Statically Indeterminate Structures and the Principle of Least Work

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Hence it is a case of stable equilibrium Whilst the others are unstable. It will be noted that the stable form is the least bent one, and as the work stored in a flat spring increases with the amount of bending, it is obvious that the work stored up as potential energy is less in the stable than in the unstable conditions of equilibrium.