Objective:

The student will be introduced to potential common failure modes for

structures and structural materials.
Module 2.3: Failure criteria for structures and
structural materials
1
Scope:
Yielding, Multiaxial stresses, Plastic collapse, Ultimate strength, Fatigue and
fracture, Global buckling, Local buckling, Lateral buckling , Slenderness
Expected result:
Illustrate common modes of failure for structural elements.
Compute ultimate load-carrying capacity for typical structural members based of
strength of materials.
Explain features of real structures that differ from the idea solutions and how these
affect strength.
Explain the basic principles of elastic and plastic design.
Illustrate selection process for simple structural elements based on strength of
materials analysis.
Compute strength of a simple element based on both elastic and plastic strength.
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Different failure modes
2
Material yielding
Plastic collapse

Final failure
Brittle failure
Fatigue failure

Global buckling
Local buckling
Lateral buckling
Tiltning
Warping

Post-buckling

Capsizing (the whole structure lose equlibrium)
Deformation constraints
Ductile failure
The material cracks /rupture
Elastic instability
Plastic instability
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Ductile material behaviour
3
Material which can undergo a substantial amount of plastic deformation, generally
much larger than the elastic deformation before rupture.
Iron, Gold, Silver, Mild steels, Stainless steels, Aluminum
a Brittle rupture
b Ductile rupture
c Completley ductile rupture
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4
Ductile material behaviour micro mechanisms
10 mm
SEM photo of a ductile
metal failure surface
Ductile material behaviour mechanical response
5
Mild steel, force-elognation diagram
OA: elognation completley recoverable and proportional to the loading linear elasic zone
AB: deformation still elastic but no proptinallity between l and N transformation from
linear elastic to non-linear elastic deformation
BC: Yielding zone.
CD: Material hardening (we can define a hardening modulus)
DE: Softening, due to reduction of cross section (necking) prior rupture
(In compression: similar behaviour to C but no necking. Hardening continues with large
deformation)
N
p
= limit of proportinallity
N
Y
= yielding starts
Permenant deformation when unloading
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Brittle material behaviour
6
Force-elognation diagram (cast iron, glass, rock, ceramic materials)
Linear elastic zone is less defined the tangent to the curve decrease steadily until rupture
Little plastic deformation
Behaviour under tensile and compression is different
Display more stiffness and strength under compression
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Testing compressive strength
of concrete:

S
ut
2-6 MPa
S
uc
32-60 MPa

~ 10 times stronger in compression

7
Brittle material behaviour micro mechanisms
Stress-strain diagram for
a typical brittle material.
10 mm
SEM photo of a brittle
metal failure surface
High strength steel
8
Hardened steels are more brittle!
Strain hardening for ductile steels increasing the load capacity of steel beyond the
elastic limit (limit state, service conditions)
Elastic limit can be increased by increased carbon content (elss ductility)
High strenght steels do not have a yield zone
Plastic deformation not clearly shown
Elastic limit stress which cause unrecovorable strain with vaule 0.2 %. (
0.2%
)
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9
Idealized stress-strain curve for steels
1: real material with strain hardening
2: Elastic ideal plastic
3: Ideal plastic
Plasitc deformation of cross section member
Elastic stress distribution:
Partly plastic deformed cross section:
Plastic deformed cross section:
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M
M
Ultimate limit load design
10
Ultimate limit load design
Plasitc deformation of cross section member: rectangular cross section
Elastic Moment capacity (M
ek
) Plastic Moment capacity (M
pk
)
Compare: 50 % larger moment capacity if full plastic
defomration is allowed
Note! Not acceptable for fatigue loads or when
there is risk for instability (buckling)
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11
Compression strength Euler buckling
Euler 4 global buckling cases:
Independent of the materials yield strength
General:
Put: (radius of gyration)
(slenderness ratio)
Critical buckling stress
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12
Compression strength Euler buckling example
Design of truss construction E-stie Flexenclosure (Barsoum Eng Consulting AB)
IWSD M2.3
Innovative Mobile Global Award 2008
13
Design of truss construction E-stie Flexenclosure (Barsoum Eng Consulting AB)
Finite element analysis
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Compression strength Euler buckling example
14
Design of truss construction E-stie Flexenclosure (Barsoum Eng Consulting AB)
Testing and FEM: collapose due to
bucking of a slender compression
member
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Compression strength Euler buckling example
15
Slender members
Tensile and compression members
If a structural element is called beam or compression member
depends on the loading it is subjected to
Compressive member: Loading
in the axial direction (axial
force)
Tensile member / beam:
Loading across the elements
lenght direction (cross
sectional force/ bending
moment)
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16
Slender members
Definition:
Having little width in proportion to height or length; long and thin

Increasing slenderness ratio,
Short columns (small ) do not
buckle and simply fail by material
yielding.

Long columns (large ) usually fail
by elastic buckling mentioned
above.

Between short and long regions,
the failure of the column occurs
through inelastic buckling.


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17
Buckling
If a b k

= 4 (buckling koefficient)
which depends on the boundary
conditions

The buckling load is LOW for welded
structures due to internal compressive
stress formed after welding
Relation between load P and deflection for a
compressive member and free supported
compressed plate
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18
Tilting (Equilibrium instability)
Could occur for high and slender beams
Characterized by the whole or parts of
the beam is losing equilibrium
The risk with TILTING increase when:
Low E-modulus (G-modulus)
High beam
Slender beam
Long free beam
When bending and compression is
applied
Compressive residual stresses in vicinity
of compressed flange
High load application point

The risk with TILTING decrease when:
Clamping at support points
Tensile loading an bending at the same
time
Stiffening of flanges (with shorter
distances)
Higher bending stifness for stiffener
plates
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19
Torsional strength
Thick-walled and closed cross sections

M
v
= torsional moment
W
v
= torsinal stiffness (St-
Venant)
Open thin-walled cross sections

Considered as flange
bending (Vlasov torsion)
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20
Torsional strength
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x
y
a
2 a
2 a
a 3 2
a 8 / tan 2
60
Cirkel
Oktagon
Kvadrat
Likbent triangel
r

Consider four different cross sections select the optimum for torsion
21
Torsional strength
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Note that:
warping of the non-circular cross section
end effect (Saint-Venants principal)
Apply torque M
v
22
Torsional strength
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Shear stress in each cross section
1.00
0.85
0.70
0.55
0.40
0.25
0.10
0.00
Mv
W
Cir
v z

2
3
a
W
Cir
v

3
64 . 1 a W
Okt
v

3
5
3
a
W
Kva
v

3 5
18
3
a
W
Tri
v

23
Torsional strength
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Shear stress along the perimeter of each cross section
A circle is a polygon with infinite number of sides
24
Torsion
Open thin-walled cross sections

St-Venant torsion:
The cross section remain in the plane

Vlasov torsion:
The cross section is WARPED out of the
plane

Torsion of circular
cross section. No
warping
Torsion of
rectangular cross
section. Negleble
warping
Torsion of I-cross
section beam.
Large warping
Shear stress flow in a cross section
which undergo St-Venant torsion is
closed. Open cross sections undergo
Vlasov torsion
Rectangular beam
cross section St-
Venant torsion
I-cross section
Vlasov torsion
Mixed torsion:
Vlasov torsion
St-Venant torsion
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25
Torsion
These cross sections will not warp
during torsional loading

These cross sections will warp during
torsional loading

If the torsional moment is balanced by
reaction forces then the corss section
will warp
VC = torsional centrum
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26
Torsion - Warping prevention
Connect upper and lower flange with torsional stiff element to prevent warping

Warping prevention for U-beams

Warping prevention for Z- and I-beams

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27
Torsion - Warping prevention
Example:

Torsional weak Torsional weak Torsional stiff
Torsional stiff Torsional stiff
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28
Yielding criteria
At combined stresses one have to evaluate equivavlent stresses to
be compared with the materials yield stress (which is a stress in one
direction)

There are several yielding criterias:
Theory of maximum principal stress
Theory of maximum longitudinal deformation
Theory of maximum shear stress (Tresca)
Theory of maximum distortion energy (von Mises)


The yielding criterias works good in some cases and not in other.
Nowadays the von Mises hypothesis is frequently used.


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29
Yielding criteria
Maximum Normal (Principal) Stress Theory
Theory: Yielding begins when the maximum principal stress in a stress
element exceeds the yield strength.
For any stress element, use Mohrs circle to find the principal stresses.
Compare the largest principal stress to the yield strength.
Is it a good theory?


This theory is not safe to use for ductile
materials
In pure shear (
1
=
2
= ); diverges from
experiments
States that yielding occurs =
Y
while
measured shearing yield stress is lower ( =
Y
)
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30
Yielding criteria
Maximum Longitudinal Deformation Theory
Theory: Yielding determined by the maximum longitudinal strain.
According to Hookes law for isotropic materials, the material remain in
elastic phase as long s the following conditions are satisfied:





In the plane stress state yielding and not or the higher value

In compression the theory leads to yielding at , but
experiments that much higher values of the pressure may be applied
without plastic deformation.


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31
Yielding criteria
Maximum Shear Stress Theory (MSS) Tresca yielding criteria


Theory: Yielding begins when the maximum shear stress in a stress element
exceeds the maximum shear stress in a tension test specimen of the same
material when that specimen begins to yield.

For a tension test specimen, the maximum shear stress is s
1
/2.
At yielding, when s
1
= S
y
, the maximum shear stress is S
y
/2 .

Could restate the theory as follows:
Theory: Yielding begins when the maximum shear stress in a stress
element exceeds S
y
/2.

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32
Yielding criteria
Maximum Shear Stress Theory (MSS) Tresca yielding criteria


For any stress element, use Mohrs circle to find the maximum shear stress.
Compare the maximum shear stress to S
y
/2

Ordering the principal stresses such that s
1
s
2
s
3,


Henri douard Tresca (1814-1885)
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

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33
Yielding criteria
Maximum Shear Stress Theory (MSS) Tresca yielding criteria


To compare to experimental data, express
max
in terms of principal
stresses and plot.
To simplify, consider a plane stress state
Let s
A
and s
B
represent the two non-zero principal stresses, then order
them with the zero principal stress such that s
1
s
2
s
3

Assuming s
A
s
B
there are three cases to consider

Case 1: s
A
s
B
0

Case 2: s
A
0 s
B
Case 3: 0 s
A
s
B

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34
Yielding criteria
Maximum Shear Stress Theory (MSS) Tresca yielding criteria


Case 1: s
A
s
B
0

For this case, s
1
= s
A
and s
3
= 0
reduces to s
A
S
y

Case 2: s
A
0 s
B
For this case, s
1
= s
A
and s
3
= s
B

reduces to s
A
s
B
S
y

Case 3: 0 s
A
s
B
For this case, s
1
= 0 and s
3
= s
B

reduces to s
B
S
y


Plot three cases on principal stress axes
Other lines are symmetric cases
Inside envelope is predicted safe zone
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35
Yielding criteria
Maximum Shear Stress Theory (MSS) Tresca yielding criteria
Comparison to experimental data
Conservative in all quadrants
Commonly used for design situations


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36
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises yielding criteria
Also known as:
Octahedral Shear Stress
Shear Energy
Von Mises
Von Mises Hencky

Richard Edler von Mises (1883-1953)
Applied Math. and Solid Mechanics
Harvard University

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37
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises yielding criteria
Originated from observation that ductile materials stressed hydrostatically (equal
principal stresses) exhibited yield strengths greatly in excess of expected values.

Theorizes that if strain energy is divided into hydrostatic volume changing energy and
angular distortion energy, the yielding is primarily affected by the distortion energy
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38
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises yielding criteria
Theory: Yielding occurs when the distortion strain energy per unit volume reaches the
distortion strain energy per unit volume for yield in simple tension or compression of
the same material
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39
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises yielding criteria
Theory: Yielding occurs when the distortion strain energy per unit volume reaches the
distortion strain energy per unit volume for yield in simple tension or compression of
the same material
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40
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory Deriving DE
Hydrostatic stress is average of principal stresses


Strain energy per unit volume,
Substituting for principal strains into strain energy equation,








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41
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory Deriving DE

Strain energy for producing only volume change is obtained by substituting
s
av
for s
1
, s
2
, and s
3


Substituting s
av




Obtain distortion energy by subtracting volume changing energy from total
strain energy





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42
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory Deriving DE


Tension test specimen at yield has s
1
= S
y
and s
2
= s
3
=0
Applying distortion energy for tension test specimen is



DE theory predicts failure when distortion energy exceeds distortion energy
of tension test specimen




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43
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises Stresses


Left hand side is defined as von Mises stress


For plane stress, simplifies to


In terms of xyz components, in three dimensions


In terms of xyz components, for plane stress




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44
Yielding criteria
Distortion Energy (DE) Failure Theory von Mises Stresses
Von Mises Stress can be thought of as a single, equivalent, or effective
stress for the entire general state of stress in a stress element.

Distortion Energy failure theory simply compares von Mises stress to
yield strength.






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45
Yielding criteria
DE Theory compared to experimental data
Plot von Mises stress on
principal stress axes to compare
to experimental data (and to
other failure theories)
DE curve is typical of data
Note that typical equates to a
50% reliability from a design
perspective
Commonly used for analysis
situations
MSS theory useful for design
situations where higher
reliability is desired

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46
Yielding criteria
Shear Strength Predictions
For pure shear loading,
Mohrs circle shows that
s
A
= s
B
=
Plotting this equation on
principal stress axes gives
load line for pure shear
case
Intersection of pure shear
load line with failure curve
indicates shear strength
has been reached
Each failure theory
predicts shear strength to
be some fraction of
normal strength
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47
Yielding criteria
Shear Strength Predictions
For pure shear loading,
Mohrs circle shows that s
A

= s
B
=
Plotting this equation on
principal stress axes gives
load line for pure shear case
Intersection of pure shear
load line with failure curve
indicates shear strength has
been reached
Each failure theory predicts
shear strength to be some
fraction of normal strength
For MSS theory, intersecting
pure shear load line with
failure line results in

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48
Yielding criteria
Shear Strength Predictions
For DE theory, intersection
pure shear load line with
failure curve gives





Therefore, DE theory
predicts shear strength as

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