Analysis of
Structures- I
Module I
Lecture 3
23/02/2025 1
Stress Concentrations in Axial Members
• Stresses in axially loaded members,
)
• In reality, bars often have holes, grooves, notches, keyways, shoulders, threads, or other
abrupt changes in geometry that create a disruption in the uniform stress pattern.
•
• These discontinuities in geometry cause high stresses in very small regions of the bar, and
these high stresses are known as stress concentrations. The discontinuities themselves
are known as stress raisers.
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Saint-Venant’s Principle
The equation gives the axial stresses on a cross section only when the cross section is at
least a distance away from any concentrated load or discontinuity in shape, where is the
largest lateral dimension of the bar (such as the width or diameter).
Stress distribution of a bar of rectangular cross section
(width and thickness subjected to a concentrated load
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Stress Concentration Factors
• Consider some particular cases of stress concentrations caused by discontinuities in the
shape of a bar.
A bar of rectangular cross section having a circular hole and subjected to a tensile
force . The bar is relatively thin, with its width being much larger than its thickness .
The hole has diameter .
• The normal stress acting on the cross section through the
center of the hole has the distribution shown in Fig. (a).
• The maximum stress occurs at the edges of the hole and
may be significantly larger than the nominal stress
(a)
at the same cross section ( is the net area of the
cross section through the hole).
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(b)
Cont…..
The intensity of a stress concentration is usually expressed by the ratio of the maximum
stress to the nominal stress, called the stress-concentration factor K
• If the hole is tiny, the factor K=3 - the
maximum stress is three times the nominal
stress.
• As the hole becomes larger in proportion to
the width of the bar, K becomes smaller and
the effect of the concentration is not as
severe.
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Cont…..
Stress-concentration factor K for flat bars with shoulder fillets.
• The dashed line is for a full quarter-circular fillet. 6
Cont…..
Stress-concentration factor K for round bars with shoulder fillets.
• The dashed line is for a full quarter-circular fillet. 7
Designing for Stress Concentrations
• Fatigue failure:
Cracks begin at the point of highest stress and then spread gradually through the
material as the load is repeated.
In practical design, the fatigue limit is considered to be the ultimate stress for the
material when the number of cycles is extremely large. The allowable stress is
obtained by applying a factor of safety with respect to this ultimate stress. Then the
peak stress at the stress concentration is compared with the allowable stress.
In many situations the use of the full theoretical value of the stress-concentration
factor is too severe. Fatigue tests usually produce failure at higher levels of the
nominal stress than those obtained by dividing the fatigue limit by K. In other words, a
structural member under repeated loading is not as sensitive to a stress concentration
as the value of K indicates, and a reduced stress-concentration factor is often used.
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Cont…..
• Other kinds of dynamic loads, such as impact loads, also require that stress-concentration
effects be taken into account. Unless better information is available, the full stress-
concentration factor should be used.
• Members subjected to low temperatures also are highly susceptible to failures at stress
concentrations, and therefore special precautions should be taken in such cases.
• Static loading:
Ductile materials, such as structural steel, a stress concentration can often be
ignored. The material at the point of maximum stress (such as around a hole) will
yield and plastic flow will occur, thus reducing the intensity of the stress concentration
and making the stress distribution more nearly uniform.
Brittle materials (such as glass) a stress concentration will remain up to the point of
fracture. The full stress-concentration factor should be considered.
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The flat bars shown in parts (a) and (b) of the figure are subjected to tensile forces P = 3.0 k.
Each bar has thickness t 0.25 in.
(a) For the bar with a circular hole, determine the maximum stresses for hole diameters
d =1 in. and d = 2 in. if the width b = 6.0 in.
(b) For the stepped bar with shoulder fillets, determine the maximum stresses for fillet
radii R = 0.5 in. if the bar widths are b = 4.0 in. and c = 2.5 in.
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Stress Concentrations in Torsion
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Cont…
Stress-concentration factor K for a stepped shaft in torsion.
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Refere
1.nce
Gere, J. M. (2004). Mechanics of Materials. Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning.
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