DIFFERENT FAILURE THEORIES

1. Maximum principal stress theory - Good for brittle materials

According to this theory when the maximum principal stress induced in a material under complex load
condition exceeds the maximum normal strength in a simple tension test the material fails. So the failure
condition can be expressed as

2. Maximum shear stress theory - Good for ductile materials

According to this theory when the maximum shear strength in actual case exceeds maximum allowable
shear stress in simple tension test the material case. Maximum shear stress in actual case in represented as

Maximum shear stress in simple tension case occurs at angle 45 with load, so maximum shear
strength in a simple tension case can be represented as

Comparing these 2 quantities one can write the failure condition as

3. Maximum normal strain theory - Not recommended

This theory states that, when the maximum normal strain in actual case is more than maximum normal
strain occurred in simple tension test case the material fails. The maximum normal strain in actual case is
given by

Maximum strain in simple tension test case is given by

So condition of failure according to this theory is

Where E is Youngs modulus of the material

4. Total strain energy theory - Good for ductile material
According to this theory when the total strain energy in actual case exceeds the total strain
energy in simple tension test at the time of failure, the material fails. The total strain energy
in actual case is given by

The total strain energy in simple tension test at time of failure is given by

So failure condition can be simplified as

5. Shear strain energy theory or Distortion energy theory - Highly recommended

According to this theory when the shear strain energy in the actual case exceeds shear strain energy in
simple tension test at the time of failure the material fails. Shear strain energy in the actual case is given by

1
𝜎0 = √(𝜎1 − 𝜎2)2 + (𝜎2 − 𝜎3)2 + (𝜎1 − 𝜎3)2
√2

Failure occurs when 𝜎0 ≥ 𝜎𝑢𝑙𝑡

6. Mohr–Coulomb theory - Describing the response of brittle materials such as concrete, or

rubble piles, to shear stress as well as normal stress.
Coulomb's friction hypothesis is used to determine the combination of shear and
normal stress that will cause a fracture of the material. Mohr's circle is used to determine which
principal stresses that will produce this combination of shear and normal stress, and the angle of
the plane in which this will occur. According to the principle of normality the stress introduced at
failure will be perpendicular to the line describing the fracture condition.It can be shown that a
material failing according to Coulomb's friction hypothesis will show the displacement introduced
at failure forming an angle to the line of fracture equal to the angle of friction.
 the failure envelope at any point is defined by the Coulomb law of failure

σc = c + tan(φ)σn

where:
σc = the critical shear stress, or the shear stress at failure
c = the cohesive strength, or the σs value on the failure envelope where σn = 0
(where failure envelope crosses the y-axis)
φ = the angle of internal friction. φ = 90-2θ

Tan(φ) is known as the coefficient of internal friction

From Mohr's circle we have

where

and is the maximum principal stress and is the minimum principal stress.

Therefore, the Mohr–Coulomb criterion may also be expressed as

7. OCTAHEDRAL SHEAR STRESS CRITERION

Since hydrostatic stress alone does not cause yielding, we can find a material plane
called the octahedral plane, where the stress state can be decoupled into dilation strain
energy and distortion strain energy1 . On the octahedral plane, the octahedral normal
stress solely contributes to the dilation strain energy and is

This is the average of the three principal stresses. For example, if where p is
the pressure, then The remaining stain energy in the state of stress is determined by
the octahedral shear stress and is given by
𝜏ℎ =1√(𝜎1−𝜎2)2 +(𝜎2−𝜎3)2 +(𝜎1−𝜎3)2
3

We expect yielding when the octahedral shear stress is equal to or exceeds a stress criterion
value for failure for a given material, which is the octahedral stress criterion 𝜏ℎ0:
𝜏ℎ ≥ 𝜏ℎ0
8. Griffith Failure criteria
Griffith proposed this failure criterion for brittle materials. He propose that a crack will
propagate when decrease in elastic strain energy is atleast equal to the energy required to create
new surfaces. This criteria can be used to determine the tensile stress which will cause a crack of
certain size to propagate as a brittle fracture
The elastic strain energy per unit thickness is equal to
U πa2 σ2
E =−
E

crack length 2a
2Eγs 1/2
σ=( πa
)
 9.MCCLINTOCK WALSH CRITERIA
The McClintock-Walsh modification of Griffith theory is extended to
treat brittle fracture of anisotropic rock. It is suggested that anisotropy is due
primarily to preferred orientation of cracks in rocks and that a satisfactory
mathematical model for fracture analysis is an elastically isotropic medium
which contains a nonrandom array of Griffith cracks. The one array
considered in detail consists of long cracks having a preferred orientation
superimposed on a field of randomly oriented small cracks. Fracture in
tension and in compression is considered. The fracture criterion found for
compression resembles a similar criterion suggested by Jaeger on a
somewhat different basis; it predicts behavior which is in good agreement with
observed fracture