Step 1. Assume a solution
... ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2 2 1 1 0
+ + + = x a x a x a x w
o

Where
o
(x),
1
(x), are admissible functions and a
o
, a
1
,
etc are constants to be determined from the solution.
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 2. Plug the approximate solution into the potential energy
L) Fw(x dx bw dx
dx
dw
EA
2
1
(w)
0 0
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
} }
L L
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
( )
( ) ... ) ( ) ( F
dx ... b
dx ...
dx
d
dx
d
EA
2
1
,...) a , (a
1 1 0 0
0
1 1 0 0
0
2
1
1
0
0 1 0
+ = + =
+ +
|
.
|

\
|
+ + = H
}
}
L x a L x a
a a
a a
L
L



Step 3. Obtain the coefficients a
o
, a
1
, etc by setting
,... 2 , 1 , 0 , 0
(w)
= =
c
H c
i
a
i
Rayleigh-Ritz Principle
The approximate solution is
... ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2 2 1 1 0
+ + + = x a x a x a x u
o

Where the coefficients have been obtained from step 3
Example of application of Rayleigh Ritz Principle
x
x=0
x=2
x=1
F
E=A=1
F=2


1
2
0
2
1) Fu(x dx
dx
du
2
1
(u)
=
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
}
x at
applied F load of
Energy Potential
Energy Strain
The potential energy of this bar (of length 2) is
Let us assume a polynomial admissible displacement field
2
2 1 0
u x a x a a + + =
Note that this is NOT the analytical solution for this problem.
Example of application of Rayleigh Ritz Principle
For this admissible displacement to satisfy the displacement
boundary conditions the following conditions must be satisfied:
0 4 2 2) u(x
0 0) u(x
2 1 0
0
= + + = =
= = =
a a a
a
Hence, we obtain
2 1
0
2
0
a a
a
=
=
Hence, the admissible displacement simplifies to
( )
2
2
2
2 1 0
2
u
x x a
x a x a a
+ =
+ + =
Now we apply Rayleigh Ritz principle, which says that if I plug
this approximation into the expression for the potential energy H, I
can obtain the unknown (in this case a
2
) by minimizing H
( ) { } ( ) { }
4
3
0 2
3
8
0
2
3
4
2 F dx 2
dx
d
2
1
1) Fu(x dx
dx
du
2
1
(u)
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
0
2
2
2
2
0
2
=
= +
=
c
H c
+ =
+
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
=
|
.
|

\
|
= H
=
}
}
a
a
a
a a
x x a x x a
x at
evaluated
( )
( )
2
2
2
2
2 1 0
2
4
3
2
u
x x
x x a
x a x a a
+ =
+ =
+ + =
Hence the approximate solution to this problem, using the
Rayleigh-Ritz principle is
Notice that the exact answer to this problem (can you prove this?) is

s s
< s
=
2 1 2
1 0
u
exact
x for x
x for x
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
x
Exact solution
Approximate
solution
The displacement solution :
How can you improve the approximation?
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
x
S
t
r
e
s
s
Approximate
stress
Exact Stress
The stress within the bar: