Axial stress & strain
- Normal stress
- σ = F/A
- Strain
- ε = ΔL/L
- Hooke’s law
- σ = E·ε
- Elongation
- ΔL = FL/(EA)
- Thermal strain
- εT = α·ΔT
Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 14 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A bar is made of a steel segment (diameter 40 mm, length 500 mm, E = 200 GPa) joined end to end with a segment made of brass (diameter 60 mm, length 200 mm, E = 100 GPa). It is fixed at one end and pulled at the other. Find the axial load P that stretches it by 0.5 mm in total.
The stepped bar is fixed at the wall and loaded at its free end. Find the largest normal stress σmax in the bar.
A solid steel shaft is fixed at the wall and twisted by a torque T at its free end. Find the angle of twist φ of the free end, in degrees.
A solid aluminium shaft of diameter 40 mm is fixed at A. A torque of 1000 N·m acts at B, 2 m from A, and a torque of 400 N·m in the opposite direction acts at the free end C, a further 1.2 m along. Find the maximum shear stress τmax in the shaft.
The simply supported beam carries a clockwise couple M0 = 25 kN·m at x = 1 m from A, and no other load. Find the bending moment Mx just to the right of the couple. Use sagging moments positive and upward shear on the left face positive.
The simply supported beam carries a uniformly distributed load over part of its span. Find the maximum bending moment Mmax in the beam.
Find the second moment of area Ix of the T-section about the horizontal axis x through its centroid.
A 120 mm × 200 mm plate has a rectangular cut-out 30 mm wide and 30 mm high, centred on the vertical centre line with its centre 140 mm above the bottom. Find the second moment of area Ix about the horizontal axis through the centroid.
A point has σₓ = 30 MPa and σᵧ = −50 MPa. How large can the shear stress τxy (magnitude) become before the largest principal stress reaches 75 MPa?
A point in a thin plate is in plane stress: σₓ = 60 MPa, σᵧ = 100 MPa and τₓᵧ = 60 MPa (σz = 0). The material has a yield strength of 275 MPa. Find the factor of safety n against yielding by the von Mises (distortion energy) criterion.
A simply supported beam carries a uniformly distributed load w over its whole span. Find the slope θA of the beam at support A, in radians.
A simply supported beam carries a uniformly distributed load w. Its deflection may not exceed span/360. Find the smallest second moment of area Ireq that meets this limit.
A column of length L made of steel is pinned at both ends. Using Euler’s formula, find its critical buckling load Pcr.
A column of length L made of steel is fixed at the base and pinned at the top. Find its slenderness and the critical buckling stress σcr from Euler’s formula.
Answer: P = 185.4 kN
Two materials: in series (one after the other) every segment carries the same force and the elongations add: δ = P·Σ L/(E·A). In parallel (side by side between rigid plates) both parts shorten by the same amount, so their strains are equal: the stiffer part takes the larger share, Pi = P·EiAi/ΣEA, and σi = Ei·ε. A bar held between two rigid walls with a load at the junction is statically indeterminate: the two segments share the load in proportion to their stiffness k = EA/L.
Answer: σmax = 111.4 MPa
Axially loaded members: each prismatic segment obeys δ = PL/(AE). For members in series the elongations add.
The free end carries P, so every section of the bar carries the same axial force P. Only the areas and materials change.
The thinner segment has the smaller area, so it carries the larger stress.
Answer: φ = 13.68 °
Torsion of circular shafts: shear stress grows linearly from zero at the centre to τmax = T·r/J at the surface, with J = πd⁴/32 for a solid shaft and J = π(do⁴ − di⁴)/32 for a hollow one. The angle of twist is φ = TL/(GJ) in radians. Power and torque are linked by P = T·ω.
Answer: τmax = 47.75 MPa
Torsion of circular shafts: shear stress grows linearly from zero at the centre to τmax = T·r/J at the surface, with J = πd⁴/32 for a solid shaft and J = π(do⁴ − di⁴)/32 for a hollow one. The angle of twist is φ = TL/(GJ) in radians. Power and torque are linked by P = T·ω.
Sense of TC taken as positive.
The segment with the largest internal torque has the largest stress (same diameter).
Answer: Mx = 18.75 kN·m
Method of sections: cut the beam where you want the internal forces and keep one side. The shear force V balances the vertical forces on that side, and the bending moment M balances their moments about the cut. An applied couple makes the bending moment diagram jump by the size of the couple.
Moments about A, counter-clockwise positive: RB·L − M0 = 0. Vertical balance: RA + RB = 0.
The left part now contains RA and the couple.
Answer: Mmax = 72 kN·m
Method of sections: cut the beam where you want the internal forces and keep one side. The shear force V balances the vertical forces on that side, and the bending moment M balances their moments about the cut. Maximum moment: since dM/dx = V, the bending moment has its peak where the shear force passes through zero, either at a point load or inside a distributed load.
Equilibrium of the whole beam.
The shear force starts at RA, stays constant over any unloaded part and falls with slope w inside the load.
Answer: Ix = 18.83 × 10⁶ mm⁴
Composite areas: split the section into rectangles. The centroid is the area-weighted average ȳ = ΣAᵢyᵢ/ΣAᵢ. The second moment of area about the centroidal axis adds each part’s own bh³/12 and its parallel-axis term A·d², where d is the distance from the part’s centroid to the overall centroid. Bending stress is σ = M·y/I.
Measure every y from the bottom edge.
Answer: Ix = 78.44 × 10⁶ mm⁴
Sections with holes: treat a hole as a negative area. The centroid is ȳ = (A₁y₁ − A₂y₂)/(A₁ − A₂), with A₁, y₁ for the full plate and A₂, y₂ for the hole. For the second moment of area about the centroidal axis, use the parallel-axis theorem for each part and subtract the hole: I = (Ic1 + A₁d₁²) − (Ic2 + A₂d₂²), where d is the distance from each part's own centroid to the axis through ȳ. A rectangle has Ic = bh³/12 and a circle Ic = πd⁴/64.
Answer: τxy = 75 MPa
Plane stress transformation: on a plane rotated by θ, σ = (σₓ + σᵧ)/2 + (σₓ − σᵧ)/2·cos 2θ + τₓᵧ·sin 2θ. Mohr’s circle shows all planes at once: its centre is at C = (σₓ + σᵧ)/2 and its radius is R = √(((σₓ − σᵧ)/2)² + τₓᵧ²). The principal stresses are C ± R, and the largest in-plane shear stress is R.
Answer: n = 2.027
Plane stress transformation: on a plane rotated by θ, σ = (σₓ + σᵧ)/2 + (σₓ − σᵧ)/2·cos 2θ + τₓᵧ·sin 2θ. Mohr’s circle shows all planes at once: its centre is at C = (σₓ + σᵧ)/2 and its radius is R = √(((σₓ − σᵧ)/2)² + τₓᵧ²). The principal stresses are C ± R, and the largest in-plane shear stress is R. Yield criteria: von Mises predicts yield when σvM = √(σ₁² − σ₁σ₂ + σ₂²) reaches σY; Tresca when the absolute maximum shear stress reaches σY/2.
n > 1 means the point does not yield; Tresca is slightly more conservative than von Mises.
Answer: θA = 0.008893 rad
Beam deflection: deflections come from integrating the curvature M/(EI) twice. Standard cases are tabulated, for example PL³/(3EI) for a cantilever with an end load and 5wL⁴/(384EI) for a simply supported beam under a full uniform load. Deflections from separate loads add (superposition). The slope θ = dv/dx is the first integral of M/(EI); in consistent units it comes out in radians.
Work in N and mm: P in N, w in N/mm (kN/m = N/mm), L in mm, E in N/mm² (GPa × 1000), I in mm⁴.
That is 0.5095°.
Answer: Ireq = 217 × 10⁶ mm⁴
Beam deflection: deflections come from integrating the curvature M/(EI) twice. Standard cases are tabulated, for example PL³/(3EI) for a cantilever with an end load and 5wL⁴/(384EI) for a simply supported beam under a full uniform load. Deflections from separate loads add (superposition).
Answer: Pcr = 8.773 kN
Euler buckling: a slender column becomes unstable at Pcr = π²EI/(KL)², where KL is the effective length: K = 1 for pinned–pinned, 2 for fixed–free, 0.7 for fixed–pinned and 0.5 for fixed–fixed. It buckles about the axis with the smallest I. The formula holds for slender columns, whose critical stress stays below the yield stress.
A rectangle buckles about its weak axis, using the smaller dimension cubed.
Answer: σcr = 226.6 MPa
Euler buckling: a slender column becomes unstable at Pcr = π²EI/(KL)², where KL is the effective length: K = 1 for pinned–pinned, 2 for fixed–free, 0.7 for fixed–pinned and 0.5 for fixed–fixed. It buckles about the axis with the smallest I. The formula holds for slender columns, whose critical stress stays below the yield stress.
A round section has the same I about every axis.
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