Chapter 1

Simple Stress and

Strain
 1.1. Load
• In any engineering structure or mechanism, the individual
components will be subjected to external forces arising from
the service conditions or environment in which the
component works. If the component or member is in
equilibrium, the resultant of the external forces will be zero
• If a cylindrical bar is subjected to a direct pull or push along
its axis as shown in Fig. below, then it is said to be subjected
to tension or compression. Typical examples of tension are
the forces present in towing ropes or lifting hoists, whilst
compression occurs in the legs of your chair as you sit on it
or in the support pillars of buildings
In the SI system of units load is measured in newtons,
although a single newton, in engineering terms, is a very small
load. In most engineering applications, therefore, loads appear
in SI multiples, i.e. kilonewtons (kN) or meganewtons (MN).
• There are a number of different ways in which load can be
applied to a member. Typical loading types are:
(a) Static or dead loads, i.e. non-fluctuating loads, generally
caused by gravity effects.
(b) Live loads, as produced by, for example, lorries
crossing a bridge. (c) Impact or shock loads caused by
sudden blows.
(d) Fatigue, fluctuating or alternating loads, the magnitude
and sign of the load changing with time.
1.2 Direct or Normal stress
• It has been noted above that external force applied to a
body in equilibrium is reacted by internal forces set up
within the material. If, therefore, a bar is subjected to a
uniform tension or compression, i.e. a direct force,
which is uniformly or equally applied across the cross-
section, then the internal forces set up are also
subjected to pendpedicular to the body axis.
• may thus be compressive or tensile depending on the nature
of the load and will be measured in units of newtons per
square meter (N/m2) or multiples of this. In some cases, the
loading situation is such that the stress will vary across any
given section, and in such cases the stress at any point is
given by the limiting value of tends to zero.
 1.3. Direct strain
• If a bar is subjected to a direct load, and hence a stress,
the bar will change in length. If the bar has an original
length L and changes in length by an amount , the
strain produced is defined as follows:
 1.4. Sign convention for direct stress
and strain
• Tensile stresses and strains are considered POSITIVE in
sense producing an increase in length. Compressive
stresses and strains are considered NEGATIVE in sense
producing a decrease in length.
1.5 Elastic materials - Hooke’s law
• A material is said to be elastic if it returns to its original,
unloaded dimensions when load is removed.
• A particular form of elasticity which applies to a large
range of engineering materials, at least over part of
their load range, produces deformations which are
proportional to the loads producing them.
• Since loads are proportional to the stresses they
produce and deformations are proportional to the
strains, this also implies that, whilst materials are
elastic, stress is proportional to strain. Hooke’s law, in
its simplest form*, therefore states that
• It will be seen in later sections that this law is obeyed within certain
limits by most ferrous alloys, and it can even be assumed to apply to
other engineering materials such as concrete, timber and non-ferrous
alloys with reasonable accuracy.
• Whilst a material is elastic the deformation produced by any load will
be completely recovered when the load is removed; there is no
permanent deformation.
• A material which has a uniform structure throughout without any flaws
or discontinuities is termed a homogeneous material. Non-
homogeneous or inhomogeneous materials such as concrete and poor-
quality cast iron will thus have a structure which varies from point to
point depending on its constituents and the presence of casting flaws or
impurities.
1.6. Modulus of elasticity - Young’s
modulus
• Within the elastic limits of materials, i.e. within the
limits in which Hooke’s law applies, it has been shown
that:
• Young’s modulus E is generally assumed to be the same in
tension or compression and for most engineering materials
has a high numerical value. Typically,
for steel, so that it will be observed from (1.1) that strains
are normally very small since

• In most common engineering applications strains do not

often exceed 0.003 or 0.3 % so that the assumption used
later in the text that deformations are small in relation to
original dimensions is generally well founded.
 1.7. Tensile test
• In order to compare the strengths of various materials it is
necessary to carry out some standard form of test to
establish their relative properties. One such test is the
standard tensile test in which a circular bar of uniform
cross-section is subjected to a gradually increasing tensile
load until failure occurs. Measurements of the change in
length of a selected gauge length of the bar are recorded
throughout the loading operation by means of
extensometers and a graph of load against extension or
stress against strain is produced as shown in Fig. below;
this shows a typical result for a test on a mild (low carbon)
steel bar; other materials will exhibit different graphs but of
a similar general form see Fig belwo
Typical tensile test curve for mild steel.
• For the first part of the test, it will be observed that Hooke’s law is
obeyed, i.e. the material behaves elastically, and stress is
proportional to strain, giving the straight-line graph indicated.
• Some point A is eventually reached, however, when the linear nature
of the graph ceases, and this point is termed the limit of
proportionality.
• For a short period beyond this point the material may still be elastic
in the sense that deformations are completely recovered when load is
removed (i.e. strain returns to zero) but Hooke’s law does not apply.
• The limiting point B for this condition is termed the elastic limit. For
most practical purposes it can often be assumed that points A and B
are coincident. Beyond the elastic limit plastic deformation occurs
and strains are not totally recoverable.
• There will thus be some permanent deformation or permanent set
when load is removed. After the points C, termed the upper yield
point, and D, the lower yield point, relatively rapid increases in strain
occur without correspondingly high increases in load or stress.
 1.8 Ductile Material
• It has been observed above that the partially plastic range of
the graph of Fig. 1.3 covers a much wider part of the strain
axis than does the elastic range.
• Thus, the extension of the material over this range is
considerably in excess of that associated with elastic
loading. The capacity of a material to allow these large
extensions, i.e. the ability to be drawn out plastically, is
termed its ductility. Materials with high ductility are termed
ductile materials
1.9. Brittle materials
• A brittle material is one which exhibits relatively small
extensions to fracture so that the partially plastic region
of the tensile test graph is much reduced (Fig. below).

Typical tensile test curve for a brittle

material.
 1.10. Poisson’s ratio
• Consider the rectangular bar of Fig. 1.10 subjected to a
tensile load. Under the action of this load the bar will
increase in length by an amount giving a longitudinal
strain in the bar
• The bar will also exhibit, however, a reduction in dimensions
laterally, i.e. its breadth and depth will both reduce. The
associated lateral strains will both be equal, will be of opposite
sense to the longitudinal strain, and will be given by:

• Provided the load on the material is retained within the elastic

range the ratio of the lateral and longitudinal strains will
always be constant. This ratio is termed Poisson’s ratio:
• The negative sign of the lateral strain is normally ignored to
leave Poisson’s ratio simply as a ratio of strain magnitudes. It
must be remembered, however, that the longitudinal strain
induces a lateral strain of opposite sign, e.g. tensile
longitudinal strain induces compressive lateral strain.
• For most engineering materials the value of v lies between
0.25 and 0.33. Since
Examples
• Example-1
Determine the stress in each section of the bar shown in Fig.
below when subjected to anaxial tensile load of 20 KN. The
central section is 30 mm square cross-section; the other
portions are of circular section, their diameters being indicated.
What will be the total extension of the bar? For the bar material
E = 210GN/m2.
Class works
1- . A 25mm square cross-section bar of length 300mm
carries an axial compressive load of 50kN. Determine the
stress set up ip the bar and its change of length when the
load is applied. For the bar material E = 200 GN/m2?
2- ). A steel tube, 25 mm outside diameter and 12mm inside
diameter, caries an axial tensile load of 40 KN. What will be
the stress in the bar? What further increase in load is possible
if the stress in the bar is limited to 225 MN/m2?