CHAPTER 2

Three Dimensional Stress

and Strain Analysis
 The general case of a three-dimensional state of stress
Assuming the stresses to be
identical at points Q and Q′
and uniformly distributed on
each face, represented by a
single vector acting at the
center of each face.

The stress components can

be assembled in the
following matrix form.
Equality of Shearing Stresses
By taking moments of the x-, y-, and z-directed forces about
point Q,
for example. From ΣMz = 0,

Therefore, no distinction will hereafter be made between the

stress components τxy and τyx, τxz and τzx, or τyz and τzy
 Three-Dimensional Stress Transformation
Consider a small tetrahedron isolated from a continuous
medium (Fig. a), subject to a general state of stress.
px , py and pz are the Cartesian components of stress resultant p
acting on oblique plane ABC.

It is required to relate the

stresses on the perpendicular
planes intersecting at the
origin to the normal and
shear stresses on ABC.
The orientation of plane ABC may be defined in terms of the
angles between a unit normal n to the plane and the x, y, and z
directions (Fig. b). The direction cosines associated with these
angles are

(1)

The three direction cosines for the

n direction are related by
(2)
The area of the perpendicular plane QAB, QAC, QBC may now be
expressed in terms of A, the area of ABC, and the direction
cosines:
(a)
Next, from the equilibrium of x, y, z-directed forces together with
Eq. (a), we obtain, after canceling A, the stress resultant on A

or (3)

Equation (3) is known as Cauchy’s transformation law (principle),

which can also be shortened to:
The stress resultant on A is thus determined on the basis of
known stresses σx, σy, σz, τxy, τxz and τyz and a knowledge of the
orientation of A.
Consider now a Cartesian coordinate system x′, y′, z′, wherein x′
coincides with n and y′, z′ lie on an oblique plane.
The x′ y′ z′ and x y z systems are related by the direction cosines:
l1 = cos (x′, x), m1 = cos(x′, y), and n1 = cos(x′, z).
The normal stress σx′ is found by projecting px , py and pz in the
x′ direction and adding
(4)
The notation corresponding to a complete set of direction
cosines is shown in Table
Equations (3) and (4) are combined to yield

Similarly, by projecting px , py and pz in the y′ and z′ directions, we

obtain in matrix form

or

where
It is interesting to note that, because x′, y′, and z′ are
orthogonal, the nine direction cosines must satisfy
trigonometric relations of the following form:
(6)
And

(7)
 Principal Stresses in 3D
Can obtain principal stresses by posing two seemingly unrelated
questions
- What plane will give us maximum or minimum normal stresses?
- What plane will give us zero shear stresses?
Both approaches give the same answer: A coordinate system with
zero shear stresses and extreme normal stresses

or

l,m,n is eigenvector of stress matrix

Principal stresses are the eigenvalues
Setting determinant to zero

where
Example
Suppose that at a point Q, the stress field is as represented by
the matrix

Determine the principal stresses and their orientation with

respect to the original coordinate system.
Solution
Example
The stress tensor at a point in a machine element with respect
to a Cartesian coordinate system is given by the following array:

Determine the state of stress and I1, I2, and I3 for an x′, y′, z′
coordinate system defined by rotating x, y through an angle of θ
= 45° counterclockwise about the z axis
Solution

I1 = 100 MPa, I2 = 1400 (MPa)2, and I3 = –53,000 (MPa)3