Rebeca Cruz (芮貝卡)

4030H255
Finite Element Method – Report

Von Mises Criterion

The von Mises yield criterion, also known as the Maximum Distortion Energy
Theory of Failure, suggests that yielding of a ductile material begins when
the second deviatoric stress invariant reaches a critical value. This is a
theory that applies best to ductile materials, such as some metals. Prior to
yield, material response can be assumed to be of a nonlinear elastic,
viscoelastic or linear elastic behavior.
In materials science and engineering the von Mises yield criterion can be also
formulated in terms of the von Mises stress or equivalent tensile stress, this
is a scalar value of stress. In this case, a material is said to start
yielding when the von Mises stress reaches a value known as yield strength.
Mathematically, the von-Mises yield criterion is expressed as:
𝐽2 = 𝑘 2
Where k is the yield stress of the material in pure shear.

Physical interpretation of the von Mises yield criterion: Hencky (1924)

offered a physical interpretation of von Mises criterion suggesting that
yielding begins when the elastic energy of distortion reaches a critical
value. For this reason, the von Mises criterion is also known as the maximum
distortion strain energy criterion.

Von Mises Stress

Von Mises stress is a value used to determine if a given material will yield
or fracture. It is mostly used for ductile materials, such as metals. The
von Mises yield criterion states that if the von Mises stress of a material
under load is equal or greater than the yield limit of the same material
under simple tension, which is easy to determine experimentally, then the
material will yield.
The condition of failure will be as follows.
The left-hand side of the above equation is denoted as Von Mises stress.

So as a failure criterion, the engineer can check whether Von Mises stress
induced in the material exceeds yield strength (for ductile material) of the
material.

So, the failure condition can be simplified as

Being 𝜎𝑣 normal stress and 𝜎𝑦 Von Mises stress.

References
Huei, L. (2014) Finite Element Simulations with ANSYS Workbench 15. Taiwan: Chuan
Hwa Book Co., Ltd.
Obtained from https://www.simscale.com/docs/content/simwiki/fea/what-is-von-mises-
stress.html
Obtained from http://www.learnengineering.org/2012/12/what-is-von-mises-
stress.html