Mechanics 1 version 1.

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LECTURE 16 STRESS AND STRAIN
16.1

Learning outcomes

You should be able to explain these concepts and use them in calculations:

16.2

Strain energy
Poissons ratio.

Strain energy

When the point of application of a force F is displaced by r, it does work F.r. So the work done
when it is displaced by r is
.
(See Lecture 5 notes).
When this work is done to deform a material, the material is said to be elastic if the work done on
the material is stored as potential energy, U, and used to recoil to the original dimensions when
the force is removed. This energy is called strain energy.
Now consider a force that stretches a rod of material along its axis, as in the beginning of the last
lecture. Then the force and the displacement are in the same direction, the line integral above can
be simplified to

where x is displacement in the direction of the force and k is the stiffness of the object being
deformed. (Note that this derivation assumes that a graph of force against displacement is linear, i.e.
that the material of the object obeys Hookes law). From the definition of stress and strain in the last
lecture
.
If the volume of the rod is V, the energy stored by deformation of a unit volume of material is given
by
.
This is sometimes called the strain energy density.

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16.3

Poissons ratio

Consider a force, F, acting along the axis of a solid cylinder of length L, as shown.
The effect of the force is to increase the length of the cylinder to L + L at the same time, the rod
gets thinner.

As a result, the rod experiences a longitudinal strain given by

and a radial strain of

,
where r is the change in the radius, r, of the rod.
Since L is positive, the longitudinal strain is positive, i.e. it is tensile.
However, nearly all materials get thinner as they get longer so that r and, therefore, the radial
strain are negative, i.e. it is compressive. (The exceptions are auxetic materials that have
complicated internal structures).
Poissons ratio is a measure of the ratio of radial to longitudinal strains and is defined by
.
The negative sign appears in the definition so that Poissons ratio is positive for nearly all materials.

16.4

Stress in the rod

The applied force generates an axial stress. But because a radial strain is generated, there will also
be a stress generated in the radial direction given by

This arises from the definition of Youngs modulus; since the radial strain is negative (compressive)
so is the radial stress.
Note that the axial stress has an effect in the radial direction that is at right angles to it. So stress
cannot be a vector because, although it depends on direction, its components are not orthogonal.

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We have previously encountered scalars (single numbers) and vectors (that can be represented by3
1 matrices); now we are meeting tensors (that can be represented by3 3 matrices).

16.5

Relationship between Youngs modulus and shear modulus

Another way of thinking about Poissons ratio is to consider that it relates changes in dimensions to
changes in shape. As a result, Youngs modulus, E, and shear modulus, G, are related by
.
You will learn more about this next year.

16.6

Stress and strain tensors

Consider a lump of material in which x, y and z axes have been defined. Applying a force can
generate stresses in the x, y and z directions denoted by xx, yy, zz.
The state of stress within the object is represented by the tensor
.
The diagonal terms (xx, yy, zz) are associated with changes in length and so are tensile or
compressive.
The off-diagonal terms represent changes in shape and so are shear stresses so you will sometimes
see this written something like
.
Strain is a tensor for the same reasons. You will learn more about this next year.

16.7

Further reading

Strain energy: see page 430 in Hibbelers Statics and Mechanics of Materials 4th Edition, Pearson
2014.
Poissons ratio: see page 440 in Hibbelers Statics and Mechanics of Materials 4th Edition, Pearson
2014.
Stress tensor: see Stress (mechanics) in Wikipedia. this is only being suggested because of the
limited material in your text book on this topic.

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Problems to solve
Consider a cylindrical rod of material of initial length L and radius r. Now consider it to be stretched
in the direction of its axis, so that the length changes by a small amount L and the radius by a small
amount r.
Calculate the volume of the rod before and after it is stretched.
Hence calculate the Poissons ratio of the material of the rod if its volume does not change as a
result of stretching. Hint: notice that r and L are small so that r.L and (r)2 are negligible.
Before the tutorial you should consider the points below:
1. Why do rubber-like materials (elastomers) have a Poissons ratio of about 0.5?
2. Why do metals have a Poissons ratio of about 0.3?
3. Many books will tell you that Poissons ratio cannot have a negative value (because an
object cant get fatter as it stretches). See what you can find out about auxetic materials.
4. Note that your calculation assumes that the material is isotropic (what does this mean) and
is subjected to small strains.
5. Does the result of your calculation depend on your object having a circular cross-section or is
it more general?