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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5

UNIT 1.5 - STRESS AND STRAIN IN LIFTING EQUIPMENT

Contents


Introduction


1. Tensile, compressive and shear forces


2. Stress and strain


3. Tensile test


4. Elasticity, Hookes Law and Youngs Modulus


5. Bending stresses


6. Stress calculations

6.1 Tensile and compressive stress
6.2 Shear stress and strain


7. Conclusions

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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Introduction

This unit looks at stress and strain in simple terms as they relate to lifting equipment.
The tester and examiner is not called upon to carry out stress calculations, and
indeed may not be qualified to do so. However, it is important to have an
understanding of their effects on the equipment being examined and possibly tested.
This unit considers stress, strain and related matters as they affect lifting equipment,
and therefore the methods of testing and safe use.

1. Tensile, compressive and shear forces

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the four basic loading conditions that
occur in lifting equipment.













(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 1

(a) Shows an item in straight pull. It is in tension and subject to a tensile force
or load, eg a sling leg under load.

(b) Shows an item being squeezed. It is in compression and subject to a
compressive force or load, eg a jack body under load.

When two contacting parts are caused to slide upon each other in opposite
directions parallel to their plane of contact by the application of a load they are in
shear and subject to a shear force or load.

(c) Shows an example of single shear. For example, if two plates are bolted
together and subject to a tensile force the bolt would be subjected to the
shear stress set up between the two plates.

(d) Shows an example of double shear. For example, the pin of a shackle
where the load completely fills the jaws is in double shear.

2. Stress and strain

2.1 Stress

When a force is applied to an item, the material it is made of tries to resist the force.
For a given material, the larger the cross-sectional area, the better it is able to resist
the force. This is because the limiting factor is the stress not the amount of force.
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Stress is the force per unit area. The SI unit for stress is the Newton per square
metre, expressed as N/m. The accepted multiples used are kN/m and MN/m.

When calculating stress, the material section is usually measured in mm giving an
answer in N/mm
2
. This is easy to convert as 1 N/mm
2
= 1MN/m.



Note 1: Strictly speaking the SI unit of stress has its own name which is Pascal,
named after the French scientist. It is abbreviated to Pa.
1Pa = 1N/m
2
This unit was used for a while in standards but has now fallen out of favour and
recent standards use N/m
2
or the accepted multiples.

Note 2: When the metric system was first introduced a transitional unit kilogram
force kgf and its multiple tonne force tonnef were initially used. This then resulted
in a unit of stress, kilogram force per square millimetre, expressed as a kgf/mm
2
.
Although it was widely used in standards and other technical publications during the
1970s, its use has been discontinued. It may be encountered in some older
publications, for example in the context of the breaking strength of wire ropes. The
following conversion factor should be used.

1 kgf/mm = 9.81 MN/m


In the imperial system the basic unit of stress is the ton per square inch, expressed
as ton/inch. For smaller units it is pounds per square inch, lbs/inch.

The accepted conversion factors are

1 ton/inch = 15.44 MN/m

1lb/inch = 6.894 kN/m

2.2 Strain

In everyday language stress and strain are synonymous and we often use one to
mean the other. However they are not the same and it is important that we
understand their true meanings and use them correctly when discussing their effects.
They are closely related, both being the result of a force applied to the item.

The force on the item puts the material from which the item is made under stress.
To resist that stress, the material deforms. If it is in tension it gets longer and if it is
in compression it gets shorter. We can see this clearly in every day items such as
an elastic band which stretches when pulled. All materials deform to some extent
when under stress, if only by a very small amount. The way that deformation is
measured is by relating the amount of deformation to the original length.

The relative deformation is called Strain. The strain is determined by dividing the
change in length by the original length thus:

units no has therefore and ratio a is This
Length Original
Length in Change
= Strain


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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
3. Tensile test

A tensile test reveals a great amount of information about the material and quantifies
the important properties of the material. Testers and examiners need to know these
properties and how they are determined in order to understand various material
specifications and relate these to their suitability for making lifting equipment.

A tensile test is made as follows. A standard size test piece of material is subjected
to increasing loads applied in a controlled manner. A graph is plotted as the material
elongates and eventually fails. The result is a Load/Extension diagram as shown in
Figure 2. This is also a diagram of Stress/Strain as the load results in stress and
the extension is a measure of the strain.


















Figure 2

Figure 2 shows a typical graph for a mild steel sample obtained by plotting Load
(Stress) against Elongation (Strain).

Five definite points can be seen as the line of the graph is produced. These indicate
the positions of the Limit of Proportionality, the Elastic Limit, the Yield Point, the
Tensile Strength and the Ultimate Breaking Stress.

With mild steel samples these points can be clearly seen as the graph starts as a
straight line, which then deforms and then takes on a distinctive curve. But with alloy
steels they become less distinct as the line tends to be fairly straight. This unit
therefore only considers mild steel, although the same is true of all materials.

(A) Limit of Proportionality. Initially as the force is applied the stress and strain
are proportional until point A is reached. This is the point at which the graph is no
longer a straight line. This point is known as the Limit of Proportionality.

(B) The Elastic Limit. This is the point up to which the material remains elastic.
Within the elastic limit the test piece will return to its original dimensions if the load is
removed. (With mild steel this point practically corresponds with the Limit of
Proportionality. This is not generally true of other materials or for materials that have
been overstrained). When this point has been exceeded the extension is permanent
and is referred to as Plastic Deformation.

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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
(C) Yield Point. Slightly above the elastic limit, the Yield Point is reached when a
sudden permanent extension, B-C, occurs without any increase in load. (Sometimes
there is a slight drop in the load, due to the extension, giving an upper and lower
yield point).

Area Sectional Cross Original
Load Yield
= Stress Point Yield The


For mild steel this point is fairly easy to locate on the graph. However, for other
materials, such as alloy steels, no such clear-cut point exists.

(D) Tensile Strength. The Tensile Strength is reached at this point. When this is
passed the cross-sectional area becomes noticeably smaller and necking occurs.
This is the point of maximum load.

Area Sectional Cross Original
Load Maximum
= Strength Tensile Thus


(E) Ultimate Breaking Stress. This is the actual breaking load where an
increase in stress is obtained with a reduction in load. Although the value is smaller
than the tensile strength this gives a false impression of what actually occurred.
From points D to E the section of the test piece considerably reduces as it necks -
thereby effectively increasing the stress. However, as the graph records the stress
as load over the original cross-sectional area, it appears to decrease.

Two other measurements may be determined from the test:

(1) The Percentage Elongation. This is the increase in length divided by
the original length, expressed as a percentage. This is a measure of
the materials ductility.

100 x
Length Original
Length in Increase
= Elongation %


(2) The Percentage Reduction in Area. This is the reduction in area at
the point of maximum necking divided by the original cross-sectional
area, expressed as a percentage:

x100
CSA Original
CSA in Decrease
= Area in Reduction %


4. Elasticity, Hookes Law, Youngs Modulus

Robert Hooke carried out early experiments on simple composition materials. In
1676, during his work on elasticity, he noticed that the applied stress was apparently
proportional to the resulting strain up to the elastic limit. His apparatus would be
considered crude and inaccurate today. Like many laws propounded by early
scientists, his findings, known as Hooke's Law, are known to be not strictly true.
However, many materials do show a constant stress/strain relationship as loading is
applied. Consequently the term elastic limit has to be used with care when referring
to the connection between stress and strain. We now know that Hooke's findings are
true up to the limit of proportionality. We can therefore say that Hooke's Law states:-
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Stress is proportional to Strain up to the Limit of Proportionality.

Constant A =
Strain
Stress
ie


This ratio of stress and strain for a material, which shows this straight-line
relationship of load extension, is known as Young's Modulus of Elasticity, denoted
by the symbol E.

Strain
Stress
= E Hence


For mild steel E =200,000 MN/m
2
. This value gives a relationship of the force to
deformation within the elastic range of a material. Therefore the greater the value of
E the stiffer the material will be under load.

5. Bending stresses

The tester and examiner will come across many obvious examples of beams, such
as lifting beams. However, any item that is supported at one or more positions with
a load acting on a part of it, other than at the point of support, can be considered as
a beam. Therefore most lifting accessories when placed under load behave as a
beam and are subject to bending stresses. For example the body of a shackle acts
as a curved beam whilst the pin acts as a straight beam. In order that the tester and
examiner can determine the positions of maximum stress in lifting accessories, a
knowledge of the principles of bending is essential.

When a beam is loaded, it will deflect into a curve. The material on the outside of
the curve will be in tension and therefore subject to a tensile stress. The material on
the inside of the curve will be in compression and therefore subject to compressive
stress. In the middle of the beam the material will not experience any stress. See
Figure 3.

compressive stress

no stress along this line



tensile stress


Figure 3

Hence, the majority of stress is in the outer layers of the beam whilst the centre
portion carries little of the stress. This is the reason why I section beams (eg RSJ
and UB) are so popular in structural work. Most of the material is at the positions of
maximum stress in the flanges and the web serves mainly just to keep them in
position. Because of this, for a given cross-sectional area, the deeper a beam, the
greater the load it can carry.

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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Figure 4 illustrates the three basic types of beam that are of interest to us:

(a) The simply supported beam - the beam is mounted on free or flexible
supports.

(b) The encastre beam - the beam is held rigid by the supports.

(c) The cantilever beam - the beam is held rigid at one end and the other
end is free.




















Figure 4

Under load, each type of beam will deflect in a different way as illustrated by the
beam deflection in Figure 4. Deflection causes stress and the maximum stress
occurs where the bending moment is greatest. Bending moment is the force applied
multiplied by the distance to the point of support. Therefore for a given force, the
longer the beam, the greater the bending moment.

We know from personal experience that holding something at arms length places
much greater stress on the shoulder than if we hold it close to our body. This can be
illustrated by bending moment diagrams as shown in Figure 4. The letter S
indicates the position of maximum tensile stress. The horizontal axis shows the
position along the beam and the vertical axis shows the amount of bending moment
and therefore stress at that point. The convention used is that bending moments
creating stress in the bottom flange are shown as positive, ie above the horizontal
axis, and those creating stress in the top flange are shown as negative, ie below the
horizontal axis.

Considering the simply supported beam, Figure 4(a), the maximum bending moment
is at the centre of the span and it diminishes linearly towards each support. The
tensile stress is in the bottom flange so the bending moment is shown as positive.

For the cantilever, Figure 4(c), the maximum bending moment is at the support and it
diminishes linearly towards the free end. The tensile stress is in the top flange so
the bending moment is shown as negative. Note also that the maximum bending
moment is shown as greater than that of the simply supported beam.
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
For the encastre beam, Figure 4(b), there is, in effect, a combination of the simply
supported beam and the cantilever. The ends each act as a cantilever with the
tensile stress in the top flange and the centre acts as a simply supported beam with
the tensile stress in the bottom flange. Note that the maximum bending moment is
shown as less than for either of the other two methods of support.

Assuming the same material, length and load for each type of beam, the cantilever
beam will deflect by a greater amount than either of the others and the encastre
beam will deflect the least.

In all three cases, the beam will also be subject to shear stress due to the downward
load and upward reaction at the supports. This is normally insignificant compared to
the other stresses and is only of any consequence on very short thick beams.

We have seen that stress varies across the depth of the beam and also along the
length of the beam. The intensity of the stress along the beam will also depend on
how the load is applied. The simply supported beam in Figure 4(a) has a single load
acting at a point, whereas the same beam in Figure 5 has the load evenly distributed
over the whole length.


Evenly Distributed Load



Bending Moment Diagram


Figure 5

This gives a curved bending moment diagram. The position of maximum tensile
stress is still at the centre but, for the same total load, it is only half as much as that
arising from a point load.

To summarise, for a beam of a given material and cross-sectional area, the strength
of a beam depends upon:

a. The shape of the beam section.

b. The depth of the beam.

c. The span of the beam.

d. The method of support of the beam.

e. The mode of load distribution.

6. Stress calculations

The tester and examiner will not normally be called upon to make stress calculations,
and this course is not designed to enable students to carry out complex stress
analysis. Manufacturers employ their own specialists to carry out this work. It is
however useful to have a knowledge of how to perform simple stress calculations to
determine the suitability of a material for a lifting operation.

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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
L
X
= Strain Then L = length Original X = length in change If
area sectional Cross
Load
= Stress

A
P
= Stress Then A = area sectional Cross P = Load If
AX
PL
=
L
X
A
P
=
Strain
Stress
= E Then E = Elasticity of Modulus Youngs If
Strain
Stress
= Elasticity of Modulus Youngs
length Original
length in Change
= Strain
6.1 Tensile and compressive stress

Stress analysis will usually be done in SI units. Firstly to recap:


















Example (1)

A steel bar 40mm x 30mm is subjected to a force of 100 kiloNewtons. Calculate the
stress:










Example (2)

If the bar in example 1 is 300mm long, and Youngs Modulus of Elasticity (E) for the
material is 200,000 MN/m
2
, determine the elongation of the bar:













mm 0.125 = elongation Hence
mm 0.125 =
200,000 x 30 x 40
300 x 100,000
= X

AE
PL
= X so
AX
PL
= E
m
MN/ 83.33 =
mm
N/ 83.33 = Stress Hence

m
MN/ 1 =
mm
N/ 1 Now

mm
N/ 83.33 =
1,200
100,000
=
40x30
100,000
=
A
P
= Stress
2 2
2 2
2
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Example (3)

steel bar 20mm diameter lifts a load of 1 tonne in tension. Calculate the stress:

We know from an earlier unit in this course that 1 tonne =1,000 kg and that a load of
1 kg exerts force of 9.806 N which for practical purposes we round to 10 N.
Therefore the load exerts a force of 10,000 N.

The cross-sectional area of a round bar is r
2
(or d
2
/4) and the value of is 3.142
so the cross-sectional area of a 20 mm diameter bar is: 3.142 x 10 x 10 =314.2 mm
2













Example (4)

If the bar in example 3 is 1 m long, and Youngs Modulus of Elasticity (E) for the
material is 200,000 MN/m
2
, determine the elongation of the bar:












6.2 Shear stress and strain

The calculations for shear stresses are similar to those for tensile and compressive
stresses. However, the theory and some of the terms are different.

Shear stresses occur due to two or more opposing forces acting in a line offset from
each other. Figure 6 shows examples of single shear (a) and double shear (b).


(a) (b)

Figure 6

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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
L
X
= Strain Shear

L = Body the of length the as taken is quantity original The X = Distortion

length) case this (in quantity original An
Distortion
= Strain Shear


A
P
= Stress Shear

A = Area Sectional Cross P = Load
Area Sectional Cross
Load
= Stress Shear

X
P



L





Figure 7
effect of shear force on a body secured at its base

Consider the distortion of a body due to shear forces (Figure 7). Assume that the
base is held secure and has a cross-sectional area A.





















When considering tensile and compressive stresses it was shown that the ratio of
stress to strain is constant up to the limit of proportionality. The constant was called
the Modulus of Elasticity:





(E). Elasticity of Modulus =
Strain
Stress
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
The same relationship exists when considering shear stress and strains up to the
limit of proportionality, except this time the constant is called the Modulus of Rigidity
(G):














Example (5)







Figure 8

The riveted joint shown in Figure 8 is subject to a pull of 20,000 N. The rivet is 6 mm
diameter. Calculate the shear stress in the rivet.















m
MN/ 80,000 is Rigidity of Modulus steel, mild For

AG
PL
= X and
AX
PL
=
L
X
A
P
= G Hence

Rigidity of Modulus =
Strain Shear
Stress Shear
Hence
2
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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
Example (6)






Figure 9

The knuckle joint in Figure 9 is subject to a pull of 10 kiloNewtons. The pin has a
diameter of 12 mm. Calculate the shear stress in the pin:


m
MN/ 44.25 =
mm
N/ 44.25 = stress Shear Hence

mm
N/ 44.25 = Shear) (Double
2 x 113
10,000
=
area onal Crosssecti
Load
= stress Shear

mm
113 =
4
12 x 12 x
=
4
d
= pin of Area
2 2
2
2
2




Example (7)

A short rectangular cantilever of section 100 mm x 40 mm projects 90 mm from the
wall as shown in Figure 10. At its end it carries a load of 100,000 N. Take G as
80,000 MN/m
2
. Calculate the deflection at the end due to shear.

100,000 N
90 mm











Figure 10




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Lifting Equipment Engineers Association 2012 Unit 1.5
7. Conclusion

Consider the above examples, and see how they may be applied to your everyday
experiences.

Examples 1 and 3 show items in tension similar experiences can be found in sling
legs.

Examples 2 and 4, then calculate Youngs Modulus of Elasticity for these items.

Example 5 shows a rivet in shear. The calculations for bolts in shear, such as in a
runway splice, would be made in the same way.

Example 6 has many common examples in lifting gear, such as the load pin in a
clevis connection, or a shackle pin.

Finally, example 7 is similar to a jib crane or cantilevered runway beam.

You can no doubt find other common examples.