MAE

371, Fall 2019

Homework #2 Due 9/25/19

Problem 1
Consider the tetrahedron used to determine the boundary tractions in terms of the stress components.
Show that Ax = lA, Ay = mA, Az = nA, where A is the area of the surface.

Hint: One-half the cross product of two vectors with a common origin is a vector whose magnitude is
the area of the triangle defined by the two vectors and whose direction is normal to both of the product
vectors.

V1 ´ V2 = H
1
H =A
2
H × V1 = 0
H × V2 = 0

Problem 2
The material element shown has the following components of the stress tensor:

11 9 3
𝜎=#9 4 −3) 𝑀𝑃𝑎
3 −3 4

The boundary orientation at this point is shown on the right.

(a) Find the components of P on the boundary plane.

(b) Find |P|, the magnitude of P.
(c) Determine the angle between P and S (the unit normal).
(d) Determine Pn, the component of P parallel to S.
(e) Determine Ps, the component of P perpendicular to S.

Problem 3
A cantilevered beam of rectangular cross-section is subjected to a shear force V as shown below. We
will use the stress equilibrium equations to find the shear stresses in the beam.

To begin, the bending stress is given by

My
sx =
I

where M is the internal bending moment. Assume a state of plane stress. Find the transverse shear
stress txy by integrating the equilibrium equation(s) over the beam thickness and applying the boundary
condition at y = ± h / 2 .

Problem 4
The picture below shows a rectangular piece of sheet metal in a state of plane stress. The rectangular
piece is loaded on its thin edges by constant tractions.

(a) Write the mathematical description of the two traction components Tx and Ty for each of the
four edges.
(b) Is 𝜎. (𝑥, 𝑦) = +3𝑝6 , 𝜎7 = −2𝑝6 , and t xy ( x, y ) = 0 a solution of the plane stress equilibrium
equations and the plane stress boundary conditions for this problem?

2𝑝6

3𝑝6 3𝑝6

2𝑝6


Problem 5
A state of hydrostatic stress is given by:

és 0 0 0 ù
s = êê 0 s 0 0 úú
êë 0 0 s 0 úû

Show that on any boundary (i.e. at any orientation to the x-y-z axes) the resulting force (or stress vector)
is always perpendicular to the surface and that the magnitude of the stress vector is equal to s0.