Elasticity and Plasticity

Lecture 2

Course Postgraduate phD

Asst. Prof. Dr. Alaa Dahham Younis
Components of Stress
The stress components depend not only on ΔF , however, but also on the orientation of the plane
on which it acts at point Q. Even at a given point, therefore, the stresses will differ as different
planes are considered. The complete description of stress at a point thus requires the
specification of the stress on all planes passing through the point.
Because the stress (s or t) is obtained by dividing the force by area, it has units of force per unit
area. In SI units, stress is measured in newton's per square meter (N/m2), or Pascal's (Pa). As the
Pascal is a very small quantity, the mega Pascal (MPa) is commonly used. When U.S. Customary
System units are used, stress is expressed in pounds per square inch (psi) or kips per square inch
(ksi)
to enable the determination of the stresses on an infinite number of planes passing through a
point Q, thus defining the stresses at that point, we need only specify the stress components on
three mutually perpendicular planes passing through the point. These three planes, perpendicular
to the coordinate axes, contain three hidden sides of an infinitesimal cube (Fig. 1). We emphasize
that when we move from point Q to point Q' the values of stress will, in general, change. Also,
body forces can exist, as we are now merely interested in establishing the terminology necessary
to specify a stress component.

The general case of a three-dimensional state of stress is shown in Fig. 1. Consider the stresses to
be identical at points Q and Q' and uniformly distributed on each face, represented by a single
vector acting at the center of each face. In accordance with the foregoing, a total of nine
scalar stress components defines the state of stress at a point. The stress components can be
assembled in the following matrix form, wherein each row represents the group of stresses acting
on a plane passing through Q(x, y, z):
 … (1)

stress component is written as t ij , where the

subscripts i and j each assume the values
of x, y, and z as required by the foregoing
equation. The double subscript notation is
interpreted as follows: The first subscript
indicates the direction of a normal to the plane
or face on which the stress component acts; the
Fig. 1 Element subjected to three-dimensional
second subscript relates to the direction of the
stress. All stresses have positive sense.
stress itself. Repetitive subscripts are avoided
in this text, so the normal stresses τ xx , τ yy ,
and τ zz are designated  x ,  y , and  z , as
indicated in Eq. (1). A face or plane is usually
identified by the axis normal to it; for example,
the x faces are perpendicular to the x axis.
Sign Convention

Referring again to Fig. 1, we observe that both stresses labeled τ yx tend to twist the element in a
clockwise direction. It would be convenient, therefore, if a sign convention were adopted under
which these stresses carried the same sign. Applying a convention relying solely on the
coordinate direction of the stresses would clearly not produce the desired result, inasmuch as
the τ yx stress acting on the upper surface is directed in the positive x direction, while τ yx acting on
the lower surface is directed in the negative x direction. The following sign convention, which
applies to both normal and shear stresses, is related to the deformational influence of a stress and
is based on the relationship between the direction of an outward normal drawn to a particular
surface and the directions of the stress components on the same surface.
When both the outer normal and the stress component face in a positive direction relative to the
coordinate axes, the stress is positive. When both the outer normal and the stress component face
in a negative direction relative to the coordinate axes, the stress is positive. When the normal
points in a positive direction while the stress points in a negative direction (or vice versa), the
stress is negative. In accordance with this sign convention, tensile stresses are always positive
and compressive stresses always negative. Figure 1 depicts a system of positive normal and shear
stresses.

Figure 2. The normal stress, σxx, is positive because the

direction of the force Fx and the plane Ax are either both
positive (right) or both negative (left). The shear stress, τxy
and τyx, are negative because the direction of the force and
the normal to the plane have opposite signs.
The isolated element is shown in Fig. 3 referred to a Cartesian coordinate system. The double
subscript is interpreted as follows: The double subscript indicates the direction of a normal to the
plane or face on which the stress component acts; the second subscript relates to the direction of
the stress itself. Note that x ≡ xx . Thus, τxy is the shear stress on the x-face in the y-direction.

Figure 3: Stresses acting on the positive (left) and negative (right)

faces of an infinitesimal body.
The columns, from left to right, represent the components in the x, y, and z directions of the
coordinate system, respectively. σxx, σyy, and σzz are normal stress components and the other six
are shear stress components. Because we specified that the body itself is at rest, three of the six
shear stress components must be equivalent (σxy and σyx, σyz and σzy, and σxz and σzx). If
these components were unequal, the body would move, which violates our at-rest condition. So,
rather than nine components, we are left with six independent stress components to describe the
stress acting on any arbitrary infinitesimal body:

For any given state of stress there is at least one set of three mutually perpendicular planes on
which the shear stresses are zero. In other words, you can rotate our infinitesimal cube such that
the shear stresses on each of its three faces are zero. In this orientation, these three faces are the
principal planes of stress. The stresses acting along them are called the principal stresses
By a simple consideration of the equilibrium of the element the number of the symbols for
shearing stresses can be reduced to three. If we take the moments of the forces acting on the
element about the x-axis, for instance, only the surface stresses shown in fig.2 need be
considered. Body the forces such as the weight of the element, can be neglected in this instance,
which follows from the fact that in reducing the dimensions of the element the body forces acting
on it diminish as the cube of the linear dimensions while the surface forces diminish as the square
of the linear dimensions. Hence, for a very small element, body forces are small quantities of
higher order than surface forces and can be neglected in calculating the surface forces. Similarly
moments due to non-uniformity of distribution of normal forces are of higher order than these due
to shearing forces and vanish in the limit.
Also the forces on each sides can be considered to be the area of the side times the stress at the
middle. Then denoting the dimensions of the small element in fig.2 by dx, dy, dz the equation of
equilibrium of the element, taking moments of forces about the x-axis is:

τzy dx dy dz = τyz dx dy dz
The two other equations can be obtained in the same manner.
τxy= τyx , τxz= τzx , τyz = τzy
Shearing stress perpendicular to the line of intersection of these sides are equal. The six
quantities x, y, z, τxy= τyx , τxz= τzx , τyz = τzy are therefore sufficient to describe the
stresses acting on the coordinate planes through a point ; these will be called the components of
stress at the point.
Types of Stresses in Engineering
TYPES OF STRESS
Stresses may be classified in two ways, i.e., according to the type of body on which they act, or
the nature of the stress itself. Thus stresses could be one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-
dimensional as shown in the Figure 5 (a), (b) and (c).

Fig. 5 Types of Stress

Cartesian - co-ordinate system (3D)
In the Cartesian co-ordinates system, we make use of the axes, X, Y and Z. Let us consider the
small element of the material and show the various normal stresses acting the faces

Cylindrical - co-ordinate system (3D)

In the cylindrical coordinate system we
make use of coordinates r,  and Z.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL STRESS AT A POINT
A two-dimensional state of stress exists when the stresses and body forces are independent of one
of the coordinates, here taken as z. Such a state is described by stresses and the x and y body
forces. Two-dimensional problems are of two classes: plane stress and plane strain. In the case of
plane stress the stresses and the z-directed body forces are assumed to be zero. In the case of
plane strain, the stresses and the body force are likewise taken to be zero, but does not vanish*
and can be determined from stresses and We shall now determine the equations for
transformation of the stress components and at any point of a body represented by an
infinitesimal element (Fig. 6-a). The z-directed normal stress even if it is nonzero, need not be
considered here. Consider an infinitesimal wedge cut from the loaded body shown in Fig. 6-a, b.
It is required to determine the stresses and which refer to axes making an angle with axes x, y as
shown in the figure. Let side AB be normal to the axis. Note that in accordance with the sign
convention, and are positive stresses as shown in the figure. If the area of side AB is taken as
unity, then sides QA and QB have area and respectively. Equilibrium of forces in the x and y
directions requires that cos  sin  respectively.

Equilibrium of forces in the x and y directions requires that

FIGURE 6. Elements in plane stress

(a)
Substitution of the stress resultants

The transformation equations for stress now become

Principal stress in two dimensions

These are the principal directions along which the principal or maximum and minimum normal
stress act.
A principal plane is thus a plane on which the shear stress is zero. The principal stresses are
determined by the equation
Tensor stress
What is a Tensor
A tensor is a multi-dimensional array of numerical values that can be used to describe the
physical state or properties of a material. A simple example of a geophysical relevant tensor is
stress. Stress, like pressure is defined as force per unit area. Pressure is isotropic, but if a
material has finite strength, it can support different forces applied in different directions
In 3-dimensional space, a vector has 3 components and tensor has 9 components. The index
notation can be employed to represent these components as well as expressions and equations
involving scalars, vectors and tensors. The repeated index is called dummy index, while the non-
repeated index is called free index. Thus, in the term cij bj , i is a free index and j is a dummy
index. An expression or equation containing one free index denotes a vector expression or
equation. An expression or equation containing two free indices represents a tensor expression or
equation. As an example the term pij q jk containing the free indices i and k represents a tensor.

Figure below, illustrates a unit cube

of material with forces acting on it in
three dimensions. By dividing by the
surface area over which the forces
are acting, the stresses on the cube
can be obtained. Any arbitrary stress
state can be decomposed into 9
components (labeled σij). These
components form a second rank
tensor; the stress tensor
For a complete description of stress, we have to specify not only its magnitude, direction and
sense but also the surface on which it acts. For this reason, the stress is called a "Tensor".

tensor

Figure 7
Let’s start with a body, that is arbitrarily loaded by a singular force F and distributed load p.
External loads cause internal forces. Now we slice the body in s‐s. On the area element ΔA, that
contains point P, the internal force is ΔF, on the opposing face –ΔF
If a body is in equilibrium under external load, the cut body must as well be in equilibrium under
external load + internal forces acting on the cutting area. Following the principle of reactions,
the opposed cut has to have inverted forces and moments of same magnitude on the same line of
action.
Now let’s make an arbitrary cut with the normal of the cutting plane n. By projection of ΔA with n
one obtains…
The equilibrium conditions lead to the CAUCHY’s equation, that is used to project a normal
vector by use of the stress tensor onto a stress vector. Hence the stress state is really completely
defined by sigma_ij.
1. The ratio ΔF/ΔA gives the mean stress on the area element and with ΔA→0 we obtain the stress
vector t.
2. The stress vector has a normal and tangential component with respect to the cutting plane. The
normal component is called normal stress sigma and the tangential one shear stress tau.
3. The stress vector depends on the position of P and the orientation of the normal vector of the
cutting plane through P. To fully characterize a stress state, one needs 3 perpendicular cuts
through P, e.g. in direction 1,2,3. From the 3 cutting areas we obtain the stress tensor, that fully
describes a stress state.
4. The stress tensor is symmetric, hence sigma T=sigma .
As the resultant forces acting on these planes is the same, the stresses on these planes are
different because the areas and the inclinations of these planes are different.
We consider x, y and z planes as the three planes, having normal vectors along the three
Cartesian directions x, y and z respectively. Let the stress vectors on x, y and z planes be denoted
by t x , t y and tz respectively. Further, we denote their components along x, y and z directions as
follows
.. (1)

.. (2)
.. (3)

Where ( iˆ , ˆj , kˆ ) are the unit vectors along (x, y, z) axes. The stress vectors and their
components are shown in Figure 7. To derive the above result, we consider a small element at
point P whose shape is that of a tetrahedron. The three sides of the tetrahedron are chosen
perpendicular to x, y and z axes and the slant face is chosen normal to vector nˆ . Then,
equilibrium of the tetrahedron in the limit as its size goes to zero leads to the following result

.. (4)

Where nx , ny and nz are the components of the normal vector nˆ . This result is true for every
stress vector at point P no matter what the orientation of the normal vector nˆ is. Further, this
result remains valid even if the body forces are not zero or the body is accelerating.
Let the components of the
stress vector tn be

.. (5)

Substituting Eqs. (1-3) and (5), we get

the component form of Eq. (4) as
follows

.. (6)

In array notation, this can be written as

.. (7)

where the matrix [σ ] is Figure 7. Stress vectors and their components on x,

y and z planes a. Stress vector and its components
on x plane; b. Stress vector and its components on y
.. (8) plane; c. Stress vector and
its components on z plane
In index notation, it can be expressed as
.. (9)

Equation (6) or (7) or (9) is called as the Cauchy’s relation. Equations (4) and (6) indicate that
the stress at a point can be completely described by means of just three stress vectors tx , t y and
tz acting on mutually orthogonal planes or by their nine components: σ xx ,σ xy ,σ xz ,σ yx ,σ yy
,σ yz ,σ zx ,σ zy andσ zz .
Thus, the stress at a point is conceptually different than a scalar which has only one component
or a vector which has three components (in three dimensions). In the next paragraph, we shall
discuss a characteristic of the stress at a point which will indicate that it is a tensor (of order
two).
 tensor

Cauchy’s Law, which will be proved below, states that the normal
to a surface, is related to the traction vector

Figure 8 acting on that surface, according to

Writing the traction and normal in vector form and the stress in matrix form, 3× 3

and Cauchy’s law in matrix notation reads

Note that it is the transpose stress matrix which is used in Cauchy’s law. Since the stress matrix
is symmetric, one can express Cauchy’s law in the form
Normal and Shear Stress
It is useful to be able to evaluate the normal stress N and shear stress s acting on any plane,
Fig. 7. For this purpose, note that the stress acting normal to a plane is the projection of in
the direction of n

The stress acting normal to a surface is given by

The magnitude of the shear stress acting on the

surface can then be obtained from

Figure 7
Example
The state of stress at a point with respect to a Cartesian coordinates system x1x2x3 is given by

Determine:
(a) the traction vector acting on a plane through the point whose unit normal is

(b) the component of this traction acting perpendicular to the plane.

(c) the shear component of traction on the plane.

Solution
(a) From Cauchy’s law,
 so that

(b) The component normal to the plane is

(c) The shearing component of traction is

St. Venant’s principle
For the purpose of analyzing the statics or dynamics of a body, one force system may be
replaced by an equivalent force system whose force and moment resultants are identical. Such
force resultants, while equivalent need not cause an identical distribution of strain, owing to
difference in the arrangement of forces. St. Venant’s principle permits the use of an equivalent
loading for the calculation of stress and strain.
St. Venant’s principle states that if a certain system of forces acting on a portion of the surface of
a body is replaced by a different system of forces acting on the same portion of the body, then the
effects of the two different systems at locations sufficiently far distant from the region of
application of forces, are essentially the same, provided that the two systems of forces are
statically equivalent (i.e., the same resultant force and the same resultant moment). St. Venant
principle is very convenient and useful in obtaining solutions to many engineering problems in
elasticity. The principle helps to the great extent in prescribing the boundary conditions very
precisely when it is very difficult to do so.
Spherical And Deviatorial Stress Tensors
Spherical part volume change only

Deviatorial part shape change

Principal Stresses in Three Dimensions (Invariants)
Given the stress components for three coordinate planes, it is possible to find three perpendicular planes
for which shear stress vanish, that is, the resultant stresses are perpendicular to the planes on which they
act. These stresses are called Principal Stresses and the planes on which they act Principal Planes. Let
the stress on principle plane be called 𝜎 and the direction cosines of this principal plane be called (𝑙 ,𝑚 ,
𝑛). Then the components of this stress are:

which may also be written as:

Now, substituting in equation matrix, we find:

* OR

These are three homogeneous linear equations in 𝑙 ,𝑚 ,𝑛. For a nontrivial solution, the
determinant of the coefficients must be equal to zero
This is cubic equation in 𝜎

.. (1)
The roots of this equation are the principal stresses 𝜎1 ,𝜎2 ,𝜎3. The roots are independent of the
system reference axis and so are the coefficients of equation (1). Those coefficients are called
“The Invariants” of the state of stress and are written:

…. (2)

Note
Equation (1) is usually solved numerically by trial and error, but the following method can be
used if desired:
By definition:
Then one of the roots of equation (1) is given by

Where

and

The other two roots are given by

Maximum Shear Stress
If one choose the coordinate axes along the principal directions, the matrix of equation *
becomes a Diagonal Matrix

And in terms of principal stresses

… (1)
… (2)
we shall now eliminate one of the direction cosine, say 𝑛, from the equation by using the relation

And then determine 𝑙 and 𝑚 as to make 𝜏 a maximum. Substituting 𝑛2=1−𝑙2−𝑚2 in equation (2)
we obtain:

Calculating the derivative with respect to 𝑙 and 𝑚 equating derivative to zero we obtain
 Where

… (3)
And
… (4)

Now the above two equations (3), (4) must be simultaneously true, and generally 𝜎1 ,𝜎2 ,𝜎3 are
not equal. One solution of these equations is =𝑚=0 , in which case 𝑛=±1. This obviously gives
the direction of plane of xy coordinate coinciding with the principal plane for which shear stress
is zero.
However, it is possible to get solution different from zero. Taking 𝑙=0 we find from the second
equation:

And since 𝜎2≠𝜎3 and 𝑚≠0, then

Similarly taking 𝑚=0 we find from the first equation 𝑙=±√12. It should be noted that there is no
solution for the above equation in which both 𝑙 and 𝑚 are different from zero. Repeating the
above calculation by eliminating from equation (2) 𝑚 and then 𝑙 we finally arrive at the following
table of direction cosines making 𝑆𝑡 a maximum or minimum

( 𝑖 ) The first three columns give the direction of planes of coordinates coinciding with principle
planes for which shear stress is zero.
(𝑖𝑖 ) The other three columns give planes through each of principal axis bisecting the angles
between the two other principal axis.
Substituting the values of direction cosines in equation (2) we get
 Similarly

Thus maximum shear stresses occur on planes each of which is perpendicular to one of the
principal planes (i.e. one cosine is zero) and lies at 45° to the other two. It should also be noted
that:
Octahedral Normal And Octahedral Shearing Stresses
These are planes equally inclined to the principle stress axes. From consideration of Fig. 8 it is
obvious that each of the eight planes will be subjected to the same value of direct stress and the
same value of shear stress. This means that whereas it took six parameters to describe the state of
stress in a set of rectangular sections, it takes only to describe the magnitudes (though not
directions) of the stresses on octahedral sections. Note that octahedral normal and shear stresses
correspond to two fundamental e®ects of uniform dilation and uniform shear.
The magnitudes of the octahedral stresses are easily obtained. If the direction cosines of the
normal to the octahedral plane are l , m, and n, their values must be l 2 = m2 = n2 = 1/3. Also,

And

The octahedral stresses can obviously be quoted in terms

of the components of any tensor of the state:

Figure 8: State of stress on octahedral sections

of an element. 0 is the octahedral normal
stress, τ0 is the octahedral shear stress.
And

The octahedral shear stress is related to the Von Mises yield stress. Failure occurs when
Example : Components of the stress tensor σ at a point, with respect to the (x, y, z) coordinate
system, are given as

(a) Find the principal invariants of σ .

(b) Find the principal stresses σi Arrange σi such that σ1 ≥σ 2 ≥σ

(576-640-360-576-0-0)= - 1000
The roots of this equation are: λ = 0, − 20, 50 . Arranging them in decreasing order, we get the
following values of the principal stresses:
 Transformation of the stress tensor

Note that we can represent the stress vector tn (at a point) as a combination of the stress vectors
on any three mutually orthogonal planes. These planes can be x′ , y′ and z′ (Figure 10) instead of
x, y and z. Then, following the earlier procedure, the stress vector tn in the component form can
be written as

Or

Figure 10 Stress vectors and their components on x′ , y′

and z′ planes. (Forces acting on the body and supports not
shown) a. Stress vector and its components on x′ plane; b.
Stress vector and its components on y′ plane; c. Stress
vector and its components on z′ plane
Obviously, the components of the matrices [σ ] and [σ ′] must be related as the stress vector tn (at
point P) has a unique magnitude and direction. To get this relation, we consider equilibrium of
three tetrahedral (at point P) whose three faces are perpendicular to x, y and z directions. The
fourth face is normal to x′ direction for the first tetrahedron, normal to y′ direction for the second
tetrahedron and normal to z′ direction for the third tetrahedron. Three equilibrium equations for
each of the three tetrahedral lead to the following result:

… (1)

Here, if ( ˆi′, ˆj′,kˆ ′ ) are the unit vectors along (x′, y′, z′) axes, then (l1,m1, n1) denote the
direction cosines of iˆ′ with respect to (x, y, z) axes. Similarly, (l2 ,m2 , n2 ) denote the direction
cosines of ˆj′ with respect to (x, y, z) axes and (l3 ,m3 ,n3 ) denote the direction cosines of kˆ ′
with respect to (x, y, z) axes. Define the matrix [Q] as

Then, the relation (1) can be written as

The final three-dimensional stress transformation equation becomes:
Using this notational scheme, the specific transformation relations for the stress then become

Under this transformation, the in-plane stress components transform according to

which is commonly rewritten in terms of the double angle

Example 2: Components of the stress tensor σ at point P of the beam of Figure11, with respect to
(x, y, z) coordinate system, are given as:

(a) Find the stress vector tn on the plane whose normal is given by

Find the normal (σ n ) and shear (σ s ) components of tn

(b) Find the components of σ with respect to the rotated coordinate system (x′, y′, z′) . The unit
vectors (iˆ′, ˆj′,kˆ′) along the (x′, y′, z′) axes are given as:

Figure 11 A cantilever beam subjected to uniformly distributed

load on top surface
(a) We use the Cauchy’s relation in array form to evaluate the stress vector tn . we denote its
components with respect to (x, y, z) coordinate system by (tn )x , (tn )y and (tn )z . Further, the
given components of the unit normal vector nˆ are

Writing the components of tn and nˆ in the array form

Thus, the stress vector is:

we get the normal component of the stress vector

we get the magnitude of the shear component of the stress vector:

(b) To find the components of σ with respect to (x′, y′, z′) coordinate system, we first evaluate the
transformation matrix [Q] . We get the direction cosines of the unit vectors ( ˆi ′, ˆj′,kˆ ′ ) and we
get the following expression for [Q] :
Equations governing the transformation of stress in the three-dimensional case may be obtained
by the use of a similar approach to that used for the two dimensional state of stress.
Consider a small tetrahedron isolated from a continuous medium (Fig. 6a), subject to a general
state of stress. The body forces are taken to be negligible. In the figure Px, Py and Pz, and are the
Cartesian components of stress resultant p acting on oblique plane ABC. It is required to relate
the stresses on the perpendicular planes intersecting at the origin to the normal and shear
stresses on ABC.
The orientation of plane ABC may be defined in terms of the angles between a unit normal n to
the plane and the x, y, and z directions (Fig. 6b). The direction cosines associated with these
angles are

FIGURE 6. Stress components on a tetrahedron

The area of the perpendicular plane QAB, QAC, QBC may now be expressed in terms of A, the
area of ABC, and the direction cosines:

The other two areas are similarly obtained. In so doing, we have altogether
(a)

Here i, j, and k are unit vectors in the x, y, and z directions, respectively.

Next, from the equilibrium of x, y, z-directed forces together with Eq. (a), we obtain, after
canceling A,
(1)

The stress resultant on A is thus determined on the basis of known stresses x,y, z, τxy, τxz and
τyz and a knowledge of the orientation of A. In the limit as the sides of the tetrahedron approach
zero, plane A contains point Q. It is thus demonstrated that the stress resultant at a point is
specified. This in turn gives the stress components acting on any three mutually perpendicular
planes passing through Q as shown next. Although perpendicular planes have been used there for
convenience, these planes need not be perpendicular to define the stress at a point.
Consider now a Cartesian coordinate system x′, y′, z′ wherein x′ coincides with n and y′, z′ lie on
an oblique plane .The x′y′z′ and xyz systems are related by the direction cosines: l1=cos(x′, x) and
m1=cos(x′, y) and so on. The notation corresponding to a complete set of direction cosines is
shown in Table1.The normal stress `x is found by projecting Px, Py and Pz in the direction x′
 (2) TABLE 1

Equations (1) and (2) are combined to yield

The remaining stress components are as follows:

The nine direction cosines must satisfy trigonometric relations of the following form:
EXAMPLE
A steel shaft is to be force fitted into a fixed-ended cast-iron hub. The shaft is subjected to a
bending moment M, a torque T, and a vertical force P, Figure below. Suppose that at a point Q in
the hub, the stress field is as shown in Figure below, represented by the matrix

Determine the principal stresses and their orientation with respect to the original coordinate
system.

Solution Substituting the given stresses

The direction cosines that define the orientation of the planes on which
Successive introduction of these values into Eq. (1), together
(1)