EQUILIBRIUM STRESS SYSTEMS

Definition of stress

The general definition of stress is:

Force
Stress =
Area
where the area is the cross-sectional area on which the force is acting. Consider the
rectangular element of
σzz
material shown, which is in
equilibrium and acted on by
σxx
forces at its six faces. The
forces will in general act at
oblique angles to the faces.
We can resolve the forces to
σyy σyy
find the components normal
σxx to the faces; these give rise to
z
normal stresses, obtained
numerically by dividing the
component of force by the
y area of the face on which it
σzz
x acts. The normal stresses are
denoted by σ, with subscripts to identify the component of stress relative to an axis
system. The first component refers to the direction of the normal to the plane on
which the force acts, and the second subscript to the direction of the force itself. With
normal stresses, the two subscripts are always the same.

We can also resolve the oblique force to give its components in the plane on which it
τ zy acts. These components will be
τzx τyz shear forces, which we have
already met in beams. We
τxz
obtain the shear stress by
dividing the shear force by the
τ xy τyx area of the face in which it acts.
The symbol τ is usually used for
z shear stress, subscripted using
the same rule as for normal
stress; now, the two subscripts
y must always be different from
x each other.
The following diagram shows all the stress components acting. There are a total of
nine stress components, though because of relationships between the shear stresses
there are only six independent components.

σzz

τ zy
τzx τyz
τxz

σyy
τxy τyx
σxx
z

y
x

Sign conventions

Normal stress
With normal stresses, the sign of the stress is not related to the direction of arrows like
the ones in the figure above. Rather, the convention is that, if a stress is tensile (i.e.
such as to cause the material to stretch) the sign is positive. Otherwise, the stress is
compressive and the sign us negative.

Shear stress
Consider a two-dimensional state of shear stress, as illustrated. According to the
index convention, the
stress component acting
along the top face must
be τyx , as shown. The
element of material must
be in equilibrium.
Therefore, we can use
equilibrium of horizontal
forces to deduce that the
stress component along
the bottom horizontal
edge τ is given by τ =
τyx . Also, there must be
equilibrium of moments.
Note that the two
horizontal stress
components would tend
to cause a clockwise
moment. To preserve
equilibrium of moments, the two vertical components are necessary to supply
anticlockwise moment. The index convention and the use of vertical equilibrium

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 show that these components are
both of magnitude τxy . The
accompanying figure shows this.
Note that, once we decided the
direction of the initial horizontal
arrow, the directions of the three
other arrows were fixed as a
result of equilibrium. The state
of shear stress corresponding to
that shown here is by
convention positive. By
choosing the top horizontal
arrow pointing left instead of
right, the directions of all the
other three arrows would be
reversed. This alternative state of shear stress is by convention negative.

Relationships between shear components

We can use equilibrium of moments in the diagram above to study the relationship
between τxy and τyx . Assuming a unit thickness, the horizontal and vertical faces are
of area dx and dy respectively. Now take moments about the centre:

2×τxy×dy×dx/2 - 2×τyx×dx×dy/2 = 0
i.e.
τxy = τyx.

We can look at other planes – the y-z plane and the z-x plane - and do similar
exercises to show that
τyz = τzy.
and
τxz = τzx.
The existence of these relations is the reason for there being only six independent
stress components.

Presence of shear stresses

The values of the components of stress depends on the axis set which is used. We can
always choose an axis set in which the shear stress is zero. In nearly all stress
systems, we can choose an axis set in which shear stresses act. For instance, a tensile
bar has shear stresses acting which become apparent when we choose an oblique axis
set. Resolving forces shows that there is a shear force, and therefore a shear stress, in
the plane. This is illustrated below.

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The thin sphere.

Here we naturally choose directions in which no shear stresses act. Stress in the shell
of the sphere acts along a tangent. Assume this tangential stress is constant
throughout and equal to σ. Now
consider a thin sphere pressurised by
an internal pressure p. We create a
free body by slicing the sphere in
half. The resulting hemisphere
shown is in equilibrium. The force
in the shell is given by stress×area.
This must balance the force exerted
by the pressure. Since the sphere is
thin, the area of surface of the shell
hemisphere is 2πrt, where t is the
shell thickness and r the sphere
radius. Equating the two forces gives

σ2πrt = pπr2 .

From this we get the expression for the stress

The thin cylinder.

This time there are two sorts of stress – tangential stress as with the sphere and also an
axial stress, acting along the cylinder axis. We look at two kinds of free body to find
the two stresses. For the axial stress σx the free body is the cylinder shown in (b)

above. Using exactly the same argument as for the sphere, we obtain the same result:

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 pr
σx =
2t
where r is the cylinder radius and t the shell thickness. For the tangential stress σy , we
use the free body (c). Assuming an axial length L, the total cross section of shell is
2tL, and the internal cross section is 2rL. Equilibrium then gives

σy 2tL = p2rL

to give
p
σy =
r
completing the problem.

Example

A vertical axis cylindrical storage tank contains water to a depth of 15m. Given that
its radius is 4m, and the maximum allowable shell stress is 240 MNm-2, what is the
required shell thickness? The specific weight of water is 9810 Nm-3.

Shear examples

Example

The test below is designed to determine the transverse shear strength of animal bone.
If the bone cross sectional area is 150 mm2, and a transverse force of 600N is
required for fracture, what is the shear strength?

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Example

Example

A pulley is keyed (to prevent relative motion) to a 60 mm diameter shaft. The