Displacementsby energy principles

The total strain energy stored in a bending beam is then

and if the moment and other quantities vary along the beam,

Castigliano’s Second Theorem
The work-energy method is the simplest of energy methods. A more powerful method is


These are examples of Castigliano’s theorem, which states that, provided the body is in equilibrium, the derivative of the strain energy with respect to the force gives the displacement corresponding to that force, in the direction of that force. When there is more than one force applied, then one takes the partial derivative. For example, if n independent forces P1, P2, … … , Pn act on a body, the displacement corresponding to the ith force is


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