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Transformations of Stress and Strain
(1736–1806), suffers from an important shortcoming, since it is based
on the assumption that the ultimate strength of the material is the
same in tension and in compression. As we noted in Sec. 2.3, this is
seldom the case, because of the presence of flaws in the material,
such as microscopic cracks or cavities, which tend to weaken the
material in tension, while not appreciably affecting its resistance to
compressive failure. Besides, this criterion makes no allowance for
effects other than those of the normal stresses on the failure mecha-
nism of the material.†
Mohr’s Criterion. This criterion, suggested by the German engi-
neer Otto Mohr, can be used to predict the effect of a given state
of plane stress on a brittle material, when results of various types of
tests are available for that material.
Let us first assume that a tensile test and a compressive test have
been conducted on a given material, and that the values s
UT
and s
UC
of the ultimate strength in tension and in compression have been
determined for that material. The state of stress corresponding to the
rupture of the tensile-test specimen can be represented on a Mohr-
circle diagram by the circle intersecting the horizontal axis at O and
s
UT
(Fig. 7.43a). Similarly, the state of stress corresponding to the
failure of the compressive-test specimen can be represented by the
circle intersecting the horizontal axis at O and s
UC
. Clearly, a state of
stress represented by a circle entirely contained in either of these cir-
cles will be safe. Thus, if both principal stresses are positive, the state
of stress is safe as long as s
a
, s
UT
and s
b
, s
UT
; if both principal
stresses are negative, the state of stress is safe as long as |s
a
| , |s
UC
|
and |s
b
| , |s
UC
|. Plotting the point of coordinates s
a
and s
b
(Fig. 7.43b), we verify that the state of stress is safe as long as that
point falls within one of the square areas shown in that figure.
In order to analyze the cases when s
a
and s
b
have opposite signs,
we now assume that a torsion test has been conducted on the material
and that its ultimate strength in shear, t
U
, has been determined. Draw-
ing the circle centered at O representing the state of stress correspond-
ing to the failure of the torsion-test specimen (Fig. 7.44a), we observe
that any state of stress represented by a circle entirely contained in
that circle is also safe. Mohr’s criterion is a logical extension of this
observation: According to Mohr’s criterion, a state of stress is safe if
it is represented by a circle located entirely within the area bounded
†Another failure criterion known as the maximum-normal-strain criterion, or Saint-
Venant’s criterion, was widely used during the nineteenth century. According to this cri-
terion, a given structural component is safe as long as the maximum value of the normal
strain in that component remains smaller than the value P
U
of the strain at which a tensile-
test specimen of the same material will fail. But, as will be shown in Sec. 7.12, the strain
is maximum along one of the principal axes of stress, if the deformation is elastic and the
material homogeneous and isotropic. Thus, denoting by P
a
and P
b
the values of the normal
strain along the principal axes in the plane of stress, we write
0P
a
0, P
U
0P
b
0, P
U
(7.29)
Making use of the generalized Hooke’s law (Sec. 2.12), we could express these relations
in terms of the principal stresses s
a
and s
b
and the ultimate strength s
U
of the material.
We would find that, according to the maximum-normal-strain criterion, the structural
component is safe as long as the point obtained by plotting s
a
and s
b
falls within the area
shown in Fig. 7.42 where n is Poisson’s ratio for the given material.
UT
UT
UT
O
UC
UC
UC
a
a
a
b
b
b
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7.43
U
U
b
a
U
U
1
U
1
U
Fig. 7.42 Saint-Venant’s criterion.
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