Principal stresses

Stress tensor: principal components

By calculating its eigen-values & eigen-vectors, the stress tensors can be
written in its principal coordinate system in a purely diagonal form
containing only normal stress components which are called the principal
stress components. The eigenvectors of determine the orientation of
1,2,3 and thus of the principal stress
the principal coordinate system e
directions :

1 0 0
|e1,2,3 = 0 2 0
0 0 3
The principal stresses are also one set of invariants of the stress tensor.

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el Cugnoni

Stress measures and Failure criteria

Deviatoric part
Stress tensor decomposition: hydrostatic - deviatoric parts
The stress tensor can be divided in hydrostatic and deviatoric part:
= h +
= pI +

is called the deviatoric

where p = 13 ii is the hydrostatic pressure and
stress tensor.

Strain energy decomposition

Using the hydrostatic - deviatoric stress & strain decomposition, the
strain energy can be written as:
E=

1
1
1
:  = h : h +
:  = E h + E
2
2
2

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Stress based criteria

Tresca equivalent stress criteria
The Tresca stress criteria is based on the comparison of maximum shear
max and is thus defined basically from the maximum principal stress
difference :
eq
tresca
= max (|1 2 |, |2 3 |, |3 1 |)

The corresponding yield / failure criteria is simply written as a

comparison with the maximum allowed shear stress y or from a uniaxial
eq
stress state y : tresca
2y = y
Rankine stress criteria
The Rankine stress criteria simply imposes that the principal stress
components are bounded between c (compression) and t (tension) :
c < i < t

i = 1, 2, 3

As a result, the maximum shear stress is also bounded: max 12 (t c )

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Representation in Mohr circle diagram

representation of Tresca criteria in Mohr diagram

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Representation in Mohr circle diagram

representation of Rankine criteria in Mohr diagram

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Energy criteria
Von Mises equivalent stress criteria
The Von Mises equivalent stress criteria is based on a comparison of
maximum deviatoric strain energy E and is thus defined from the
deviatoric stress tensor h :
q
eq
mises
= 32
:

It can also be written directly from the principal stresses 1,2,3 or from
the stress tensor components:
q
2
2
2
eq
3 ) +(3 1 )
mises
= (1 2 ) +(2
2
q
2 + 2 + 2 )
(11 22 )2 +(22 33 )2 +(33 11 )2 +6(12
23
31
=
2
The corresponding yield / failure criteria is simply written as a
comparison with the maximum allowed uniaxial stress y (yield stress):
eq
mises
y
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Stress measures and Failure criteria

3D representation

3D representation of Von Mises & Tresca yield surfaces (src Wikipedia)

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

2D representation

2D representation of Von Mises & Tresca yield surfaces (src Wikipedia)

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Stress measures and Failure criteria

Applicability / recommendations
Stress criteria
Use Von Mises criteria for isotropic, dense & ductile materials like
metals which failure does not depend on hydrostatic pressure.
Tresca criteria is more conservative than Von Mises, it is also valid
for isotropic & ductile materials and is also independant of
hydrostatic pressure.
Both Tresca & Mises criteria impose that the material has the same
limit in traction & compression. If not, consider another criteria or
take the lowest limit for safety.
Rankine criteria is more suitable to low cohesion materials like
ceramics where the tension limit is significantly lower than the
compression. In this case, you should also check that the maximum
shear (Tresca) is also below the admissible values.
Complex materials like concrete, ceramics, composites require much
more complex criteria taking into account the hydrostatic pressure,
the tension/compression asymmetry or the anisotropy of the
material.
Jo
el Cugnoni

Stress measures and Failure criteria