CHAPTER THREE

TORSION
3.1 Introduction
Torsion refers to the twisting of a structural member when it is loaded by couples that produce
rotation about its longitudinal axis. Torsional loading is pictured in Fig. 3.1, which shows a straight
bar supported at one end and loaded by two pairs of forces. Each pair of forces form a couple that
tends to twist the bar about its longitudinal axis.
The moment of a couple is equal to the product of one of the forces and the perpendicular distance
between the lines of action of the forces; thus the first couple has a moment T1 = P1d1 and the
second has a moment T2 = P2d2.

Fig. 3.1 Bar subjected to torsion by twisting couples T1 and T2.

Couples that produce twisting of a bar, such as couples T1 and T2 in Fig. 3.1, are called torques,
twisting couples, or twisting moments. Couples can also be represented by curved arrows or
double-headed vector following the right-hand screw sign convention.

3.2 Torsion of circular shafts

Basic assumptions for circular members
To establish a relation between the internal torque and the stresses it sets up in members with
circular solid and tabular cross-sections, it is necessary to make the following assumptions.
1. Plane circular cross sections, perpendicular to the axis of the bar, remain plane after the
application of a torque; points in a given plane remain in that plane after twisting.
Furthermore, expansion or contraction of a cross section does not occur nor does a
shortening or lengthening of the bar. Thus all normal strains are zero. (applies only for
circular cross-sections)
 2. In a circular member subjected to torque, shear strain  varies linearly from the central
axis reaching max at the periphery.
3. If attention is confined to the linearly elastic material, Hooke’s law applies, and it follows
that shear stress is proportional to shear strain.
Consider a bar or shaft of circular cross-section twisted by couples T acting at the ends (Fig. 3.2a).
A bar loaded in this manner is said to be in Pure Torsion. The cross-sections of the circular bar
rotate as rigid bodies about the longitudinal axis, with radii remaining straight and the cross-
sections remaining plane and circular. Also, if the total angle of twist of the bar is small, neither
the length of the bar nor its radius will change.

(a) (b)
Fig. 3.2 Circular bar in pure torsion.
During twisting the right hand end of the bar will rotate through a small angle  with respect to
the left hand end (Fig. 3.2a). The angle  is known as the angle of twist. Because of this rotation,
a longitudinal line pq on the surface of the bar will rotate through a small angle to position pq’.
Consider an element of the bar between two cross-sections that are distance dx apart (Fig. 3.2a).
This volume element is isolated in Fig. 3.2b. On the outer surface identify a small element abcd ,
with sides ab and cd that are parallel to the longitudinal axis. During twisting of the bar, points b
and c move to b’ and c’, respectively. The lengths of the sides of the element do not change during
this rotation, but the angles at the corners are no longer equal to 900. The element is in a state of
pure shear, and the magnitude of the shear strain  is equal to the decrease in the angle at a. This
decrease in angle is
bb '
  But bb ’ = rd and ab = dx
ab
r = radius of the cross section
d = angle of twist between the two ends of the small element.
The expression for shear strain becomes,
rd
 
dx
The quantity d / dx represents the rate of change of the angle of twist  .
d
Let   angle of twist per unit length.
dx
rd
Then,    r ………………………………………………………………………….(3.1)
dx
In general, both ø and θ are functions of x. However, in the special case of pure torsion the angle
of twist per unit length is constant along the length L of the bar, because every cross-section is

subjected to the same torque. Therefore,  
L

Shear strain  max  r  r , for pure torsion. ……………………………………………….(3.2)
L
Finally, it can be observed that the preceding equations are based only upon geometric concepts,
and therefore they are valid for any circular bar, regardless of whether the material behaves
elastically or inelastically, linearly or nonlinearly.
The shear stresses τ in the circular bar act on an element in the directions shown in Fig.3.3 for a
linearly elastic material, the shear stresses, are related to the shear strains by Hooke’s law in shear.

Fig 3.3 Shear stresses in a circular bar in torsion

Shear stress,   G  Gr ………………………………………………………………(3.3)
Where, G is the shear modulus of elasticity. Equations (3.1) and (3.3) relate the strains and stresses
for an element at the surface of the bar to the angle of twist per unit length.
Following the same procedure as for an element at the surface of an interior cylinder of radius ρ
(Fig. 3.3)      G …………………………………. (3.4 a,b)
 is the rate at which the bar is twisted or the rate of twist.
These equations show that the shear strains and stresses in a circular bar vary linearly with the
radial distance ρ from the center, with the maximum values occurring at the outer surface (Fig.
3.3).
The shear stresses acting on a cross-sectional plane are accompanied by shear stresses of the same
magnitude acting on longitudinal planes (Fig. 3.3’). This conclusion follows from the fact that
equal shear stresses always exist on mutually perpendicular planes.

Fig. 3.4 Longitudinal and transverse shear stresses in a circular bar.

The relationship between the applied torque T and the angle of twist Ø (Fig. 3.2) may now be
determined from the condition that the resultant couple of the shear stresses acting over the cross
section (Fig. 3.3) must be statically equivalent to the applied torque T.
To determine the resultant couple, consider a ring shaped element of area having radius ρ and a
certain thickness, say d . Within this element take another element that extends over a small length
of arc (an elemental area dA)
The elemental shear force acting on an element of area dA is equal to dA , where τ is the shear
stress at radius ρ. The moment of this force about the axis of the bar is dA .
But,   G
 dT  G ..dA  G 2 .dA

Therefore, the total torque, T   dT   G 2 dA

A

 G   2 dA

 GI p ………………………………………………………. (3.5)

Where I p    2 dA - is the polar moment of inertia of the circular cross-section

 dA  2 .d and ρ runs from 0 to r=d/2
r
r r
4  r 4 d 4
 I p    2 .d  2   .d  2   
2 3
or I p 
0 0  4 0 2 32

T
 ……………………………………………………….. (3.6)
GI p

Equation (3.6) shows θ, the angle of twist per unit length, is directly proportional to the torque T
and inversely proportional to the product GIp, known as the torsional rigidity of the shaft.
The total angle of twist,  , equal to, is
TL
 ………………………………………………….(3.7)
GI p

In SI units; T is in N-m, L in m, G in Pascals & Ip = m4 and  in radians.

The quantity GIp/L, called the torsional stiffness, is the torque required to produce a unit angle of
rotation of one end of the bar with respect to the other.
The torsinal flexibility is defined as the reciprocal of the stiffness, or L/GIp, which is the angle of
rotation produced by a unit torque.
These expressions are analogous to those for axial stiffness EA/L and axial flexibility L/EA.
Tr
For circular bars  max  ………………………………………………………………….(3.8)
Ip

Equation (3.8) is known as the torsion formula.

Shear stress at distance ρ from the center is
T
  ……………………………………………………….(3.9)
Ip

The above equations are applicable to circular tubes. It is necessary, however, to modify Ip. For a
tube, the limits of integration for polar moment of inertia extend from r1 to r2.

 Ip 

2
r2
4
 r1 
4
 
32
d 2
4
 d1
4


Fig. 3.5 Hollow circular tube.

For very thin tubes, if r1 is nearly equal to r2 and r2 - r1 = t, the thickness of the tube, Ip reduces
to a simple approximate expression:
I p  2r 3t Where r is the average radius.

Hollow bars or tubes are much more efficient in resisting torsional loads than are solid bars. As
explained in the preceding paragraphs, the shear stresses in a solid circular bar are maximum at
the outer boundary of cross section and zero at the center. Therefore, most of the material in a solid
shaft is stressed significantly below the maximum shear stress.

2.3 Non-uniform Torsion

Pure torsion refers to torsion of prismatic bar subjected to torques acting only at the ends. Non-
uniform torsion differs from pure torsion in that the bar need not be prismatic and the applied
torques may vary along the length.
The figure below shows a bar made of two segments of different diameters and torques applied at
several cross-sections. Each region of the bar between applied loads or between changes in cross-
section is in pure torsion, and therefore the formulas derived in the preceding section may be
applied to each part separately. For this purpose, it is necessary to determine the magnitude and
direction of the internal torque in each region. Then knowing the internal torque, we can calculate
the angle of twist and maximum shear stress for each part from Eqns. (3.7) and (3.8).

Fig. 3.6 Bar in non-uniform torsion.

The total angle of twist of one end of the bar with respect to the other is obtained by summation,
using the general formula:
n
Ti Li
  …………………………………………………….(3.10)
i 1 Gi I pi
Where
i = is the numbering index for various parts of the bar
n= is the total number of parts
Ti =the internal torque in the ith part
Li= the length of the ith part
Gi= the shear modulus of the ith part
Ipi= the polar moment of inertia of the ith part
The expression TiLi/GiIpi gives the angle of twist  i for part i.
Another case of non-uniform torsion occurs when either the torque or the cross section changes
continuously along the axis of the bar as shown in the fig. below.

Fig. 3.7 Bar in non-uniform torsion.

The figure shows a tapered bar subjected to a torque of intensity t per unit distance along the axis
of the bar. The differential angle of rotation d for an element of length dx (Fig. 3.7a) is
T ( x)d ( x)
d 
GI p ( x)

Where T(x)= the torque at cross-section x distance from one end.

Ip(x)= the polar moment of inertia of the cross-section at x-distance from one end.
The total angle of twist between the ends of the bar is

L L
T ( x)dx
   d   ……………………………………………..(3.11)
0 0
GI p ( x )

The above equations can be used for either solid or hollow bars having circular cross sections.
2.4 Transmission of power by circular shafts
The most important use of circular shafts is to transmit mechanical power from one device or
machine to another.
Consider a motor-driven shaft (Fig. 3.8) rotating at an angular speed  , measured in radian per
second (rad/sec). The shaft is transmitting the torque T to a machine that is performing useful
work.

Fig 3.8 Shaft transmitting power

In general, the work W done by any torque of constant magnitude T is equal to the product of the
torque and the angle through which it rotates. i.e.

W  T
Where  is the angular rotation in radian. Power is the time rate at which work is done, or
dw Td
P 
dt dt
Where P is power and t is time.
The rate of change d/dt of the angular displacement  is the angular speed  , and
Therefore the preceding equation becomes,
P  T
This formula gives the power transmitted by a rotating shaft.
If angular speed is expressed as the frequency of rotation,
  2f
Then P  2fT (f=Hz=S-1)