Kathmandu Engineering College

Theory of Structures I
Tutorial on Strain Energy

1. Two cantilever beams of same material are similar in every aspect except size; one
having all of its linear dimensions just ‘n’ times those of the other. What is the ratio of
their strain energies when they are subjected to their own distributed weights? Take
energies due to bending only.
[1:n5]
2. A solid circular shaft and a thin walled circular tube made of the same material and
having same weight are stressed in torsion to the same maximum shear stress. What is
the ratio of the amount of strain energies stored in the two?
[1/2]
3. A rectangular beam 40 cm * 20 cm is simply supported on a span of 6 m and carries a
central load of 200 kg. Calculate the strain energy due to shear and bending. Neglect
the self-weight of the beam. Take E=2*108 kg/cm2 and G= 0.85*108 kg/cm2.
[Ub=4218.75 kg-cm, Ush=5.29*10-3kg-cm]
4. A round, prismatic, steel bar of length 2 m and diameter 15 mm hangs vertically from
a support at the upper end. A sliding collar of mass 20 kg drops from a height of 50
mm onto the flange at the lower end of the bar. Determine the impact factor,
maximum elongation, maximum tensile stress and maximum strain energy stored due
to the impact. Take E = 200GPa.
[96, 1.06 mm, 106.9 MPa, 10.1 Nm]
5. Calculate the elongation, stress developed and strain energy stored in a steel bar 5 m
in length and 1200 mm2 in cross section when a tensile load of 100kN is gradually
applied. Take E=2*105N/mm2.
[2.09 mm, 83.33 MPa, 104.16 Nm]
6. Two bars of same material and same length are subjected to equal and gradually
applied tensile loads. One of the bars is ‘2d’ in diameter throughout and the other has
diameter ‘d’ up to one third of its length and the remaining two thirds has diameter of
‘2d’. Compare the strain energies of two bars.
[1:2]
7. An unknown weight falls through 2 cm on a collar rigidly attached to the lower end of
a vertical bar 3 m long and 7 sq. cm in cross section. If the maximum instantaneous
extension is known to be 3 mm, what are the corresponding stress and the value of
unknown weight? Take E=2 *106 kg/cm2.
[9119.5 N]
8. Consider two simply supported beams of rectangular cross sections and equal width.
The materials are identical. The first beam has constant height along the length; the
second has a small groove in the center which reduces the height by one fifth. The
length of the groove along the axis is negligible. The maximum stresses on each bar
due to the action of the central force P is the elastic limit of the material. Neglecting
effects of stress concentrations, determine the ratio of internal strain energies on the
two bars.
[U1:U2 =0.512]

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 Kathmandu Engineering College
Theory of Structures I
9. Determine the maximum weight W that can be dropped 10 inch into the flange at the
end of the steel bar as shown in fig. The bar is 1”*2” in cross section and 6 ft. in
length. The axial stress is not to exceed 20000 lbs./in2. (E= 30*106 lbs./in2)
[96.4 lbs.]

10. Calculate strain energy due to bending moment, shear force and normal thrust in the
frame shown. All the members of the frame are rectangular with the following data: E
= 3.4*104 MPa, G = 0.4E, b = 0.5m, h = 0.8m

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