Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

TENSILE
STRESS
AND STRAIN
IN SOLIDS
Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 1

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

Stress and strain in solids

Normal Stress And Strain.
Consider a block of material
subjected

to

tensile

load

normal to an end face.

Only two factors need to be

considered when assessing the
likelihood that the block will
break.

Obviously the likelihood of breaking will be proportional to the magnitude of the load and
inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area supporting the load. These two factors can
be incorporated into one parameter which is the load intensity or STRESS in the block.

stress

Hence

force
area

or

F
A

The units of stress are Nm-2 but this unit represents a very small stress and stresses are
generally measured in MNm-2. Sometimes the units are also given as Pa, MPa or Nmm-2 (or
N/mm2).

If a bar of material is subjected to a tensile force then it will extend in length. Under the same
stress a particular material will always exhibit the same fractional extension this is known as
the STRAIN in the material and is defined as

strain

increase in length
original length

or

L
L

There are no units for strain.

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 2

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics
For every material it is found that the ratio of stress to strain is a constant. This constant is
termed the MODULUS OF ELASTICITY or more commonly YOUNGS MODULUS
(symbol E).

Young' s Modulus

F
A

or

E
This is known as Hooke's Law.
The Youngs Modulus is a measure of the stiffness of the material.
For steel E is near 200 GNm-2. For concrete E is near 5 GNm-2

Poissons Ratio
Each material under load 'tries' to keep its volume constant. If a material is extended or
compressed in a particular direction then it will contract or expand respectively in the
direction perpendicular to the applied force.

The lateral strain is defined as

Lateral Strain

change in thickness
original thickness

where the thickness is taken to be the dimension perpendicular to the applied force.
Or

lateral

D
D

The strain defined in the direction of the applied force is termed the Longitudinal Strain.
For a given material the ratio of Lateral Strain to Longitudinal Strain is a constant and is
termed Poissons Ratio ().

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 3

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

Poisson' s Ratio

lateral strain
longitudinal strain

is always quoted as a positive number even though the lateral strain is always of the
opposite sign to the longitudinal strain, i.e.

lat long
Common values for are:
steel

0.28

brass 0.33
rubber 0.5

An example:
A mild steel circular bar of diameter 75 mm and length 150 mm is subjected to a tensile force
of 200 kN.

If the Youngs Modulus for the steel is 207 GNm-2 and is 0.28 calculate
a) the stress in the bar,
b) the changes in dimensions of the bar,
c) the factor of safety for the bar if the yield stress of the steel is 250 MNm-2.

a) Stress

Area A

d 2
4

0.075m

44.2 10 4 m 2

F
200 103 N

45.2 10 6 Nm 2 45.2 MNm 2

4
2
A 44.2 10 m

b) Change in length

long

45.2 10 6 Nm 2

219 10 6 219
9
2
E 207 10 Nm

L long L 219 106 0.15m 32.9 106 m 32.9 m

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 4

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics
Change in diameter

lat long 0.28 219 106 61.3 106 61.3

D lat D 61.3 106 0.075m 4.6 106 4.6 m

c) Factor of safety

Factor of Safety

limit stress
250 10 6 Nm 2

5.5
working stress 45.2 10 6 Nm 2

Tensile Strength And Factor Of Safety

In the design of a machine or structure it is important that the allowable working stress or
permissible stress does not reach a value equal to the maximum tensile strength for the
material. The permissible stress should be far below the tensile strength and in elastic
design should be below the elastic limit. A factor of safety is adopted to support compliance
with this requirement, whereby

factor of safety = tensile strength / allowable working stress

The factor of safety can also account for uncertainties in loading conditions, design
procedures, material and the consequence of failure, etc. Typical values range from 1. 5 to
10.

Tensile Testing.
The material properties required by engineers assessing the safety of structures are found by
using a simple tensile test.
Tensile specimens, usually circular or square-section bar are pulled at a constant extension
rate and the load on the specimen is monitored. The load is divided by the original area to
obtain engineering stress and the elongation is divided by the original length to obtain
engineering strain. The main parameters to be obtained from the test are shown

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 5

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

In some alloys there is no definite yield point and so the 0.2% or 0.1% proof stress is
calculated.

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 6

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

Tensile Testing Of Materials

To eliminate variations in empirical tensile test data arising from differences in shape
of test pieces, standard shapes and dimensions are adopted. Fig. 3 shows flat test
and round test piece forms and the standard dimensions for flat and round test
pieces are tabulated in Table 1 and 2 respectively.

Forms of flat and round test pieces

Table 1 Standard dimensions for flat test pieces

b[mm]
25
12.5
6
3

Lo [mm]
100
50
25
12.5

Lc [mm]
112.5
56.25
28
14

Lt [mm]
300
200
100
50

r [mm]
25
25
12
6

Table 2 Standard dimensions for round test pieces

A [mm2]

200
150
100
50

d [mm]

15.96
13.82
11.28
7.98

Lo [mm]

80
69
56
40

Lc [mm]

88
76
62
44

r [mm]
Wrought
material
15
13
10
8

Cast
material
30
26
20
16

Adoption of the above will avoid different results being obtained because the form
and size of a test piece can affect the test results even from the same material.

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 7

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

Least Curve Line Fitting

) (

Where n = no. of data points

If correlation coefficient is positive graph slopes upwards left to right.

If correlation coefficient is negative graph slopes downwards left to right.

and

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 8

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

Exercises for Normal Stress and Strain.

1

The following results were obtained on a mild rod having a diameter of 13.77 mm and
length of 50.8 mm:

Load
[kN]

10

20

30

40

45

50

60

70

72

71

53

Extn.
[mm]

0.009

0.025

0.042

0.06

0.08

2.6

4.4

8.6

11

13

22

Plot load-extension graphs and determine (a) the approximate value of the stress
elastic limit, (b) Youngs modulus (c) ultimate tensile stress (UTS) and (d) the 0.01 per
cent proof stress.

2.

An mechanical spring is tested and the results were as follows : -

Deflection,

10

0.7

0.9

1.0

1.4

1.9

x (mm)
Force y
(N)

It has been shown that the relationship between the data is of the form y = ax + b
where a and b are constants.
For these results determine using least squares analysis:
a) the gradient of the line, a.
b) the value of b.
Also, calculate the correlation coefficient using the data given and comment on the
result.
3.

A steel rod, 20 mm diameter, is subjected to a pull of 40 kN. Calculate (a) the stress,
(b) the strain and (c) the total extension on a length of 200 mm. Assume E = 200
GPa.

4.

A steel rope of diameter 25 mm and length 4 m is subjected to tensile force of 30 kN. If

the modulus of elasticity and Poisson's Ratio for the material are 200 GNm-2 and 0.28
respectively, determine the increase in length and decrease in diameter of the rope.
(1.2 mm, 2 x 10-6 m)

5.A hollow pipe 115 mm outside diameter and 100 mm inside diameter is subjected to a
compressive load of 245 kN. Calculate the average compressive load stress in the pipe.
(96.7 MNm-2)
Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 9

Centre of Advanced Design Engineering

ENG4082 Mathematics and Mechanics

6.

Calculate the minimum diameter a mild steel bolt should have to withstand a load of
600 kN if the steel has a yield stress of 200 MNm-2 and the factor of safety if to be 4.
(123 mm)

7. An aluminium alloy has a tensile strength of 200 MNm-2. What force is needed to break a
circular bar of this alloy if the diameter of the bar is 30 mm?

(141 kN)

8. A long wire hangs vertically under its own weight. What is the greatest length it can have
without yielding if it is made from
a) steel with a yield stress of 250 MNm-2, and specific density 7850 kgm-3.
(3.18 km)
b) aluminium alloy with a yield stress of 125 MNm

-2

and specific density 2750 kgm-3?

(4.54 km)

9.

A steel bar 600 mm long has a diameter of 75 mm for half its length and a diameter of
40 mm for the other half of its length. If E for the steel is 207 GNm-2 calculate the
extension of the bar when it is subjected to a tensile load of 150 kN.
(0.22 mm)

10. A short concrete column has a square cross-section of side 400 mm and is reinforced by
four steel rods each 25 mm in diameter. If the ratio of Esteel to Econcrete is 15:1 calculate the
compressive stress in the concrete when the column supports a load of 1.5 MN
.

(8 MNm-2)

11. A concrete pillar 250 mm in diameter and 3 m long is reinforced by steel rods each
10 mm diameter and 3 m long. If the maximum stress in the concrete is not to exceed
7.5 MNm-2, calculate the minimum number of steel rods required in order that the
reinforced pillar can support an axial load of 600 kN. How much will the pillar shorten
under this load? For steel E = 200 GNm-2 and for concrete E = 10 GNm-2.

(20 rods,

2.25 mm)

Stress & Strain

Dr D Ashman

Page 10