Transformations of Stress and Strain

Plane stress changes with rotation in a material element. The analysis looks at a prismatic element inside a cube under plane stress. As the element turns, the normal stress and shearing stress on its faces change in both size and direction.

These changes are described with trigonometric functions of the rotation angle. The forces on the rotated faces are compared with the forces on the original faces that are perpendicular to each principal axis. The equilibrium equations use only the forces...

The stress circle shows how normal stress and shearing stress change with angle on a transformed plane. Its center, C, lies on the vertical axis and represents the average normal stress. The radius shows the amount of stress variation as the plane rotates.

Points A and B, where the circle crosses the horizontal axis, mark the maximum and minimum normal stresses. At these points, shearing stress is zero. These points define the principal stress planes, where only normal stress, called principal...

Principal planes and principal stresses are found by analyzing two planes that meet at right angles under shearing, tensile, and compressive stresses. The goal is to use the given stress values to describe how the material is loaded and to locate the planes where the stress state changes.

To find the principal planes, use the formula that relates the plane angle to twice the shearing stress divided by the difference between tensile and compressive stresses. After substituting the known stress...

Mohr's circle is a graphical way to read the stress state at a point in a material under plane stress. It turns normal stress and shearing stress into a two-dimensional picture. This makes stress transformation easier to analyze.

The method uses Cartesian coordinates. The horizontal axis shows normal stress, written as σ, and the vertical axis shows shearing stress, written as τ. Two points, A and B, are plotted from the stresses on the element. Point A is at (σx, -τxy), and point B is at (σx,...

The stress tensor describes the internal forces inside a material. It is used when a material is under external force or deformation. At a point such as O, the tensor can show the stress components on any plane through that point.

A tetrahedral element helps show how these forces act. One face, XYZ, is perpendicular to the line OA. The other faces line up with the coordinate axes, and point O is the origin. The stress on the tetrahedron is split into normal and shear components on each face.

Ductile materials can yield when they are loaded beyond a safe stress level. Engineers use yield criteria to check whether structural elements and machine parts can handle the expected load without permanent deformation. The yield point is first found with a tensile test, which measures how the material responds to uniaxial stress.

A tensile test is not enough when a part faces biaxial or plane stress conditions. In those cases, more advanced criteria are needed to predict failure. One common...

Plane strain changes when the coordinate axes are rotated. This matters for long bars and similar elongated structures that are loaded uniformly on their sides. In these members, one dimension is much larger than the others, so deformation is mainly studied in a single plane.

At a point such as O, the key strain components lie along the x and y axes. The strain along the z-axis is negligible in plane strain. Together, the x and y strain components describe the deformation state in the xy-plane.

Mohr’s circle for plane strain shows how normal strain and shear strain change on a graph. The horizontal axis is normal strain, written as ε, and the vertical axis is shear strain, written as γ. It uses two plotted points, X and Y, to represent the strain state.

Point X has coordinates (εx, -γXY), and point Y has coordinates (εY, γXY). The center of the circle, O, gives the average normal strain. The radius comes from the relationship between normal strain and shear strain, so the circle...

Three-dimensional strain analysis shows how a material changes shape when it is loaded. It is especially useful for elastic, homogeneous materials. A small cubic element inside the material can expand or contract along principal stress axes. That change turns the cube into a rectangular parallelepiped, which makes the deformation easier to picture.

The principal stress axes are orthogonal, or at right angles to each other. Along these directions, the stress does not create shear inside the...

Strain describes how a material deforms when a force is applied. Normal strain compares the change in length with the original length. Engineers use this measure to track stretching or compression in materials.

For higher accuracy, they often use electrical strain gauges. A strain gauge has a conductive wire on a paper backing that sticks to the surface of the material. It works through the piezoresistive effect, which means the wire’s electrical resistance changes when the material is bent,...