Principal stresses

Stress tensor: principal components By calculating its eigen-values & eigen-vectors, the stress tensors can be written in its principal coordinate system in a purely diagonal form containing only normal stress components which are called the principal stress components. The eigenvectors of determine the orientation of 1,2,3 and thus of the principal stress the principal coordinate system e directions : 1 0 0 0 2 0 | e1,2,3 = 0 0 3 The principal stresses are also one set of invariants of the stress tensor. Conventionnally, the principal stresses 1 , 2 and 3 are ordered such that: 1 > 2 > 3

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Deviatoric part
Stress tensor decomposition: hydrostatic - deviatoric parts The stress tensor can be divided in hydrostatic and deviatoric part: = h + = pI + is called the deviatoric where p = 1 3 ii is the hydrostatic pressure and stress tensor.

Strain energy decomposition Using the hydrostatic - deviatoric stress & strain decomposition, the strain energy can be written as: E= 1 : 2 = 1 h : 2
h

1 + : = Eh + E 2

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Stress based criteria

Tresca equivalent stress criteria The Tresca stress criteria is based on the comparison of maximum shear max and is thus dened basically from the maximum principal stress dierence :
eq tresca = max (|1 2 |, |2 3 |, |3 1 |)

The corresponding yield / failure criteria is simply written as a comparison with the maximum allowed shear stress y or from a uniaxial eq stress state y : tresca 2y = y Rankine stress criteria The Rankine stress criteria simply imposes that the principal stress components are bounded between c (compression) and t (tension) : c < i < t i = 1, 2, 3

As a result, the maximum shear stress is also bounded: max 1 2 (t c )

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Representation in Mohr circle diagram

representation of Tresca criteria in Mohr diagram

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Representation in Mohr circle diagram

representation of Rankine criteria in Mohr diagram

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Energy criteria
Von Mises equivalent stress criteria The Von Mises equivalent stress criteria is based on a comparison of and is thus dened from the maximum deviatoric strain energy E deviatoric stress tensor :
eq mises = 3 2

It can also be written directly from the principal stresses 1,2,3 or from the stress tensor components:
eq mises = (1 2 )2 +(2 3 )2 +(3 1 )2 2

2 + 2 + 2 ) (11 22 )2 +(22 33 )2 +(33 11 )2 +6(12 23 31 2

The corresponding yield / failure criteria is simply written as a comparison with the maximum allowed uniaxial stress y (yield stress):
eq mises y
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3D representation

3D representation of Von Mises & Tresca yield surfaces (src Wikipedia)

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2D representation

2D representation of Von Mises & Tresca yield surfaces (src Wikipedia)

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Applicability / recommendations
Stress criteria Use Von Mises criteria for isotropic, dense & ductile materials like metals which failure does not depend on hydrostatic pressure. Tresca criteria is more conservative than Von Mises, it is also valid for isotropic & ductile materials and is also independant of hydrostatic pressure. Both Tresca & Mises criteria impose that the material has the same limit in traction & compression. If not, consider another criteria or take the lowest limit for safety. Rankine criteria is more suitable to low cohesion materials like ceramics where the tension limit is signicantly lower than the compression. In this case, you should also check that the maximum shear (Tresca) is also below the admissible values. Complex materials like concrete, ceramics, composites require much more complex criteria taking into account the hydrostatic pressure, the tension/compression asymmetry or the anisotropy of the material.
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