F kL
Here F represents the force pulling on the
object, L is the increase in length, and k is known
as Hookes constant or force constant. Equation
(6.1) is found to be valid for almost any solid solid
material from iron to bone, but it is valid only up to
a limit. For a force is too great, the object stretches
excessively and eventually breaks. Figure (2.2)
shows a typical graph of elongation versus applied
force. Up to a point called the elastic limit, the
object will return to its original length if the applied
force is removed. This is called the elastic region. If
the object is stretched beyond the elastic limit, it
will be permanently deformed.
For most common materials equation (6.1) is
a good approximation almost up to the elastic limit and the graph is a
straight line. Beyond this point, the graph deviates from a straight line and
no simple relationship exits between F and L. If
the object is stretched much beyond the elastic Figure (1.1): Elongation is
limit, it will break. The maximum force that can be directly proportional to the
applied without breaking is called the ultimate applied force.
strength of the material.
L 1 F L
Y
A
Where Lo is the original length of the object, A is the cross-sectional
area, and L is the change in length due to the applied force F; E is a
constant of proportionality known as the elastic modulus, or Youngs modulus
, and its value depends only on the material. The value of Youngs modulus
for various materials is given in Table (2.1). Because E is a property only of
the material and is independent of the objects size or shape, the second
equation is far more useful for practical calculation than the first equation.
From the second equation one can see that the change in length of an object
is directly proportional to the product of the objects length Lo and the force
per unit area F/A applied to it. It is general practice to define the force per
unit area, as the stress:
F
A
= Stress = force / area =
Also the strain is defined to be the ratio of the change in length to the
original length:
Lo
A stress
L
Y
or Y
A
L
o
strain
L
o
EXAMPLE 2.1
A 1.60-m long steel piano wire has a diameter of 0.20-cm. How
great is the tension in the wire if it stretches 0.30 cm when
tightened?
A r 2 3.14 0.1x10 2
3.1x10 6 m 2
,
(a)
(b)
EXAMPLE 2.2
A stress of 108-N m-2 on a bar produces a strain of 5x10-4. What is
Youngs modulus for this bar? According to values given in table (2.1), what
is the type of the material?
10
5 x10
2 x1011 Nm 2
table exerts an equal and opposite force along the bottom surface. Although
the dimensions of the object do not change significantly, the shape of the
object does change as shown in figure (2.4). An equation similar to (2.2) can
be applied to calculate shear strain:
S F A L
L 1
Vo
B P or B P V
Vo
The minus sign indicates that the volume decreases as the pressure
increase. Table (2.1) gives values for bulk modulus.
2.2 FRACTURE
EXAMPLE 2.3
(a) If the minimum cross-sectional area of the femur of a
human adult is 6x10-4m2, what is the compressional load at which
fracture occurs?( The femur is the main bone in the upper leg.) (b)
Assuming the stress-strain relationship is linear until fracture, find
the strain at which the fracture occurs.
(a)The ultimate compression strength for bone is 17x107 Nm-2 (see
table6.2). This is the force pr unit area lead to fracture, and the total force is
found by multiplying by the cross-sectional area of the bone. Thus
F= A= (17x107) (6x10-4)=1.02x105 N
This force is large, it is about 15 times the weight of a 70 kg person.
(b) From table (6.1), Y = 9x109 Nm-2 , then
7
Y 17 x10
1.89 x10 2
9 x10 9
PROBLEMS
1- A 2-m long bar has a rectangular cross section, 0.02 m by
0.04 m. If it is subjected to a 10000-N force along its length, what is
the stress?
2- A 0.4-m pipe under compressional stress changes length by
0.005 m. What is the strain in the pipe?
3- A mans leg can be thought of as a shaft of bone 1.2 m long.
If the strain is 1.3x10-4 when the leg supports his weight, by how
much is his leg shortened?
4- A rod with a radius of 0.005 m and a length of 2 m stretches
0.002 m when subjected to a tension of 10000N. What is Youngs
modulus for this rod?
5- When a steel rod is at its ultimate tension strength, what is
its strain?
6- The average cross-sectional area of a womans femur is 10-3
m2, and it is 0.4 m long. The woman weighs 750 N. (i) what is the
length change of this bone when it supports half of the womans
weight? (ii) Assume the stress-strain relationship is linear until
fracture, what is the change in length just prior to fracture?