Course 1

1.
CONCEPTS OF STRESS
1.1. Axial stress and strain
In this section we consider normal stress and normal strain associated with an axially loaded,
prismatic bar whose cross-sectional shape is arbitrary. A bar is considered to be axially loaded
when the action line of the resultant force applied to it coincides with its center line. We remark
that this definition implies that the center line must be straight if the bar is axially loaded.
Normal strain
To obtain an expression for the engineering normal strain in a prismatic bar, we adopt two
kinematic hypothesis.
• Plane cross sections in the unloaded bar, such as those labeled mn and pq in Fig. 1a,
remain plane in the loaded bar.
• Plane cross sections, such as mn and pq in the unloaded bar simply displace axially so
that in the loaded bar they become the cross sections labeled m*n* and p*q* in Fig. 1b.
Fig. 1
The first assumption eliminates warping, which is characterized by different points in a
cross section undergoing different axial displacements. A cross section becomes distorted in
this manner near points where external loads are applied.
In Fig. 1 we use u(x) and u(x + Δx) to represent the axial displacements of the cross sections
mn and pq respectively.
The engineering normal strain of a line element, such as rs in Fig. 1a, is defined as the limit
of the ratio of its change in length to its original length as this original length approaches to
zero. Therefore, the engineering normal strain associated with any line element between cross
section mn and pq parallel to the bar axis is:
1
∆𝑥 ∗ −∆𝑥
𝜖(𝑥) = lim (1)
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥
From Fig. 1, Δx*= Δx + Δu, so that eq. (1) becomes:

∆𝑢 𝑑𝑢
𝜀(𝑥) = lim = 𝑑𝑥 (2)
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥
Eq. (2) shows that the engineering normal strain in an axially loaded, prismatic bar is
the rate at which the axial displacement changes with the distance along the bar axis. It
frequently occurs that an axially loaded prismatic bar experiences a constant strain over a finite
segment of its total length.
Fig. 2
Suppose that the length l in Fig. 2a experiences a uniform normal strain. If we denote
the axial displacements of cross sections at x=a and x=b by u(a) and u(b), respectively, we find
from eq. (2) that:
𝑢(𝑏) − 𝑢(𝑎) = (𝑏 − 𝑎)𝜖 (3)
Denoting u(b) – u(a) by Δl and observing that b – a = l, we write:
∆𝑙
𝜀= (4)
𝑙
Thus, for a segment of bar for which the normal strain does not vary, the engineering
normal strain is given by the change in length of the segment divided by the original length of
the segment. This formula has important experimental implications because it provides us with
a means to measure strains that are required to obtain mechanical properties for various
engineering materials.
If the entire length of the bar shown in Fig. 2 experiences an engineering normal strain
that does not vary along its length, then eq. (4) gives the strain at any point in the bar. Because
normal strain is the ratio between two lengths, it is a dimensionless quantity. Therefore normal
2
strains are independent of any system of units. Many times it is convenient to retain the original
units of the separate quantities entering the ratio given in eq. (4).
Normal stress
We consider the normal stress acting on a cross section of an axially loaded, prismatic
bar. A free-body diagram of a portion of such a bar is shown in Fig. 3a. The portion of bar to
the right of the shaded cross section has been removed and is not shown. N represents the
resultant of the distributed force system that is exerted on our free-body diagram by the removed
portion.
Fig. 3
The normal force ΔN acting on an element of area ΔA of the cross section is shown in
Fig. 3a. The normal stress acting at a point in the cross section is defined by the relation:
∆𝑁 𝑑𝑁
𝜎 = lim = (5)
∆𝐴→0 ∆𝐴 𝑑𝐴
Therefore, the normal stress acting at an arbitrary point on the cross section is interpreted
as a force per unit area and acts perpendicular to the cross-sectional area. The units of stress are
newtons per square meter and are called pascals (Pa).
Now suppose the normal stress σ is related to the normal strain ε by an equation of the
form:
𝜎 = 𝐾𝑓(𝜀) (6)
where f(ε) is read “a function of the normal strain” and K is a material property that can be
determined by experiment. It follows that σ will be uniform on the cross section if K does not
depend on position in the cross section. If this is the case, we say the material of the bar is
3
homogeneous; otherwise, the material is nonhomogeneous. Clearly, when the material of the
bar is nonhomogeneous, the stress is not given by the formula σ = N/A, even though N acts at
the centroid of the cross-sectional area.
For an axially loaded, prismatic bar made from a homogeneous material, the normal
stress is given by the formula:
𝑁
𝜎= (7)
𝐴
where N is applied at the centroid of the cross section.

Equation (6) reveals an essential component of problems in the mechanics of deformable
bodies: the need to relate stress and strain. Relations of this kind are called stress-strain
relations.
As a final comment, we note that σ = N/A also represents an average value of normal
stress on the cross section. Thus, the average normal stress and the uniform normal stress on
the cross section are equal for the type of loading described.

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1.

From Fig. 1, Δx*= Δx + Δu, so that eq. (1) becomes:

where N is applied at the centroid of the cross section.

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