Section 4.

4.1 Cylindrical and Polar Coordinates

A large number of practical engineering problems involve geometrical features which have a natural axis of symmetry, such as the solid cylinder, shown in Fig. 4.1.1. The axis of symmetry is an axis of revolution; the feature which possesses axisymmetry (axial symmetry) can be generated by revolving a surface (or line) about this axis.

create cylinder by revolving a surface about the axis of symmetry

axis of symmetry Figure 4.1.1: a cylinder Some other axisymmetric geometries are illustrated Fig. 4.1.2; a frustum, a disk on a shaft and a sphere.

Figure 4.1.2: axisymmetric geometries Some features are not only axisymmetric they can be represented by a plane, which is similar to other planes right through the axis of symmetry. The hollow cylinder shown in Fig. 4.1.3 is an example of this plane axisymmetry.

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axisymmetric plane representative of feature

Figure 4.1.3: a plane axisymmetric geometries

Axially Non-Symmetric Geometries Axially non-symmetric geometries are ones which have a natural axis associated with them, but which are not completely symmetric. Some examples of this type of feature, the curved beam and the half-space, are shown in Fig. 4.1.4; the half-space extends to infinity in the axial direction and in the radial direction below the surface it can be thought of as a solid half-cylinder of infinite radius. One can also have plane axially nonsymmetric features; in fact, both of these are examples of such features; a slice through the objects perpendicular to the axis of symmetry will be representative of the whole object.

Figure 4.1.4: a plane axisymmetric geometries

4.1.2

Cylindrical and Polar Coordinates

The above features are best described using cylindrical coordinates, and the plane versions can be described using polar coordinates. These coordinates systems are described next. Stresses and Strains in Cylindrical Coordinates Using cylindrical coordinates, any point on a feature will have specific (r , , z ) coordinates, Fig. 4.1.5:

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the radial direction (out from the axis) the circumferential or tangential direction (around the axis counterclockwise when viewed from the positive z side of the z = 0 plane) the axial direction (along the axis)

z
r
r
z = 0 plane
Figure 4.1.5: cylindrical coordinates

The displacement of a material point can be described by the three components in the radial, tangential and axial directions. These are often denoted by
u u r , v u and w u z

respectively; they are shown in Fig. 4.1.6. Note that the displacement v is positive in the positive direction, i.e. the direction of increasing .

w v u

Figure 4.1.6: displacements in cylindrical coordinates

The stresses acting on a small element of material in the cylindrical coordinate system are as shown in Fig. 4.1.7 (the normal stresses on the left, the shear stresses on the right).

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zz

zr

rr

rr

r
zz
Figure 4.1.7: stresses in cylindrical coordinates

The normal strains rr , and zz are a measure of the elongation/shortening of material, per unit length, in the radial, tangential and axial directions respectively; the shear strains r , z and zr represent (half) the change in the right angles between line

elements along the coordinate directions. The physical meaning of these strains is illustrated in Fig. 4.1.8.
z

strain at point o

rr = unit elongation of oA = unit elongation of oB zz = unit elongation of oC r = change in angle AoB

z = change in angle BoC

zr = change in angle AoC

Figure 4.1.8: strains in cylindrical coordinates

Plane Problems and Polar Coordinates

The stresses in any particular plane of an axisymmetric body can be described using the two-dimensional polar coordinates (r , ) shown in Fig. 4.1.9.

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Figure 4.1.9: polar coordinates

There are three stress components acting in the plane z = 0 : the radial stress rr , the circumferential (tangential) stress and the shear stress r , as shown in Fig. 4.1.10. Note the direction of the (positive) shear stress it is conventional to take the z axis out of the page and so the direction is counterclockwise. The three stress components which do not act in this plane, but which act on this plane ( zz , z and zr ), may or may not be zero, depending on the particular problem (see later).

rr

rr

Figure 4.1.10: stresses in polar coordinates

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