CLIFFORD JAY C.

ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II

5-BSCE-B

VIRTUAL WORK METHOD

Beam

Virtual work for beams is different than for truss elements because beams can deform and store strain
energy in multiple different ways. Like truss elements, beams can deform axially, but they can also bend and shear.
As mentioned previously in Application of Virtual Work, for beam bending problems, the axial and shear stresses and
strains are typically insignificant in comparison to the bending stresses and strains. So, for beams, we can get a very
good estimate of the deflections by considering only the internal virtual work done by bending moments.
In addition, beams have both deflections and rotations along their length, so we need to be able to solve for both
of these. To account for rotations, the unit virtual external force on a beam can be either a unit point load or a unit
point moment. It still must be located at the location along the beam where we want to find the
displacement/rotation and must be in the same direction as the displacement/rotation that we want to find. For
example, for a vertical displacement, we must use a vertical virtual unit load, and for a clockwise rotation, we may
assume a clockwise point moment. Other than this, the external virtual force and external real
displacement/rotation work the same way as they did for virtual work analysis of trusses. So, the external virtual
Wv,e=(1)(Δrorθr)
work is still equal to:

Where (1) is the unit load or unit point moment, Δr is a real external displacement that we are trying to find (in
the same location and direction as the unit point load), or θr is a real external rotation that we are trying to find (in
the same location and direction as the unit point moment).

The internal virtual work calculations are completely different than they were for trusses. For truss
members, we had to sum up discrete deformations and forces for each truss member. The internal real
deformations were equal to the deformation of each truss element in the real system and the internal virtual forces
were equal to the internal axial forces in each truss element in the virtual system. For a beam, since we are only
considering work that is stored in the form of bending strains in the beam, the internal real deformations are equal
to the curvatures along the length of the beam in the real system, and the internal virtual forces are equal to the
moments along the length of the beam in the virtual system.

Since we now have a continuous beam instead of discrete truss elements, we must look at small pieces of
the beam and integrate them along the length to find the total internal virtual work. Recall that the internal virtual
work is equal to: Wv,i=∑(Virtual Int. Forces×Real Int.
Deformations)

For our continuous beam, we can look at the small increment of work that is added for each small piece of
the beam:
dWv,i=Mv(dθr)

Where Mv is the virtual internal moment applied to that small piece and dθr is the real system change in
slope from one side of the small piece to the other. Recall also from the Bernoulli-Euler Beam theory equation, that:
CLIFFORD JAY C. ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II
5-BSCE-B

Mr
d θ r= dx
EI

Where Mr is the real internal moment, E is the Young's modulus of the material, I is the moment of inertia of
the beam cross section, and xx is the position along the length of the beam. Recall that Mr/EI is equal to the
curvature of the real beam ϕr. Combining equations, we get:

Mr
dW v ,i=M v dx
EI

To find the total work over the entire length of the beam, we can integrate to get:

L
MvMr
W v , i=∫ dx
0 EI

Where L is the length of the beam. Note that in this equation, Mv, Mr, E and I may all be functions of the
position along the beam x. This equation may also be rewritten as:

L
W v , i=∫ M v ϕ r dx
0

Now that we have expressions for internal and external virtual work for beams, we can combine them
together into a single virtual work balance:

Wv,e=Wv,i

L
MvMr
( 1 ) ( Δr∨θr )=∫ dx
0 EI

This seems like this will be a difficult solution because it requires integration of the product of the virtual
moment diagram and the real curvature diagram (which it does). If we find the virtual moment and real curvature
for the beam as a function of the position, then we can simply plug those functions into equation and solve the
integral. This is not too tricky because our functions for moment and curvature are typically polynomials; however,
we can use tables of product integrals to make this process significantly easier.

A virtual work product integration table is shown in Figure 5.22. Using this table, the virtual moment and real
curvature diagrams may be split into simply-shaped pieces and the integral of the product of a curvature diagram
piece multiplied by the moment diagram pieces may be found using the expressions in the figure. The individual
pieces must be for the same portion of the beam for both the virtual system and the real system (e.g. both pieces
cover the beam between x= 2m and x= 5m.
CLIFFORD JAY C. ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II
5-BSCE-B
CLIFFORD JAY C. ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II
5-BSCE-B

Truss

The use of virtual work for truss deflection analysis follows directly from the development of virtual work.
The only difference is that for a full truss system, the internal virtual work must simultaneously include the forces
and deformations in all of the truss elements.

The real system will consist of the truss with the applied real external loads. From that system, we will define
the unknown external deflection of a specific joint in a specific direction (this is the deflection that we want to find).
We must also get from that system the known internal deformations, which follow directly from an analysis of the
truss to find the internal axial forces in each truss member.

The virtual system will consist of a known single external unit load (the virtual external force) which will be
placed on the joint that we want to find the deflection for. This force must also be in the same direction as the
deflection that we want to find. This virtual external force will create known virtual internal forces which may be
found using an analysis of the truss (with the virtual external force only).

Together, these will result in the following virtual work balance for trusses:

Wv,e = Wv,i
n
1 ( Δr ) =∑ ( ρ vj δ ) rj
j =1

Where 1 is the virtual external unit load, Δr is the external real deflection, ρ vj is the virtual internal axial
force in each truss member in the virtual system, and δ rj is the real internal deformation of each truss element in the
real system.

The real internal deformation for each member can be due to the applied loading, temperature changes,
fabrication errors, or any other source of deformation. These are all treated the same way, as long as you are
consistent about whether elongation or contraction are considered positive. In this book, elongation deformations
will be considered positive, which correspond to deformations arising from tension forces, increase in temperature,
or members that have been fabricated to be longer than necessary.

For truss member deformations caused by force, the real internal deformation of an individual member is:

ρrj L
δ rj=
EA

Where ρr j is the real internal force in that member, L is the length of the bar, E is the Young's Modulus of
the bar material, and A is the cross-sectional area of the bar.
CLIFFORD JAY C. ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II
5-BSCE-B

For truss member deformations caused by changes in temperature, the real internal deformation of an
individual member is:
δ rj =α ( ∆T ) L

Where α is the coefficient of thermal expansion for the material, is ∆ T the change in temperature (positive
is increase, and negative is decrease), and is L the length of the member. Typical coefficients of thermal expansion
for steel and concrete are both somewhere around 12.0 x 10−6 /℃ .

For truss member deformations caused by fabrication errors (i.e. a truss element was manufactured to be
too long or too short), the real internal deformation of an individual member is:

δ rj =change ∈memberlength

So, if the member was fabricated to be 10 mm too short, then δ rj =−10 mm

Since superposition still applies, even within the analysis of a single truss element within a truss, if there are
two different effects that elongate or contract the member, then the total deformation δ rj is the sum of the
deformations from each effect. For example, if a truss member experiences both a tension force that would cause a
10 mmelongation and a decrease in temperature that would cause a 3 mmcontraction, then the total real internal
deformation of that member would be δ rj =10−3=7 mm .

Frame

For analysis of frame deflections using virtual work the process is exactly the same as for beams, as long as
we can still assume that the deformations due to axial forces and shear are still insignificant relative to the bending
deformations. This is still usually a good assumption for frames. One examples where this may not be a good
assumption is for a tall frame structure, where the axial deformation of the columns on either side of the frame may
contribute significantly to the lateral displacement at the top of the building. This type of frame effectively acts as a
cantilever, with bending tension and compression stresses being taken by different columns. Another situation
where this may not be a good assumption is for short deep beams in bending and shear, where the shear
deformations may become significant relative to the bending deformations. Lastly, if the desired unknown
deformation for the frame will rely directly on the axial deformation of a specific member, for example if you want to
find the vertical deformation at the top of a column that has a vertical axial load, but no lateral load, then you may
need to include the work done by axial deformations within the virtual work balance.
CLIFFORD JAY C. ANSINO THEORY OF STRUCTURE II
5-BSCE-B

To consider axial deformations in addition to bending (which is typically not necessary for frames), another
term is simply added to the total internal virtual work:
W L
M M ρ L
v ,i=∫
0EI
v r
dx+ ∑
E A
i
ρ
( )
rj

j
j

j
vj

Where ρrj is the real internal axial force in member j (as long as the axial force is constant), L j is the length
of member j , E j is the Young's modulus of member j , A j is the cross-sectional area of member j , ρ vj and is the virtual
internal axial force in member j .

If axial force is not considered, then the equation for the internal virtual work for beams may be used
instead. For frames with multiple members, the total internal virtual work is simply the sum of the internal virtual
work for each member.