Mechanics of Solids

Lecture 9
By
Dr. Gaurav Tiwari
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kanpur
 Concept of Stress at a Point
⮚We have analysed problems considering the global effect on body under uniform conditions
⮚For more complex problems (non-uniform conditions), it is required to study the response at local
level
⮚Further, the effect is required to be considered in 2-D and 3-D (in contrast to 1-D tensile test)
⮚This chapter will be dealing with the behaviour in differentially small elements in the body.
• Equilibrium at a point
• Geometry of deformation at a point
• Stress-strain relationship (akin to Force-Deformation)
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ To start with: Let us understand how to examine internal force at a point O?
▪ Let a body acted upon by many forces as shown.

▪ To examine the internal forces at ‘O’, lets pass a plane through ‘O’ with normal ‘n’
▪ To maintain ‘equilibrium’ of each part, there must be Internal Forces transmitting across the cutting plane
▪ If we divide this plane into a number of small area, the forces across these small areas vary
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ Let’s focus on a small area ∆A with normal n centered at point O, there will be a force ∆F inclined to the surface
acting at some arbitrary angle (no need to be the normal to the plane)

➢ Let’s introduce the Stress Vector (or, force intensity) 𝑻 𝒏 acting at the point O on a plane whose normal is n
passing through O as:

∆F
𝑻 𝒏 = lim
∆A→0 ∆A

➢ Major characteristics of 𝑻 𝒏
▪ Physical dimensions are force per unit area
▪ Defined at a point upon an imaginary plane/boundary dividing the material into two parts
▪ It’s a vector equivalent to the action of one part of the material upon other
▪ 𝑻 𝒏 is a vector and does not act in general in the direction of n (or, the direction is not restricted)
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ The stress vector could be resolved in terms of its components w.r.t. the coordinate axes as given below:
𝒏 𝒏 𝒏
𝑻 𝒏 = 𝑇𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑇𝑦 𝒋 + 𝑇𝑧 k
➢ Let’s modify this discussion slightly by focusing on the coordinate planes passing though point ‘O’
▪ Plane mm passing through O parallel
to yz plane
▪ Lets divide this plane into small areas
(∆y × ∆z) as discussed previously
▪ Let ∆F be a force vector acting at an
arbitrary angle on area ∆A centered
at O
➢ ∆F could be resolved in terms of a set of rectangular stress components with one axis normal to the surface (∆𝐹𝑥 )
and other two parallel to the surface (∆𝐹𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑∆𝐹𝑧 )
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ Let us define the average force intensity on the face of area: ∆𝑨𝒙 = ∆𝒚 ∆𝒛 as given below
∆𝑭𝒙 ∆𝑭𝒚 ∆𝑭𝒛
, ,
∆𝑨𝒙 ∆𝑨𝒙 ∆𝑨𝒙

➢ For ∆𝑨𝒙 → 0, these ratios are force intensity acting on the face x at the point O: Components of the stress vector
acting on the x-face (or, plane with normal acting in positive x-direction) at the point O
➢ Hence, to define a stress component – we need two directions

To identify the face on which To identify the force direction from

stress component acts which stress component derived

➢ Shear Stress Component: Stress component derived from the force parallel to the face
▪ Denoted by 𝝉
▪ For x-face plane, the stress acting in y and z directions are shear stress component.

∆𝐹𝑦 ∆𝐹𝑧
𝜏𝑥𝑦 = lim ; 𝜏𝑥𝑧 = lim
∆𝐴𝑥 →0 ∆𝐴𝑥 ∆𝐴𝑥 →0 ∆𝐴𝑥
First subscript: direction of the normal to the face; Second subscript: direction in which stress component acts
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ Normal Stress Component: Stress component derived from the force perpendicular to the face
▪ Denoted by 𝜎
▪ For x-face plane, the stress acting in x direction is the normal stress component.

∆𝐹𝑥
𝜎 𝑥𝑥 = lim
∆𝐴𝑥 →0 ∆𝐴𝑥
First subscript: direction of the normal to the face; Second subscript: direction in which stress component acts
▪ Because of two similar indices, it is convenient to write only one subscript for normal stresses

∆𝐹𝑥
𝜎𝑥 = lim
∆𝐴𝑥 →0 ∆𝐴𝑥

➢ Consider y and z planes similar to x-plane, we can obtain 9 stress components (defines state of stress
at a point) on these 3-mutually perpendicular planes:
▪ x-plane: 𝜎𝑥 , 𝜏𝑥𝑦 , 𝜏𝑥𝑧 𝜎𝑥 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜏𝑥𝑧
▪ y-plane: 𝜏𝑦𝑥 , 𝜎𝑦 , 𝜏𝑦𝑧 𝝈 = 𝜏𝑦𝑥 𝜎𝑦 𝜏𝑦𝑧
𝜏𝑧𝑥 𝜏𝑧𝑦 𝜎𝑧
▪ z-plane: 𝜏𝑧𝑥 ,𝜏𝑧𝑦 , 𝜎𝑧
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ If we pass three nearby planes to coordinate planes at distances ∆𝑥, ∆𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∆𝑧, a

parallelopiped could be shown with stress components as shown below

➢ The stress components along opposite planes may vary due to the distance between

them
 Concept of Stress at a Point
➢ Sign Convention:
➢ Related to Cross-Sectional Face:
▪ The cross-sectional face will be positive when outward normal points in a positive coordinate direction
▪ The cross-sectional face will be negative when outward normal points in a negative coordinate direction
➢ Related to Force/Moments:
▪ We define positive force if they act on a positive face in a positive coordinate direction
▪ We define positive force if they act on a negative face in a negative coordinate direction
 Plane Stress
➢ Plane stress – an assumed state of stress in thin structures/bodies with forces in the plane
of these structures
➢ Thin structure - one of the directions (thickness-wise) significantly smaller than the other 2
directions (planar)
➢ Examples: Plates and sheets
 Plane Stress
➢ Shear and normal stress components on z-plane or along thickness-wise direction are negligible
➢ Furthermore, the stress components turn out to be constant through the thickness of the sheet (z-
direction)
➢ The state of stress at a given point will depend only on four stress components:
▪ x-plane: 𝜎𝑥 , 𝜏𝑥𝑦 , 𝜏𝑥𝑧 = 0
▪ y-plane: 𝜏𝑦𝑥 , 𝜎𝑦 , 𝜏𝑦𝑧 = 0
▪ z-plane: 𝜏𝑧𝑥 = 0, 𝜏𝑧𝑦 = 0, 𝜎𝑧 = 0
 Small Detour -Taylor’s Series Expansion

▪ A and B are two points on the body

▪ If ∅ is some response variable such that ∅= ∅ (x, y)
 Equilibrium of a Differential Element in Plane Stress
𝝉𝒙𝒚 𝝉′𝒙𝒚
Negative x-face Positive x-face

How to express this change?

𝝏𝝉𝒙𝒚
𝝉′𝒙𝒚 = 𝝉𝒙𝒚 + ∆𝒙 Distance between points
𝝏𝒙

Directional Derivative: Rate of change

per unit distance along the path

How to express this change for 𝝈𝒚 ?

𝝏𝝈𝒚
𝝈′𝒚 = 𝝈𝒚 + ∆𝒚 Distance between points
𝝏𝒚

Directional Derivative
 Moment Equilibrium for the Element
➢ Consider moment equilibrium at the centre of the element

∆𝑥 𝜕𝜏𝑥𝑦 ∆𝑥 ∆𝑦 𝜕𝜏𝑦𝑥 ∆𝑦
෍𝑴 = 𝜏𝑥𝑦 ∆𝑦∆𝑧 + 𝜏𝑥𝑦 + ∆𝑥 ∆𝑦∆𝑧 − 𝜏𝑦𝑥 ∆𝑥∆𝑧 − 𝜏𝑦𝑥 + ∆𝑦 ∆𝑥∆𝑧 𝒌=𝟎
2 𝜕𝑥 2 2 𝜕𝑦 2

Taking ∆𝑥∆y ∆z common and simplifying

𝜕𝜏𝑥𝑦 ∆𝑥 𝜕𝜏𝑦𝑥 ∆𝑦
⇒ 𝜏𝑥𝑦 + − 𝜏𝑦𝑥 − =0
𝜕𝑥 2 𝜕𝑦 2

For ∆𝑥 → 0; ∆y → 0

⇒ 𝜏𝑥𝑦 − 𝜏𝑦𝑥 = 0

⇒ 𝝉𝒙𝒚 = 𝝉𝒚𝒙

In words: For a plane stress body, the shear stress components on perpendicular faces must be equal in
magnitude and directed relative to each other.

Similar, we can prove for a generalised state of stress:

𝝉𝒛𝒚 = 𝝉𝒚𝒛 and 𝝉𝒛𝒙 = 𝝉𝒙𝒛

 Moment Equilibrium for the Element

2D Plane Stress
➢ Four stress components reduced to three independent components leading to a symmetric stress
tensor
𝜎𝑥 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜎𝑥 𝜏𝑥𝑦
𝝈 = 𝜏 𝜎𝑦 𝝈 = 𝜏 𝜎𝑦
𝑦𝑥 𝑥𝑦

3D State of Stress
➢ Nine stress components reduced to six independent components leading to a symmetric stress tensor

𝜎𝑥 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜏𝑥𝑧 𝜎𝑥 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜏𝑥𝑧

𝝈 = 𝜏𝑦𝑥 𝜎𝑦 𝜏𝑦𝑧 𝝈 = 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝜎𝑦 𝜏𝑦𝑧
𝜏𝑧𝑥 𝜏𝑧𝑦 𝜎𝑧 𝜏𝑥𝑧 𝜏𝑦𝑧 𝜎𝑧