Deflection of Trusses using Principle of Virtual Work - Intro to Structural Analysis

In this video tutorial, we learn how to calculate the deflection of a truss using the Principle of Virtual Work. Also known as the Unit Load Method, this basis of this method is two analyze two structures:

(1) Real System - The structure with the design loads applied.
(2) Virtual System - The structure with a single load of magnitude one applied at the location where deflection is being calculated.

We combine the results of these two analyses by balancing out the external and internal work (i.e., strain energy) to compute the deflection of the truss at the location of interest.

For more information on conducting truss analysis, see:
Truss Analysis - https://youtu.be/Aoj-Hgx45Bo