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Failure criteria
Last updated 01/06/2022 by Petr Denissenko
************** Lecture PD2.10 **************
The most common material tests are tensile and compression tests.
Go through Megson, Chapter 8, as a bedtime reading.
Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, yield strength, ultimate strength, hardness, toughness.
The most classic stress-strain curve, the one for mild steel, is presented below.
Note that the linear (and also elastic)
ranges ends at the level of strain of 0.1%,
which is 1 mm per metre. There, all the
linear theory we have used so far ceases
being applicable.
Although steel behaviour is typical for
ductile materials, fine features of such
curves should be considered with
caution. For example, “lower yield” is the
effect specific for the testing procedure.
The energy required to deform the
sample is proportional to the area under
the curve (force x displacement). The
long range of plastic deformation is handy for making emergency shock absorbers.
Another point related to the above diagram is that the stress is not the actual stress in Pa in the
sample but the force divided by the initial sample cross-section which does not take into the
account sample necking.
Brittle materials are different in the sense that failure occurs very shortly above the linear range.
While metals are considered to have similar strength on tension and compression, brittle materials
such as concrete may be 10 times stronger on compression. This is related to cracks propagation
due to the stress concentration at crack ends in tension which leads to failure at much lower loads.
Many materials creep with time.
Under cyclic loads above the elastic limit, hysteresis is observed.
Under repeated loads, materials may fail at much lower loads than the ultimate stress. Here,
Engineering goes towards art as too many parameters involved. For example, steel has endurance
limit (can undergo infinite number of load cycles) at 0.4 to 0.5 of the ultimate strength while
aluminium does not. The general approach is to use high load margins.
Yield Strength, MPa: Aluminium 95; 6061 Aluminium Alloy 55; Copper 70; Nylon-6 45; Mild Steel
250 MPa; Titanium Alloy 730.
Ultimate Tensile Strength, MPa:
Acrylic 70; Aluminium 110; 6061 Aluminium Alloy 120; Brass 250; Bone, Carbon Fibre 400 and above;
compact 170 (compression); Copper 220; Diamond 1220; Glass 50 (compression); skin (human) 20;
structural ASTM A36 steel 400-550 MPa; Chromium-vanadium steel AISI 6150 940 MPa; Nylon-6 45-
90; Pine wood, along grain 40; Titanium Alloy 900.
Young’s Modulus, GPa: Acrylic 3.2; Aluminium 69;
6061 Aluminium Alloy 69; Brass 102-125; Bronze 96-120; Bone, compact 18; Bone, spongy 76;
Copper 117; Diamond 1220; Glass 50-90; Gold 74; Graphene 1000; Mild steel 200 GPa; Nylon-6 2-4;
Pine wood, along grain 9; Titanium Alloy 105-120; Tungsten 400.
Poisson Ratio: Cast Iron 0.21-0.26; Concrete 0.1-0.2; Copper 0.33; Cork 0.0; Foam 0.1-0.5; Gold 0.42;
Steel 0.27-0.30; Rubber 0.5(0.4999).
 ************** End of Lecture PD2.10 **************
************** Lecture PD2.11 contains the example with breaking a string **************
************** Lecture PD2.12 **************
Ductile materials, ones which significantly deform before the failure, fail due to shear stress.
Examples: mild steel, aluminium and some of its alloys, copper and polymers
Elastic Failure. General idea: under an isotropic load (pressure), isotropic materials do not fail.
Tresca and Mises failure criteria: 14.10, formulae (14.39) and (14.54) in Megson, Chapter 14.
Tresca (Tresca-Guest) criterion:
Failure (i.e. yielding) occurs when the maximum shear stress in the material reaches the maximum
shear stress at failure in simple tension.
 max −  min =  Yield where  max and  min are minimum and maximum principal normal stresses.

( −  y ) + 4 xy 2 =  Yield .
2
From the formula for Mohr’s circle,  I −  II = x

von Mises (Maxwell, Hencky) criterion:

Failure occurs when the shear strain energy in the material reaches the equivalent value at yielding
in simple tension.
1 
The shear strain energy is U S = ( I −  II ) + ( I −  III ) + ( III −  II )  where  I ,  II ,
2 2 2

12  G 
and  III are principal stresses. Note that the isotropic compression, i.e. adding a constant to all the
normal stresses does not change the shear strain energy (it only changes the volumetric strain
energy).
( I −  II ) + ( I −  III ) + ( III −  II ) = 2 Y 2
2 2 2

In 2 dimensions (i.e. when  III = 0 ),  I +  II −  I  II =  Y .

2 2 2

For geometric interpretation and comparison of the criteria, see Yield loci at p. 421 in Megson Ch.14.

Brittle materials, ones which do not deform much, fail due to normal stress.
Examples: concrete, cast iron, high-strength steel, timber and ceramics.
Rankine: one of principal stresses reaches  Y tension or  Y compression .
Note that the two stresses are different.
For example, in a typical concrete,  Y compression 20   Y tension .
Megson (14.57) or Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankine_theory
Mohr-Coulomb criterion:
 = −  tan  + c
Here,  is the angle of internal friction and c is cohesion.
At  = 0 becomes Tresca, at  = 90 (with some modification) becomes Rankine criterion.
In Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohr–Coulomb_theory