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Stress & Strain

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 LOAD
 Load is defined as the set of external forces acting on a
mechanism or engineering structure which arise from
service conditions in which the components of the
structure work
 Common loads in engineering applications are tensile
and compressive
 Tensile loads are due to direct pull, e.g.; force present in
lifting hoist
 Compressive loads are due to direct push, e.g.; force
acting on the column of a building
 Sign convention followed: Tensile forces are positive and
compressive negative
 TYPES OF LOAD
There are a number of different ways in which load can be
applied to a member. Typical loading types are:

 Dead / Static load – Non fluctuating forces generally

caused by gravity, e.g. self weight

 Live load – Load due to dynamic effect, e.g. load exerted by

a lorry on a bridge

 Impact load or shock load – Due to sudden blows

 Fatigue or Fluctuating or Alternating loads: Magnitude and

sign of the forces changing with time

 TYPES OF LOAD
 Structures subjected to repeated cyclic loadings can
undergo progressive damage which shows itself by the
propagation of cracks. This damage is called fatigue and
is represented by a loss of resistance with time
 The fatigue phenomenon shows itself in the form of
cracks developing at particular locations in the structure
 Cracks can appear in diverse types of structures such as:,
bridges, frames, machines parts, canal lock doors,
transmission towers, pylons and chimneys
 Equations of Equilibrium
 Equilibrium of a body requires both:
• A balance of forces, to prevent the body from translating or
having accelerated motion along a straight or curved path,
and
• A balance of moments, to prevent the body from rotating.
 These conditions can be expressed mathematically by two
vector equations
ΣF = 0 ΣMo = 0
 Here, ΣF = 0 represents the sum of all the forces acting on the
body, and ΣMo = 0 is the sum of the moments of all the forces
about any point “O” either on or off the body.
 Equations of Equilibrium
 If an x, y, z coordinate system is established with the origin at
point O, the force and moment vectors can be resolved into
components along each coordinate axis and the above two
equations can be written in scalar form as six equations,
namely,
ΣFx = 0 ΣFy = 0 ΣFz = 0
ΣMx = 0 ΣMy = 0 ΣMz = 0
 Often in engineering practice the loading on a body can be
represented as a system of coplanar forces. If this is the case,
and the forces lie in the x–y plane, then the conditions for
equilibrium of the body can be specified with only three scalar
equilibrium equations; that is,
ΣFx = 0
ΣFy = 0
ΣMo = 0
 STRESS
 When a material is subjected to an external force, a resisting
force is set up within the component, this internal resistance
force per unit area is called stress. SI unit is N/m²(Pa).
F

A
 Stress is associated with the strength of the material from
which the body is made up of.
 In engineering applications, we use the original
cross section area of the specimen and it is known
as conventional stress or Engineering stress
TYPE OF STRESSES
 STRAIN
 When a body is subjected to some external force, there is
some change of dimension of the body. The ratio of change
of dimension of the body to its original dimension is known
as strain.
 Strain is a dimensionless quantity.
 Strain may be:-
 Tensile strain
 Compressive strain
 Volumetric strain
 Shear strain
 STRAIN
Also known as unit deformation, strain is the ratio of the change in
dimension caused by the applied force, to the original dimension.

where δ is the deformation and L is the original length, thus ε is

dimensionless.
 STRAIN
 Tensile strain. Ratio of increase in length to original
length of the body when it is subjected to a pull force.
 Compressive strain. Ratio of decrease in length to
original length of the body when it is subjected to a
push force.
 Volumetric strain. Ratio of change of volume of the
body to the original volume.
 Shear strain. Strain due to shear stress and is the
angular change in the body or the angle of deformation,
measured in radians, hence is dimensionless i.e. has no
units.
 ELASTICITY & STRESS STRAIN RELATIONSHIP
 The property of a body by virtue of which it undergoes deformation
when subjected to an external force and regains its original
configuration (size and shape) upon the removal of the deforming
external force is called elasticity.
 The stress corresponding to the limiting value of external force upto
and within which the deformation disappears completely upon the
removal of external force is called elastic limit.
 A material is said to be elastic if it returns to its original unloaded
dimensions when load is removed.
 If the external force is so large that the stress exceeds the elastic limit,
the material loses to some extent its property of elasticity. If now the
force is removed, the material will not return to its original shape and
size and there will be a residual deformation in the material
ELASTICITY & STRESS STRAIN RELATIONSHIP

(HOOKE'S LAW)
 ELASTICITY & STRESS STRAIN RELATIONSHIP

The stress-strain curve from O to A need not be linear in order

for the material to be elastic.

The stress corresponding to the

limiting value of external force upto
and within which the deformation
disappears completely upon the
removal of external force is called
elastic limit – proportional limit –
yield stress.

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 ELASTICITY & STRESS STRAIN RELATIONSHIP
 ELASTIC LIMIT. The elastic limit is the limit beyond which the
material will no longer go back to its original shape when the load is
removed, or it is the maximum stress that may be developed such
that there is no permanent or residual deformation when the load is
entirely removed.
 ELASTIC AND PLASTIC RANGES. The region in stress-strain diagram
from O to P is called the elastic range in which the material returns
to its original shape after removal of the load. The region from P to R
is called the plastic range in which residual strain remains upon
unloading.
 YIELD POINT. Yield point is the point at which the material begins to
deform plastically and will have an appreciable elongation or
yielding without any increase in load.
 ULTIMATE STRENGTH. The maximum ordinate in the stress-strain
diagram is the ultimate strength.
 RAPTURE STRENGTH. Rapture strength is the strength of the
material at rupture. This is also known as the breaking strength.
 ELASTICITY & STRESS STRAIN RELATIONSHIP

 STRAIN HARDENING.
 When yielding has occurred, an increasing stress
is required to produce additional plastic
deformation, resulting in a curve that rises
continuously but becomes flatter until it reaches
a maximum stress referred to as ultimate stress.
This rise in the curve is called Strain Hardening.
 When a metal is stressed beyond its elastic limit, it enters the plastic
region (The region in which residual strain remains upon unloading).
When the load is increased further, a kind of rearrangement occurs at
atom level that in turn makes the metal harder and stronger through
the resulting plastic deformation. It means, it’s more difficult to deform
the metal as the strain increases and hence it’s called “strain
hardening”. This tends to increase the strength of the metal and
decrease its ductility.
 Residual Strain – Partial Elasticity
 If the external force is so large that the stress exceeds the
elastic limit, the material loses to some extent its property of
elasticity. If now the force is removed, the material will not
return to its original shape and size and there will be a
residual deformation / strain.

Thus, during unloading the bar

returns partially to its original
shape, and so the material is
said to be partially elastic.

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 HOOKE’S LAW & ELASTIC MODULI
Hooke’s law states that: “ When a body is loaded within elastic
limit, the stress is proportional to strain developed” or “Within
the elastic limit the ratio of stress applied to strain developed is
a constant”. The constant is known as Modulus of elasticity or
Elastic modulus or Young’s modulus, 𝑬
Mathematically within elastic limit stress is directly proportional
to strain or
𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝝈
= =𝑬
𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝜺
The conditions for Hook’s Law are
 Load must be axial
 Cross-sectional area is constant
 Material is homogeneous
 Stress must not exceed the proportional limit
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 ELASTIC MODULI & ELASTIC DEFORMATION
 If P and δ are refer to the direct stress and strain , then

F𝑷  A δx  L 𝑷
hence

F𝑷 A 𝑭𝑳
𝑷𝑳 𝝈
 and = =𝑬 δ
x L
δ 𝑨𝒙
Aδ 𝜺
A graph of stress against strain will
𝑬𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝜹 be straight line with gradient of E.
The units of E are the same as the
𝑃𝐿 unit of stress.
𝛿=
𝐴𝐸

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 DEFINITIONS

 Modulus of Elasticity, E. Modulus of Elasticity of a

material is a measure of its stiffness and describes the
material’s response to bending stresses or it is the
tendency of the object to deform along an axis when
opposing forces are applied with respect to that axis. It is
defined as the ratio of stress to strain and denoted by E,
E = σ/ɛ
 Shear Modulus / Modulus of Rigidity, G. It is one of the
several quantities for measuring the stiffness of material
and describes the material’s response to shear stresses. It
is defined as the ratio of shear stress to shear strain,
G=𝝉/γ
 DEFINITIONS
 Strain Energy
 As a material is deformed by an external load, the load will
do external work, which in turn will be stored in the material
as internal energy. This energy is related to the strains in the
material, and so it is referred to as strain energy.
 The strain energy is denoted by ΔU and is given by:
ΔU = 1/2 σɛΔV
 For engineering applications, it is often convenient to specify
the strain energy per unit volume of material. This is called
the strain energy density, and it can be expressed as
u = ΔU/ ΔV = 1/2 σɛ
 Finally, if the material behaviour is linear elastic, then
Hooke’s law applies, σ = Eɛ, and therefore we can express the
elastic strain energy density in terms of the uniaxial stress as
u = 1/2 σ2/E
 DEFINITIONS
 Homogeneous. A homogeneous material means a material which has
uniform composition and uniform properties throughout and is not a
function of position, i.e. it does not depend on x, y or z axis. Metals,
alloys, ceramics are the examples. In homogeneous materials, the
mixed components cannot be identified individually due to the
uniformity of the mix throughout the phase and cannot be
mechanically separated into different materials. For example, an alloy,
a homogeneous solid mixture of two metals cannot be separated
mechanically into the constituent materials.
 Isotropic. Isotropic means that the properties of materials are the
same in all directions. In an isotropic material, physical and
mechanical properties are equal in all orientations or directions. The
isotropic nature of the material depends on its crystal structure. If the
grains of the material are not oriented uniformly in all directions, it is
not an isotropic material. Properties like Young’s modulus, thermal
expansion coefficient, magnetic behaviour can vary with directions in
such anisotropic (not isotropic) materials and e.g., if the thermal
expansion coefficient of a solid is the same in all directions, it is said
to be isotropic in that physical classification.
 DEFINITIONS
 Shear Flow. Shear flow, q is a measure of the shear force
per unit length along the axis of a beam. It is the product of
horizontal shear stress and the width of the beam. This
value is found from the shear formula and is used to
determine the shear force developed in fasteners and glue
that holds the various segments of a composite beam
together.
 Point of Inflexion. It is a point on curve where the curvature
changes from being concave to convex or vice versa. In a
loaded / bending beam, it is the point at which no bending
occurs. In a bending moment diagram, it is the point at
which the bending moment curve intersects with the zero
line. In other words, the bending moment changes its sign
from negative to positive or vice versa.
 DEFINITIONS
 Necking. It is a mode of tensile deformation where
relatively large amounts of strain localize disproportionately
in a small region of the material and decrease in diameter /
cross section of a bar occurs.
 Slenderness Ratio. It is a measure of the tendency of a
column to buckle. It is defined as l / r, where l is the actual
length of the column and r is the least radius of gyration.
 Complementary Shear. To maintain the static equilibrium
of an element, shear stress acting on one face of an element
is always accompanied by a numerically equal shear stress
acting on a perpendicular face. This numerically equal shear
stress acting on the perpendicular face is called as
complementary shear and is given by:-
𝝉h = 𝝉p
 DEFINITIONS
 Second Moment of Area. Also known as Moment of Inertia or
area moment of inertia. It is a geometric property of an area/an
element which reflects how its points are distributed with regards
to an arbitrary axis. For bodies in rotation about an axis, it gives an
idea of the force required to change the state of motion as it
depends upon the mass of the body and its distance from the axis
around which it is rotating.
 Section Modulus. It is the ratio between 2nd moment of area, I and
distance of extreme fiber from the neutral axis, c. It is a geometric
property for a given cross-section used in the design of beams or
flexural members and is a direct measure of the strength of a
beam. A beam that has greater section modulus will be stronger
and capable of supporting greater loads. Generally, Section
Modulus is calculated for the extreme tensile or compressive fiber
in a bending beam, as often compression is the most critical case
due to onset of flexural torsional buckling.
 DEFINITIONS
 The term EI (Product of modulus of elasticity and moment of
inertia)
 Also defined as flexural rigidity, it represents the part of the
stiffness of a member that is dependent on the cross sectional
shape and the material properties. It is the force couple required to
bend a non-rigid structure in one unit of curvature or it can be
defined as the resistance offered by a structure while undergoing
bending and is an expression to explain the stiffness of a structural
element.
 Flexural rigidity is the ratio at which a (slender) member bends in
response to an applied bending moment (concentrated or
distributed).
 Max load that a structural member will be allowed to carry
under normal conditions of utilization is considerably smaller
than the ultimate load
 This smaller load is Allowable load / Working load / Design load
 Only a fraction of ultimate load capacity of the member is
utilized when allowable load is applied
 The remaining portion of the load-carrying capacity of the
member is kept in reserve to assure its safe performance
 The ratio of the ultimate load (stress) / allowable load (stress)
is used to define F.S
Factor of Safety (F.S) = Ultimate Stress/Allowable Stress
 THERMAL STRESS
 Thermal stresses are the stresses induced in a body due to
change in temperature. Thermal stresses are set up in a
body, when the temperature of the body is raised or
lowered and the body is restricted from expanding or
contracting.
 Consider a body which is heated to a certain temperature.
Let
- L is the original length of the body,
- ΔT is the rise in temp,
- E is Young's modulus,
- α is coefficient of linear expansion &
- dL is the extension of rod due to rise of temp
 THERMAL STRESS

 If the rod is free to expand, then the thermal

strain developed is given by
ϵt = Δ L/L = α x Δ T
 The extension of the rod is given by
Δ L= L x α x Δ T
 If the body is restricted from expanding freely,
Thermal stress developed is given by
σt= E x α x ΔT