Chapter III

TORSION

3.4 Torsion of Rctangular Bars

The analysis of circular shafts in Sec. 3.2 was
based upon the assumption that plane cross
sections remain plane and are undistorted. If the
cross section of the shaft is not circular,
experiments show that the cross sections distort
and do not remain plane. Therefore, the
formulas for shear stress distribution and torsional
rigidity derived in Sec. 3.2 cannot be applied to
noncircular members. Figure 3.11 Rectangular bar in torsion showing locations of
Figure 3.10 shows the distortion of a zero and maximum stresses.
rectangular bar caused by the torque T. The two
significant features of the deformation are: The analytical analysis of the torsion of
• The cross sections become distorted. noncircular bars lies in the realm of the theory of
• The shear strain (and thus the shear stress) elasticity, a topic that is beyond the scope of this
is zero at the edges of the bar and largest text.
at the middle of the sides. For the rectangular bar in Fig. 3.12 that
carries the torque 𝑇, results obtained by
numerical methods 2 determine that the
maximum shear stress 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 and the angle of twist
𝜃 are given by

𝑇
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
𝐶1 𝑎𝑏 2 Equation (3.10a)

𝑇𝐿
Figure 3.10 Deformation of a rectangular bar due to torsion. 𝜃= Equation (3.10b)
𝐶2 𝑎𝑏 3 𝐺

The reason for the shear strain vanishing where G is the shear modulus. As shown in Fig.
at the edges of the bar is illustrated in Fig. 3.11. 3.12, a and b (a?b) are the cross-sectional
The small element labeled A in Fig. 3.11(a) is dimensions of the bar and L is its length. The
located at the edge of the bar. The shear coe‰cients C 1
stresses acting of the faces of this element, and C 2 , which depend on the ratio a/b, are
shown in Fig. 3.11(b), are denoted by 𝜏1 ; 𝜏2 , and listed in Table 3.1.
𝜏3 (recall that shear stresses acting on
complementary planes have the same
magnitude but opposite sense).
The two sides of the element that are
shaded must be stress-free because they are
free surfaces. Therefore, 𝜏1 = 𝜏2 = 𝜏3 = 0, which
proves that there are no shear stresses, and
therefore no shear strains, at the corners of the
bar.
The maximum shear stress t max occurs
on element B in Fig. 3.11(a), which is located at
the centerline of the wider face of the bar. This
stress is shown in Fig. 3.11(c).
Figure 3.12 Rectangular bar in torsion showing the
dimensions used in Eqs. (3.10).
 Comparing the above two values for T, we see that the
stress in the circular segment governs. Therefore, the
largest torque that can be applied safely is
𝑻 = 𝟏𝟐𝟐. 𝟕 𝑵 ∙ 𝒎

Part 2
The angle of twist of the bar is obtained by
adding the contributions of the two segments
using Eqs. (3.4b) and (3.10b):

TL 𝑇𝐿 TL 𝑇𝐿
𝜃= + = +
GJ 𝐶2 𝑑 4 𝐺 G(π𝑑 4 /32) 0.141𝑑 4 𝐺
TL 32 1 TL
𝜃= 4
( + ) = 17.28 4
G𝑑 π 0.141 G𝑑
122.7(0.6)
𝜃 = 17.28
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE (0.5 × 109 )(0.05)4
3.7 The wooden bar consists of two segments, 𝜽 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟎𝟕𝟏 𝐫𝐚𝐝 = 𝟐𝟑. 𝟑°
each of length 𝐿. One segment has a square
cross section of width d; the cross section of the
other segment is a circle of diameter 𝑑. The
working stress for the wood is 𝜏𝑤 = 5 𝑀𝑃𝑎 and the
shear modulus is 𝐺 = 0.5 𝐺𝑃𝑎. Using 𝐿 = 0.6 𝑚 and
𝑑 = 50 𝑚𝑚, determine (1) the largest torque 𝑇
that can be safely applied; and (2) the
corresponding angle of twist for the bar.

Solution:
Part 1
Assuming the circular segment governs, the
largest safe torque from Eq. (3.5c) is

𝜏𝑤 𝜋𝑑 3 (5 × 106 )𝜋(0.05)3
𝑇= = = 122.7 𝑁 ∙ 𝑚
16 16

Assuming the square segment is critical,

Eq.(3.10a) yields for the largest safe torque

𝑇 = 𝐶1 𝑑 3 𝜏𝑤 = 0.208(0.05)3 (5 × 106 ) = 130 𝑁 ∙ 𝑚

where 𝐶1 = 0.208 was obtained from Table 3.1.