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Energy Virtual Work Diagram

Energy / Virtual Work Diagram

Form: Ene rgy/Virtual Work Diagram

After an analysis has been performed, click the Display menu >

Energy/Virtual Work Diagram command to display

energy diagrams that can be used as an aid to determine which elements should be stiffened to achieve the most efficient
control over the lateral displacements of a structure.

Forces and Displacement drop-down list. Use the drop-down lists to select the load case associated with the

forces and displacements to be displayed.

Show Values check box. Check this check box and values (text) will be added to the graphical display.

Click the Apply button to update the active window. When the Apply button is used, the

Ene rgy/Virtual Work Diagram

form will remain open until the Close button is clicked. This allows another selection to be made on the form to review
multiple displays without using the command to recall the form. If only one work diagram is to be displayed, the OK button
can be used to both update the active window and close the form.

Consider the two story structure shown in Figure "a" that has lateral loads P

respectively. Also note the displaced shape,

and P

at the Roof and Second story levels,

D, associated with this structure and loading, which is shown as a dashed line.

Now consider the same structure, shown in Figure "b", with a single load P (typically a unit load) applied to it and a
resulting displaced shape,

D=P d
1

roof

+ P

d, shown as a dashed line. Maxwell's Reciprocal Theorem states that:

se cond

See a structural analysis textbook for details on Maxwell's Reciprocal Theorem.

In this very simple example, the equation above could be reduced to an element level where the elements are illustrated
in Figure "c" as:

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Energy Virtual Work Diagram

P

D=

Noting that

[P1

roof

se cond

[(P1

+ P

se cond

- (P1

+ P

base

dbase is equal to zero, this equation reduces to:

D = [P d
1

roof

se cond

[(P1

+ P

dsecond]

In the preceding equation, the first term in brackets is the energy in the top element and the second term is the energy in
the bottom element. The energy in both of these elements sums to the total P

D energy. When the Display menu >

Energy/Virtual Work Diagram command is used to display energy diagrams, ETABS reports the equivalent of the values

shown in brackets in the last equation for each element in the structure. Note the following about the energy values that
ETABS reports:

They are based on all six degrees of freedom of the element, not just the one degree of freedom described in the
Figure and the associated equations in the background information.

They are determined as follows:

ETABS determines the energy per unit volume associated with each element in the structure.

ETABS normalizes all of the calculated energy values such that the largest one has a value of 100.

As previously stated, the energy diagrams are helpful as an aid to determine which elements should be stiffened to control
lateral displacements in a structure.

In the preceding example,

shown in Figure "b."

the required load case is shown in Figure "a."

The load case associated with displacements is

Typically, this load case consists of one or more unit loads.

The following figures show load cases that might be used for displacement load cases. Figure "d" shows a load case that is
appropriate for controlling the roof displacement. Figure e shows a load case that is appropriate for controlling the
interstory displacement between the roof and the second story level.

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