Concept of Stress

Normal stress acts perpendicular to a material’s cross-sectional area. It appears when a force is applied along the axis of an object, which is called axial loading. Bridge truss members are a practical example of this kind of loading.

When a rod carries axial load, internal forces develop across the section. Because these forces act normal to the plane of the section, the stress is called normal stress. Stress here means the average stress over the whole cross-section, not the value at one...

Shearing stress is caused by transverse forces acting on an object. These forces create internal forces in the plane where the external forces are applied. The total internal force in that section is called the shear.

Average shearing stress is found by dividing the shear by the cross-sectional area. This value is only an average, because shear stress is not spread evenly across the section. It can be zero at the surface and much higher than the average in other areas.

Bolts, pins, and rivets...

Bearing stress is the contact pressure between two separate bodies. A common example is a bolt pushed through a plate. The bolt applies a force to the plate, and the plate pushes back with an equal and opposite force.

That force is not a single point load. It is made up of many smaller forces spread across the contact surface between the bolt and the plate. Because these microforces are complex, engineers use an average value called bearing stress.

Bearing stress is found by dividing the...

Boom and rod stress analysis shows how a pinned support structure carries a load. The boom and the rod are connected by a pin and held in place by brackets and pins. The structure is then separated from its supports so the forces can be studied clearly.

A free-body diagram is drawn to identify every force on the boom, the rod, and the load. The reaction forces on both members are found using equilibrium equations. At point P, the reaction causes compression in the boom. At point R, the...

Axial loading creates stress in a material along its central axis. This kind of load can cause compression or elongation, and it produces normal stress. Normal stress acts perpendicular to the material area and can be either tensile or compressive.

When the section is not perpendicular to the load, it becomes an oblique plane. On this inclined plane, the stress state includes both normal stress and shearing stress. Shearing stress acts parallel to the area and changes shape without changing...

Stress components on a loaded body can be found by cutting the body through a point with a plane parallel to the xy plane. That section carries the original loads, along with normal forces and shearing forces. The result is a simple way to describe how a structure responds under combined loading.

The shearing force in the section can point in different directions within the plane. It is split into two parts that run parallel to the x and y axes. Each part is divided by the area, and as that...

Stress components on a small cube help describe how a body behaves under multiple loading. The cube is centered at point O and has stress acting on all six faces, whether the faces are visible or hidden. Normal stress components σx, σy, and σz act perpendicular to the x, y, and z axes. Shearing stress components also act on the cube faces.

The visible faces carry shear stresses such as τxy and τxz. The hidden faces carry equal and opposite stresses. This balance keeps the cube in equilibrium.

Safety factors in structural design help engineers choose a material and loading limit that can be used safely. The process begins with a material’s ultimate strength. This value comes from tests that increase force until the material reaches its breaking point or limit.

The ultimate load is then divided by the original cross-sectional area to find the ultimate normal stress, or strength. Ultimate shearing stress is another key value used in design. These limits show how much stress a material...