A general lower and upper

bound theorem of static

stability
Thomas E. Boothby
Department ofArchitectural Engineering,
Park, PA 16802, USA

The Pennsylvania State University, University

Colin B. Brown
Department of Civil Engineering,

University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

(Received July 1992; revised version accepted August 1992)

A statically
stable state of a system subjected
to conservative
and
dissipative
forces is considered as a local minimum of the sum of the
potential energy and the energy dissipated from the system subject
to the kinematic constraints
on the system. This stability criterion is
investigated
by the methods of optimization
under constraints.
A dual
mathematical
program,
the maximization
of the complementary
energy of the system
subject
to equilibrium
constraints,
is constructed.
Bounds on the kinematic
state space of a system and
energy dissipation
are introduced
as inequality
constraints.
Lower
and upper bound conditions
for the loads causing instability
of the
system are derived.
By the upper bound condition,
the system is
unstable if the virtual work is negative in a kinematically
admissible
displacement,
including rigid body components.
By the lower bound
condition,
the system is stable if the gradient vectors of the active
constraints
with nonzero Lagrange multipliers span the space of feasible rigid body rotations. The existence of a nonempty feasible set for
the dual program is also found to ensure the stability of the system.

Keywords:

static

Lower and upper bound theorems were initially derived

for the plastic analysis of steel frameworks by Home.
These theorems were proved using the method of virtual
work on a rigid-plastic framework: a system of rigid
bars with potential plastic hinges at the joints. These
ideas have been extended by a number of authors,
including Neal, Neal and Symonds, and Baker et
al. -I. The terms lower bound and upper bound refer
to bounds on a load factor, given proportional loading.
Kooharian5, Prager, and Heyman , introduced the
notion of applying rigid-plastic analysis and the
theorems of plasticity to the analysis of masonry arches
under the assumptions that a masonry arch is composed
of rigid blocks which are infinitely strong, transmit no
tension across the joints, and do not slide with respect
to one another at the joints. The notion of stability is
implicit in such rigid-plastic analysis of frames,
inasmuch as the purpose is the determination of a collapse load factor. In the recent discussion on the
analysis of masonry arches by Vilnay and Cheung8,
Cooke, and others, stability is discussed as a separate

stability

system,

stability

criterion

is~suefrom the lower and upper bound theorems of rigidplastic analysis. However, the authors have identified
the results of rigid-plastic analysis of masonry arches
with the minimization of the potential energy of a conservative system subject to kinematic constraints.
It is recognized that plastic limit analysis is connected
with constrained optimization. The theory has been
developed using duality relationships between static and
kinematic variables for objective functions which are
linear, such as the maximization of a load factor, or
quadratic, such as the minimization of complementary
energy. The constraints are linear equalities or inequalities representing compatibility in the kinematic formulation of the problem or equilibrium in the static
formulation. Where a quadratic objective function is
used, the problem is generally limited to a strictly convex objective function. A thorough review of the
literature to 1982 has been given by Maier and
Munro . More recently, Maier and Nappi I4 applied
this formulation to the prediction of the failure of a
general no-tension system, such as a masonry wall,

0141-0296/93/030189-08
@ 1993 Butterworth - Heinemann Ltd

Engng Struct.

1993 Volume 15 Number 3

189

General lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: T. E. Boothby and C. B. Brown

although the analysis does not consider rigid body

displacements of the system.
In this paper, departing from criteria lot the static
stability of discrete, or discretized, systems subjected to
conservative and dissipative tbrces, the theorems of
plasticity are derived and extended to elastic-plastic
systems and to systems with bounded state space. Rigid
body displacements and nonconvex objective functions
are not excluded from consideration. A stable state for
such a system is characterized as a strict local minimum
of a potential energy function for a conservative system
or of a work function, consisting of a potential energy
and a dissipated energy term, for a dissipative system.
Bounds on the kinematic state space of a system and
relationships between sets of coordinates are introduced
as inequality or equality constraints on the state of the
system. The minimization of the work function subject
to these kinematic constraints is solved by the methods
of optimization under constraints: these methods include
the Lagrange multiplier theorem, the K u h n - T u c k e r
condition, and the second-order necessary and sufficient
conditions. The dual problem of maximizing the complementary energy subject to equilibrium constraints is
discussed and shown in many cases to give the lower
bound theorem directly.

of 33. One can consider only monotonic paths, because

each finite path has an initial part along which each component of 6x does not change sign. If a norm is defined
as the maximum distance between two monotonic paths
from * to + 6x, the set of such paths can be seen to
be compact. Hence, provided that 33 is continuous over
the set of these paths, then a minimum of 33 exists ~5
By considering only the path which minimizes 33, the
function a,V can be considered a single-valued function
of x in a neighbourhood of *. Moreover, if XV is at a
local minimum, then %V must increase along the
monotonic path from * to each other state x, in particular
along the path to x which minimizes 33. Conversely, if
%V is not at a minimum at ,, then %V decreases along
some monotonic path from * to some state x, hence %V
decreases along the path which minimizes 33.
The constraint equations (2) and (3) will be assumed
to be linear in x and henceforth the left-hand side of
equations (2) and (3) will be written x~G and x r H ,
respectively. If these equations are piecewise continuously differentiable, a change of coordinates will
yield a mathematical program with linear constraints in
the neighbourhood of an equilibrium state. For example,
let

z =K(x)

(5)

Preliminaries
In this section particular primal and dual problems
which define the energy of the system and the constraints on the system will be identified. These are the
mathematical programs which are to be used subsequently to characterize the static stability of the elastic
and elastic-plastic systems and to establish bounds on the
stability of these systems.

with components kii = 1 . . . .

, l with 1 _ n be the set
of all active constraints at a point ~, that is the set of all
components of equation (2) which are satisfied as
equalities and all components of equation (3). Then, by
the implicit function theorem '5,

~V(x) = ~ ' ( x ' )

(6)

where

Primal p r o b l e m
This paper is concerned with solutions of the following
mathematical program.
minimize %V(x)

(1)

subject to G(x) _ 0

(2)

H(x) = 0

(3)

The state variable x is a vector of dimension n representing some spatial coordinate x may be further
required to belong to an underlying space X C 6l". The
state variable is subject to kinematic constraints: the j
inequality constraints G and the k equality constraints H.
The solution of equations (1) - (3) requires the introduction of Lagrange multipliers p and r with components
pi, i = l , 2, . . . , j and ri, i = 1, 2 . . . . .
k. The
scalar-valued work function

W(x) = H(x) + 33(x)

(4)

has a potential energy term II(x), which depends solely

on the state variable, and a term 33 which represents the
energy dissipated from the system. As such, the term 33
is non-negative and is not single-valued. However, the
determination of a local minimum of %V at a p o i n t , only
requires the investigation of 33 along the particular path
from ~ to * + ~Sx which furnishes a minimum increment

190

Engng Struct. 1993 Volume 15 Number 3

-Xl

Xn ~ I

(7)

Xt=

Zl

ZI

provided the Jacobian determinant

Ok i

does not vanish at ~, where i = 1 . . . . .

l and
j = n - l + 1. . . . .
n. The transformed constraint
equations zi = 0 or zi -< 0 are linear in x'. If l > n, any
choice of n equations may be made for the transformation.

Dual problem

The mathematical program dual to equations ( 1 ) - ( 3 )

Genera/lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: 7". E. Boothby and C. B. Brown

will also be investigated. This problem will appear in the

form
maximize %V*(X(p, r))
subject to p _> 0
H*(X) = 0

(9)
(10)

constant %, then the system is unstable.

Equation (13) contradicts the existence of a local
minimum of 'W at :, and so contradicts the stability
criterion given above. For differentiable 'W, G, and H
at :, the total variation A'W with respect to the disturbance etSx can be represented by the MacLaurin series.

(11)
[A'qT:~x]

where equation (11) is an equation in the dual variables

which is required to ensure the existence of a local
minimum of the Lagrangian with respect to the primal
state variable x. Although the dual function ~ * is
usually considered to be an explicit function of the
Lagrange multipliers, in the following, the dual function
will be considered to be an explicit function of the ndimensional vector X of force quantities conjugate to the
displacement quantities x, and the Lagrange multipliers
p and r will enter the dual function implicitly. The conjugate force Xi acts in the direction of xi and the units of
the product of X~ with xi are units of work. If the
displacements x are transformed by y = Ax, then the
conjugate forces Y transform by

X = Ary

(12)

= ~aXrVx'q(8)
"Jr- I / / 2 ~ 2 ( ~ x T [ v 2 ~ ( , , ~ ) ] ( ~ X

"

"

"

(14)

so that the hypothesis is satisfied if either of the following conditions hold.

tSxrVx~(~) < 0

(15)

bxrVxXV(g) = 0 and 6xr[V~'~e(g)]6x < 0

(16)

For more general Systems, equation (13) is evaluated by

transforming a piecewise differentiable objective function into a differentiable objective function with additional kinematic constraints, and by transforming a
general dissipation function ~ into a piecewise differentiable function in a neighbourhood of ~.

Piecewise differentiable objective function

Stability criterion
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the static
stability of the system represented by the primal
problem, equations (1)-(3), and the dual problem,
equations (9)-(11), about the origin x = 0, which will
be considered the unloaded state of the system. A stable
state is defined as follows:
The system is stable if the work function 'W is at
a local minimum with respect to the displacements
x in the equilibrium state of the loaded system,
which is within a prescribed distance of the origin.
Because 'W represents the total work done on the
system, this criterion is a restatement of the intuitive
notion that a system is stable if work is required to
disturb it. The existence of a state furnishing a local
minimum of 'W with respect to x subject to the constraints will be investigated by the techniques of constrained optimization. In the following, the state variable
will have finite dimension, although extensions to an
infinite dimensional state variable are possible 16.

Upper b o u n d theorem
The total change in %V due to an infinitesimal disturbance ~x will be written [A'W:/~x].

Theorem 1 (Upper bound theorem) Let there be given

a system subject to conservative and dissipative forces
only, whose total energy is defined by equation (4), subject to the spatial constraints of equations (2) and (3). If,
for some monotonic disturbance e6x satisfying equations
(2) and (3) about a state ~,

Let %V(x) be at least piecewise differentiable at 0 in each

of the components ofx. Any state ~ can be transformed
to 0 by a coordinate translation. The state variable x can
be transformed by the coordinates
.f =

[x+]
_

(17)

by the n transformations

x~=[1

-1][ x[]

subject to the additional constraints

xi+ _> 0

(19)

x~- _< 0

(20)

x~+ x x7 = 0

(21)

The objective function is transformed to "~7(g) by

substituting for x according to equation (18). A state
which minimizes 'W subject to equations (19) and (20)
also satisfies equation (21), providing the following
equations are satisfied for all i.
0 +

0-

axi

Ox,

- - 'W(O) _> - - - W(O)

(13)

for all positive ~ less than some arbitrarily small positive

(22)

To prove this, all the components of : are held fixed

except xi+ and xZ, and %V is rewritten
a+

[AXV:e6x] < 0

(18)

Lx/- J

~(o)

= x+ ~

c3~ ( o ) + x7 ~ ~ ( o )

+ R(x + - x T )

Engng Struct. 1993 Volume 15 Number 3

(23)

191

General lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: T. E. Boothby and C. B. Brown

where the remainder R is a continuous function of x and

lim R(x) = 0

(24)

For %V differentiable in xi, equation (22) is satisfied as

an equality, and the first two terms of the right-hand side
of equation (23) reduce to xia%V/Oxi. Given any
feasible xg, there is an infinite number of possible combinations x~+ and x / satisfying equations (18)-(20).
However, only one such combination can minimize
equation (23), namely:
xi- = 0

if x,.+ ___x,-

(25)

xi+ = 0

ifxi- >-xi +

(26)

Therefore, equations (21) are implicitly satisfied by the

minimization of the objective function. The problem can
now be treated as the minimization of the transformed
objective function %V(), subject to the original constraints and the additional constraints of equations (19)
and (20). An example of this transformation is provided
in Reference 10. If, for some 6 satisfying equations (2),
(3), (19) and (20), there exists an % such that:
[A%V:e6] < 0

Dissipative systems

Energy dissipation is a function of a set of coordinates

z related to x by
(28)

The dissipation function will be considered piecewise

differentiable, positive definite in z and, in general,
path-dependent. However, as discussed in the section on
the primal problem, under the condition of continuity of
in monotonic paths, if) can be considered singlevalued for monotonic infinitesimal disturbances. An
infinitesimal 6z can be resolved into positive and
negative parts by defining ~ similarly to 6~ in the
preceding section,
6~ = 6z + - 6Z

(29)

For small e > 0

ff)(6z) = e[6Z+rV+ff)(0) + 6z-rV:-ff)(0)]

(30)

where
V : + = O+/Ozk

(31)

V z = O-/Ozk

(32)

Furthermore, because each partial directional derivative

of if) with respect to each component of z is strictly
positive, equation (22) is satisfied. Subject to the foregoing assumptions, theorem 1 is valid for feasible directions satisfying

192

(33)

f(x) - ~ = 0

(34)

Equations (33) and (34) can be treated as additional constraint equations, with the dissipation term of the objective function transformed by equation (30). The upper
bound condition can be seen to correspond to the statement that if the virtual work in an infinitesimal
kinematically admissible disturbance about a state is
negative, the system is unstable in that state. This statement applies to general disturbances, including rigid
body displacements, elastic deformations, and disturbances involving slip or plastic flow.

Lower bound theorem

The Lagrangian for the system represented by equations
(1)-(3) is approximated about the origin by a quadratic
equation, recalling that the constraint equations are considered to be linear in x
L(x, p, r ) = V2XT[V2,%V(O)]x + x T [ I

(27)

for all positive e < e0, then the hypothesis of theorem 1

is satisfied for 6x = 5x + - 6x- and the system is
unstable.

z=f(x)

~_>0

Engng Struct. 1993 Volume 15 Number 3

Iv,w(0)1
p

H]

(35)

For this system, the simplest form of the lower bound

theorem is
Theorem 2 (Lower bound theorem) Given a system for
which the energy state is defined by equations (1)-(3),
the system is stable at x = 0 if any p, f can be found such
that

(1) The equation

[I

H]

Iv,w(0)1
p

=0

(36)

is satisfied.
(2)/~ ___ 0
(3) The submatrix of [G H I formed of the columns
corresponding to nonzero/~, ? has full row rank.
If these conditions are satisfied, then the space of
feasible directions from O is spanned by the gradient
vectors of the active constraints with strictly positive
Lagrange multipliers p and nonzero r. Hence, the
second-order sufficient condition is satisfied ~7, implying that "q is at a local minimum at the origin, satisfying
the stability criterion.
The n x n matrix ~, such that r4' = I, transforms x
into the orthonormal basis.

x = [~+

~0 4,_1

(37)

General lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: 7". E. Boothby and C. B. Brown
where x+ are the coordinates associated with positive
roots of the Hessian matrix, x0 are associated with zero
roots, representing rigid body translations and x_ are
associated with negative roots, and represent rigid body
rotations. Transformed to this basis, equation (35) is

ditions, so that the lower bound theorem is valid for such

a system. This theorem has a simpler form if the constraints are linear or if the Hessian matrix is positive
semi-definite. These simplifications are discussed
elsewhere ~6.

X+
L(x+, x0, x_, p, r) = V2

Dual program

The dual program is constructed by finding a dual

function ~7
'W*(p, r) = min L(x, p, r)

L* J
(38)
where A+, A_ are diagonal matrices of the positive and
negative eigenvalues of X72'W(x). A sharper form of
the lower bound theorem can now be stated.

Theorem 3 (Lower bound theorem) Given a system

whose energy state is defined by equations ( 1 ) - (3), the
system is stable at x_ = 0 if any if, ~ can be found suc~'
that
(1) The equation

,~0r ]
&r/[I

G H]

is satisfied.
(2)
p___0

(42)

xEX

IVx%(0)
1
/i

=0

(39)

Given X = 6t", no minimum exists for the approximate

Lagrangian of equation (38). An arbitrarily large x_
will result in an arbitrarily large negative value of L.
However, as has been shown above, under certain conditions, L may attain a local minimum. Although it is
customary in optimization theory to seek a global
minimum, a local minimum of 'W is sufficient for
stability of the system at some state i . The conjugate
forces in the diagonalizing basis are defined

X0

=]cl'r/[l

x_

L, _j

+ = -A?'OT[Vx+%V(0) + Gp + HP] (41)

is sufficiently close to the origin to satisfy the
stability criterion.
Conditions 1 and 2 of the theorem statement ensure that
the Kuhn-Tucker condition is satisfied. The
Lagrangian is positive definite in x+ and condition 3 of
the theorem statement ensures that the second-order sufficient condition is satisfied. Thus, the first three conditions ensure that 'W reaches a local minimum at i + . As
shown in the section on the upper bound theorem, a
piecewise differentiable objective function or a
dissipative system can be transformed to a differentiable
system with a constrained state space under certain con-

(43)

/]TE J
x+

L(x+, x0, x_, p, r) = 1/2 x0

~r_ [G H ]
formed of the columns corresponding to nonzero
p, r has rank greater than or equal to the dimension of x_.
(4) The state

The gradient of the work function represents a vector of

forces in the original basis. The Lagrange multipliers
represent forces of constraint 18 in the direction of the
gradient vectors of the components of G and H. Equation (38) can be rewritten

(40)

(3) The submatrix of

G H]

I_X_

X+
x

A+

A_

X+ FX+
+

Xo

Xo

x_

X_

(44)

It is now assumed that in some basis, the directions x_

are restricted by dissipation (e.g. friction or plasticity)
or constraints on closing of a hinge at a joint, as in
reference 10 by constraints of the form of equation (33)
or equations (19) and (20). This assumption results in
x_ = A_

(45)

subject to _ _> 0

(46)

where A is a transformation matrix. Equation (44)

transforms to

EngngStruct. 1993 Volume 15 Number3 193

I]TLA
x j

General lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: T. E. Boothby and C. B. Brown

L(x+, x0, x_, p, r) =

x0

x_

[1 E:]TI ]
X+

X+

x0

E x a m p l e - b l o c k on a plane

X+

X0

" x_

which satisfy material criteria such as limiting internal

moments to the plastic moment in a beam, or limiting
tangential force to the normal force times the coefficient
of friction, and such that a positive force of constraint
resists all possible rigid body rotations.

(47)

ATX_

where B = A rAJA is negative semidefinite. The constraint equations (46) are introduced by redefining X, the
underlying space which contains the feasible set.

A simple example of the application of these theorems

is furnished by a rectangular block of base 2b and height
2h, with a lateral force R applied at midheight, which
rests on a horizontal surface as illustrated in Figure 1.
The work function is written as follows, where c is supposed monotonic.
%V(O, ~) = - R h

sin 0 - 2Rb(l - cos max[0, 0})

+ Wb sin 10 I - Wh(l - cos 0)

X=

x0

E fit": .~_ > 0

-Re+#Wl~l

(48)

Let Y C X be a neighbourhood of the origin in which the

components of .~_ are restricted to arbitrarily small
nonzero values. Then the Lagrangian attains a minimum
over Y at ~?_ = 0, provided
X0 = 0

(49)

ATX_ > 0

(50)

The first five terms are the potential energy, and the last
term is the energy dissipation. The absolute values and
the max[ } operator are eliminated by the procedure of
the section on the piecewise differentiable objective
function. The existence of some elastic deformation
degrees of freedom q is supposed. Retaining the first
two terms of the MacLaurin series approximation, the
following objective function results.

and by this construction the dual problem in the original

basis is
maximize

~*(X,

p , r) = - X r F X

(51)

v,~(0)]
subject to

X=

[1 G

HI

(52)

o~X= 0

(53)

Ar~I'r_X > 0

(54)

p ___ 0

(55)

(56)

[
-

Wh

Wb + Rh
tzW-R

IzW + R
q

Wh

Rb

Wh

0-

- Wh

where F = ,I[,+A
-~ ~ +T. This may be recognized as the
problem of maximizing the complementary energy of
the system subject to equilibrium constraints, with the
added condition that the positive forces of constraint
prevent each potential rigid body rotation of the system.
Because it is constructed about a local rather than a
global minimum in x, and the introduction of the
arbitrarily restricted subspace Y is required for the construction, %V* in equation (51) above may be called a
'pseudodual' function. The lower bound theorem has a
more straightforward form for this pseudodual problem.
Theorem 4 (lower bound theorem)

The system is stable

for any feasible dual state.

According to the lower bound condition, to verify the
stability of a system in a particular state, it suffices to
find a statically admissible distribution of internal forces

194

Engng Struct. 1993 Volume 15 Number 3

~-

"will/l/Ill~
Figure 1 Example block on a plane

0
K

(57)

General lower

and upper bound theorem

of static

stability:

subject to the constraints

29.6mm
----A

e+ ro

(58)

o- ro

(59)

E+20

(60)

E-10

(61)

and C. 8. Brown

T. E. Boothby

LD
.z,

By theorem 3, the lower bound stability criteria are

Wb-Rh>O

(62)

Wb+Rh>O

(63)

/.tW-R>O

(64)

/.LW+R>O

(65)

which can be recognized as the familiar criteria that the

overturning moment is less than the righting moment,
and the sliding friction exceeds the horizontal force. By
theorem 1, the system is unstable if PW - R < 0 or
Wh - Rb = 0. The pseudo-dual program, constructed
by restricting 8 and 8-, is
maximize

W*(Q) = - % Q&Q

(66)

subject to

8 +=Wb-Rh>O

(67)

8-=Wb+Rh>O

(68)

E+=/_LW-R-p;=0

(69)

E-=pW+R-p;=O

(70)

p:,p;~

(71)

Geometry

of block

system

8.ijyqyiiR4
7.20

0.91

1.9zi

87

(x10-2N

10.83

.l

50

where Q, 8 +, 8 _, E+, E- represent the force quantities conjugate to the displacements q, 8+, 8-, E+, Eand p+ and p; are the Lagrange multipliers for the constraint equations (60) and (61), and F is the elastic flexibility matrix. The constraint equations (67) -(71) can
be seen to express the same criteria as equations
(62)-(65).

Example-rigid

Figure

blocks with elastic constraint

A system of blocks prestressed by a rubber band, bearing on roller supports is found to be stable when the
blocks are placed in an interlocking pattern as in Figure
2, and unstable when the blocks are placed as in Figure
4. The dimensions of the system are indicated in Figure
2. The mass of each of the blocks is 10.4 g. The elastic
constant of the rubber band is 135.2 N/m. The rubber
band in the initial position exerts a force of
228 X lo- N at the point indicated by the arrows in
Figure 2. A reasonable lower bound to the coefficient of
friction between the blocks is 0.45. Figure 3 shows a set
of forces for which rigid body equilibrium is satisfied
for each block and for which the equilibrium equations
at the joints are satisfied, as in equation (53). At each
joint, the normal force times the coefficient of friction
is greater than or equal to the tangential force, as

Figure3

Lower

r7

ri

r.7
bound

condition-stable

configuration

required by equation (55). For the statically admissible

forces shown in Figure 3, the bending moment about the
critical point A is 3.37 x 10m3 Nm tending to close the
joint. The directions of the positive (compressive) normal forces of constraint can be verified to span the space
of rigid body displacements of the blocks, as required by
equations (54), so the stability of the system is predicted
by the lower bound theorem.
Figure 4 shows the kinematic relationships for the
unstable configuration. The first variation of the potential energy is:
w;x, + 2Pz

(72)

i=l
where W, is the weight of block i, xi is the horizontal
distance from the centre of rotation 0 or 0 to the centroid of block i and P is the force exerted by the rubber
band, found by measurement to be 2.23 N at 8 = 0, and
z is the moment arm of the rubber band force, 14 mm.
The first variation
of the potential energy
is
-6.32 x lo- Nm, so equation (15) is satisfied and the
system is not stable at 0 = 0. However, the displacement
shown in Figure 4 is not a rigid body displacement
because of the strain energy accumulated in the rubber
band. To ensure that there is no stable state in the

Engng Struct.

1993

Volume

15 Number

195

General lower and upper bound theorem of static stability: T. E. Boothby and C. B. Brown
the positive forces of constraint for inequality constraints and nonzero forces of constraint for equality
constraints span the space of rigid body rotations, then
the system is stable. A generalized upper bound on the
stability of the system is a set of loads for which the
system is known to be unstable. If, under a given loading
condition, the virtual work in a rigid body displacement
is negative, then the system is unstable.

xi

Acknowledgment
Figure 4

The first author gratefully acknowledges the support of

the Henrik Stray Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian
Exchange Program.

Upperbound condition-unstable configuration

References
vicinity of 0 = 0, the second variation at 0 = 0 is
checked.

a-'n]
't0 ~ J0=0

= ]~

w,>,, + 2kz 2

(73)

i=1

where 3'~ is the vertical distance from O to the centroid

of block i, and k is the elastic constant of the rubber
band. The second variation for this system is
- 4 . 3 1 10 -3 Nm, so the instability of the system
shown in Figure 4 is predicted by the upper bound
theorem.

Conclusions
A local minimum energy state associated with a
statically stable state of a mechanical system can be
found for a system with bounded state space, or a system
for which the energy function has a discontinuous first
derivative, by the methods of optimization under constraints. A meaningful local dual function may also be
constructed in the vicinity of such a local minimum
state, even though the energy function may not be convex in the state variable. Generalized lower and upper
bounds on the loads causing such a system to be unstable
can be found by methods which may be much simpler
than the determination of the exact critical loads. A
generalized lower bound on the stability of a system is
defined as a set of loads for which the system is known
to be stable. If a statically admissible set of internal
forces can be found for which the direction vectors of

196

Engng Struct. 1993 Volume 15 Number 3

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