Lecture Outcomes

- Contrast between Engineering Mechanics and Mechanics of Solids.

- Define Stress, Simple (Normal) Stress, Material Strength
- Develop Simple Stress Formula (Analytical Equation e.g. y = ax is an analytical equation)
- Apply simple stress formula for the analysis of various problems (analysis and design)
- Analyze axially loaded bars

Road Map / Topics to Cover:

- Introduction (engg mechanics versus mechanics of solids)
- Concept of Stress
- Derivation of Uniform Stress Formula
- Concept of Material Strength
- Free Body Diagram
- Class Exercises: Ex. 101, 103, Pb: 104 ~ 110
- Assignment no. 1

Course Progression:

Mechanics of
Solids

Steel
Analysis Design
Structures

Reinforced Reinforced
Strucural Structural
Concrete Cocnrete Analysis Design
Analysis - 1 Analysis-2
Design-1 Design-2
Course Objectives:
Static
Analysis
Free Body Diagram (FBD)

Internal
Actions
Forces, Moments

Determine
Analytical Equations

Stress Strain
Simple Stress Formula Simple Strain Formula

compare with compare with

strength deformation
Laboratory Experiments Laboratory Experiments
Structure Idealization
 Structural Analysis Model

Engineering Mechanics versus Mechanics of Solids

 Engineering Mechanics is all about behavior of bodies subjected to forces.
 In statics, we dealt with bodies at rest or moving with uniform velocity, i.e. bodies in equilibrium.
 In the previous semester you have studied Mechanics of rigid bodies, in which bodies are assumed to be
infinitely rigid; hence, you were interested in only the EXTERNAL forces and its effects.
 In the present course we will be dealing with deformable bodies, particularly internal forces and the
deformations caused in these bodies due to external loads.
 We will be dealing with some fundamental elements of the subject including stress and strain, their types and
relationships.
 The behavior of deformable bodies (i.e. the forces inside them and the deformations produced in them) under
actions of axial forces, shear forces, torsion and bending.
 Another main difference in mechanics of rigid and deformable bodies is, that in rigid body mechanics, the cross-
section and material of the bodies were not taken into account.
 The primary concern was to find the unknown external forces only whereas in mechanics of deformable bodies
the main focus will be on determining the internal resistance and deformations in the bodies and to do that, the
cross-section and material properties of the bodies and the relationship between the internal forces and
deformations must be studied.
 In all engineering structures the component parts of a structure must be assigned definite physical sizes. Such
parts must be properly proportioned to resist the actual or probable loads that may be imposed upon them.
Thus, the walls of a pressure vessel must be of adequate strength to withstand the internal pressure, the shaft
of a machine must be of adequate size to carry the required torque, wings of an airplane must safely withstand
the aerodynamic loads in addition to the weight of engines suspended with it.
 Simply, this means that there must be enough area that the internal forces generated are within limits and the
limits are established by considering the material properties.
 Like wise, all structures must not deform excessively for example, the deflection (or sag) in a building floor
should not be large enough to cause misalignment of some delicate equipment, or in other cases result in the
cracking of plaster on the ceiling.
 This means that in order for the structures to perform their intended function, deformation in these structures
should also be within limits.
Stress
“It is the internal resistive force per unit area offered by a body in response to an externally applied force.”
Consider a straight uniform bar subjected to a force as shown in the figure. The bar is in equilibrium, and hence, every
part of the bar will be in equilibrium. We want to know what is going inside the bar, so we use a cutting plane and cut
the bar and the second figure shows the free body diagram of the left part of the bar, we can see that every point in the
cross section is resisting the applied force, each point contributing a small force. Consider one of the points, having
differential area dA, contributing a differential force dF. This stress is known as “Normal Stress” and is denoted by  ,
and is expressed mathematically as:

  dF dA
This gives: dF    dA

Now applying the equilibrium condition on the free body diagram, we get:
F x  0; 
ve  ve
  F   dF  0
 F   dF     dA    dA  A

   FA
This gives the formula for calculating uniform stress at any point. Now considering another equilibrium condition.
M Z  0;  Fb   xdF  0  Fb   xdF   x  dA    xdA

 Ab    xdA
 Ab   xdA

 b
 xdA
A

As you may recall,

 xdA is the expression for centroid of the cross-section. This shows that in order to satisfy
A
equilibrium, the Force F must be applied at the Centroid of the cross-section, only then   F is applicable.
A
Units of Stress
Stress is defined as internal resistive force per unit area; hence its units will be Force/Area.
In SI system, N/m2 or Pascal (Pa) is used as unit of stress which is equal to stress when an area of 1 sq. meter offers a
resistance of 1 Newton. In US Customary units or FPS system, stress is usually expressed in pounds per sq. inch (psi)
or kilo pound per sq. inch (ksi)

Axial Force
Force acting along the longitudinal centroidal axis of the cross section of a member is known as the axial force. When
an axial force tends to shorten the length of a body, it is termed as Compressive Axial Force or simply Compressive
Force. Stress caused due to a compressive force is called Compression. On the other hand, when an axial force tends
to increase the length of a body, it is termed as Tensile Axial Force or Simply Tensile Force. Stress caused due to a
tensile force is called Tension.

Note
In order to obtain the uniform stress,   F force F must be axial force. Forces that do not act along the centroidal
A
axis are known as eccentric forces and result in non-uniform stress, which will be discussed in Mechanics of Solids- II in
next semester.

Concept of Strength and Failure

When ever a body is subjected to loads, the body resists those loads and stresses are produced in the body as
discussed above. Increasing the loads will also increase the stress. Now while increasing the load, a point will come
when the body no longer resists the load or breaks, this is generally called material failure. The stress produced in the
body at the failure is called the Strength of that material which the body is made up of. In other words, strength of a
material is defined as the “maximum stress that can be produced in a material, without failing it.
Remember, strength is not the maximum load that a material can support. To better understand this, consider the two
rods A and B shown in figure below. The rod A has a cross-sectional area 1000 mm2, and rod
B has cross-sectional area 10 mm2. Rod A can support a maximum of 5000N load while rod B
can support only 500N load. Which of the two rods is stronger? Let’s find out.
F 5000N
The Maximum stress in rod A =  A    5 N mm 2
A 1000mm 2
F 500N
The Maximum stress in rod B =  B   2
 50 N mm 2
A 10mm
As can be seen clearly, rod B is 10 times stronger than rod A, because it can sustain 10 times
more stress.
Axially Loaded Compound Bars and Free Body Diagrams
A compound bar is composed of two or more straight bars with each bar having different properties than the
other. The properties that vary may include the cross-sectional properties as well as material properties. For
example, consider the compound bar AD, composed of three bars AB, BC and CD. Each of the three bars
has different cross-sectional area as and material strengths as shown in the figure.
In a compound bar either or both cross-sectional and material properties may vary. Specifically, if a
compound bar is composed of more than one material then such a compound bar is known as Composite
bar. In addition to that these bars may be loaded axially at different points as shown in the figure.
These bars with variable cross-sectional and/or material properties loaded axially at various locations, are
termed as axially loaded compound bars. In order to find the stresses in each component of the compound
bar, we have to use FBD of each component, and then use equilibrium conditions to find forces in each
component. These forces are then divided by the
respective cross-sectional areas to yield stresses in
each component.

Problem 101
A composite bar consists of an aluminum section rigidly fastened between bronze section and a steel section
as shown in figure. Axial loads are applied at the positions indicated. Determine the stress in each section.

Solution:
In order to find stresses in each section, we have to find the forces in each section, by the help of FBD of
each section.
From above Free Body Diagrams, we find that force in the Bronze section is Pbr = 4000 lb (Tensile), force in
the Aluminum section is Pal = 5000 lb (Compressive) and force in Steel section is Pst = 7000 lb
(Compressive). The stresses in each section are found as follows:
 br  Pbr A  40001.2  3333.33 psi (Tension)
br

 al  Pal A  50001.8  2777.78 psi (Compression)

al

 st  Pst A  70001.6  4375psi (Compression)

st