CE 101: ENGINEERING MECHANICS

Lecture 6
Axially Loaded Members
(Some material are from Leckie & Dal Bello - Strength and Stiffness of
Engineering Systems and the Internet)

Prof. M. P. Ranaweera
Department of Civil Engineering
SLIIT Malabe Campus
2015

PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION
The effect (i.e force/displacement) due to a
system of loads acting on a linear structure is
equal to the sum of the effects due to the
individual loads acting separately on the same
structure.
Linear Structure
A structure where Forces/Displacements are
linear functions of the loads
Example: Cantilever under udl and point load
w
ll

w
P

AXIALLY LOADED MEMBERS

Axially loaded members are very common and
appear in Trusses, Building Columns, Bridge
Piers and Cables, and in Machines of various
types, etc.

In the suspension bridge shown above, main

cables and hangers are axial members in
tension and towers are axial members in
compression.
The stiffening truss has both tension and
compression axial members.

Straight and Uniform Axial Member

Consider a rod having a length L and area of
cross-section A, subjected to an axial load P
acting through the centroid of area C.
Under the action of P the rod increases its
length by which is termed elongation or
extension.

Definitions:
Normal Stress or Axial Stress =P/A=(sigma)
Normal Strain or Axial Strain =/L=(epsilon)
(Note: is in Pa and is a scalar)
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Tension Test
A relation between and can be found
experimentally from the Tension Test.
In this test a specimen is loaded axially in
tension and the extension over a gauge length
L is measured, and the stress/strain plot is
obtained.

Tensile Test-piece

UNIVERSAL TESTING MACHINE

(1000 kN capacity)

Concrete Test Specimens

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Typical stress strain curve for a ductile

material (eg. Steel, Aluminium)

Sp, Sy, Su: Proportional limit, Yield strength

and Ultimate strength.

y, p, f: Yield strain, Plastic (or permanent)

strain and Failure stain.
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A material is classified as Ductile if the strain

to failure is much greater than the yield
strain.
A material is classified as Brittle if the strain
to failure is very small.
Up to the proportional limit (point B), material
is linear elastic, and the stress is proportional
to the strain i.e

= E or = /E

This relation is termed the Hookes Law and

the constant E is termed the Youngs Modulus.
Beyond B the material exhibits non-linear
elastic behaviour up to the Yield Point (C).
By convention the Yield Strength is determined
by constructing a line parallel to the linear
portion OB, offset by a strain of 0.002
(0.2%). Usually B is not easy to determine,
and the Hookes Law is considered valid up to
C.

i.e. y = Sy/E
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Typical Properties of Some Engineering Materials

Material
Mild Steel
HS Steel
Aluminium
Concrete
Wood (Jack)
Rubber

Sy (MPa)
280
580
230

Su

(MPa) E (GPa)
400
200
960
200
430
70
+2 to +4
20 to 40
-30 to -60
55
12
14
0.002

(kg/m3 )
7860
7860
2800
2400
600
1000

Elongation in an Uniform Axially Loaded Bar

Combining the force/stress relation and
length/strain relation we get;
= L = (/E)L = (P/AE)L. or
i.e. = PL/AE or P = AE/L = k
Where k = AE/L is called the Stiffness
of the bar.
k is a measure of resistance to deformation
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Poissons Ratio
When the bar is stretched, its length
increases (i.e. +ve ) but it also becomes
thinner. On the other hand, if a bar is
compressed its length decreases (i.e. ve )
and it becomes thicker. This is called the
Poisson Effect.

Taking any line perpendicular to the axis of

the bar, the ratio (change in length/original
length) is the Transverse Strain T

T = b/b

T will be ve for +ve P)

(Note:

Poissons ratio (nu) is defined as the negative

of the ratio of the transverse strain to axial
strain.
i.e. = - T/

Poissons ratio is an elastic property and is +ve

for normal engineering materials.

Typical Values of

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Design Based on Strength

Strength is the ability to resist failure of material
To ensure adequate strength in a structure, the
following criterion should be satisfied.

Maximum stress < Allowable stress

i.e. max < allowable ,

where

allowable = Material strength ( Sy or Su )

Factor of Safety (FS)

Factor of Safety takes care of uncertainties in

material, loading etc.
Example 1: A Mild Steel (MS) bar of length 1 m and
diameter 10 mm subjected to an axial load P of 10 kN,
Find: 1. Stress (), Strain () & Extension ()
2. Change in diameter of the bar.
3. Factor of safety (FS) w.r.t. Sy.
4. Yield load Py, y and strain y
Example 2.Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (1981)
Example 3.What is the maximum height of a uniform
column made of material of specific weight s and Su?
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Shear Stress and Shear Strain

In addition to Normal Stresses () in
structural members there are also stresses
tangential to cross sections called Shear
Stresses ( tau) and they give rise to Shear
Strains ( gamma). An example is a beam
section with a shear force.
Consider a beam section carrying a shear force
V. This force is distributed over the section
as a shear stresses ( ) which we assume to
be vertical as shown.

will not be uniform

over the depth of the section

1
V

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dy

dx
A

Considering the linear and rotational

equilibrium of a rectangular element X where
the shear stress on the right side is , we can
show that the shear stresses on the other
sides of the element should be as shown.
This means that when a shear stress is
present on one side, there are shear stresses
on sides perpendicular to that. These are
called Complementary Shear Stresses and they
are all equal and have directions as shown
above. This shows that the shear stress at
the top & bottom of a beam must be zero.
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Shear Strain
The shear stress will deform a rectangular
element to a parallelogram ( or a square
element to a rhombus), as shown below.
Shear Strain

( gamma

) is

defined as the
change in the
right angle of
the element in
radians.
i.e. = w/h
(for small w)

Note: Like is also very small (~ 0.001)

within the elastic limit.

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Neoprene Bearing

Bridge Bearing and its deformation under load.

Shear Modulus
Within linear elastic region, shear stress and
shear strain are also linearly related.
i.e.

= G

where G = Shear Modulus.

For Homogeneous (same properties at every
point) and Isotropic (same properties along every
direction at a point) material,
elastic properties E, and G are related by;
G = E /[2(1 + ) ]
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Displacements & Compatibility

Under the action of loads, structures undergo
displacements giving rise to deformations and
strains (note: displacement is a vector and is a
measure of the change in position and
deformation/strain is a measure of change in
geometry).
These displacements should be consistent with
support conditions (i.e zero at fixed supports
etc.) and they should also keep the system intact.
(i.e. Truss joints must displace in such a way that
members connected at joints must continue to be
connected together.)
These conditions give relations between
displacements and deformations/strains.
These are called Conditions of Compatibility.
Ex1. Bar of length L, Area A, and Modulus E,
fixed at one end and under axial load P.
Extension = PL/AE = end displacement d
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Ex2. Two Bar Truss (both bars have same AE)

B

Equilibrium gives;

FA cos+ FB cos = P
FA sin - FB sin = 0
Load-extension gives;

BarA

BarB

A = FA LA/AE
B = FB LB/AE
Compatibility gives;

d1

d O
d2

A= d1 cos + d2 sin
B= d1 cos - d2 sin

Considering BarA and using superposition to

find extensions due to d1 & d2 separately.
Due to d1.
Due to d2
Results for Bar B can
be found by putting

= -

d1

=d1 cos

=d2 sin

d2

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