ENGINEERING AND TRUE STRESS – STRAIN

BY

DR. AZEALDEEN SALIH AL-JAWADI

 TENSILE RESPONSE OF MATERIALS
Why the tensile test widely used in rock mechanics?
The tensile test is the experimental test method most widely
employed to characterize the mechanical properties of
materials.
What you can obtain from complete tensile test record?
From the complete tensile test record, one can obtain:
•material's elastic properties,
•the character and extent of plastic deformation,
•yield and tensile strengths, and
•toughness.
What is the meaning of tensile stress-strain plot?
From the varied response to tensile loading in load-bearing
materials, several stress-strain plots reflecting different
deformation characteristics.
 ENGINEERING AND TRUE STRESS - STRAIN
Before discussing engineering material stress-strain response,
it is appropriate to define the terms, stress and strain.
This may be done in two generally accepted forms.
The first definitions, used extensively in engineering practice:
load P
σeng = engineering stress = = 1a
initial cross-sectional area A0

change in length l f – l0
ϵeng = engineering strain = = 1b
initial length l0

Where:
lf = final length
lo = initial length
Alternatively, stress and strain may be defined by:
load P
σtrue = true stress = = 2a
instantaneous cross-sectional area Ai

final length lf
ϵtrue = true strain =ln = ln 2b
initial length l0

The fundamental distinction concerning the definitions for

true stress and true strain is recognition of the interrelation
between length and diameter changes associated with plastic
deformation.
That is, since plastic deformation is a constant-volume process
such that:
A1l1 = A2l2 = constant 3
Why the true stress is higher than engineering stress?
Any extension of the original length would produce a
corresponding contraction of the diameter.
For example:
If a 25 mm long sample were to extend uniformly by 2.5 mm
owing to a tensile load P, the real or true stress would have to
be higher than that computed by the engineering stress
formulation.
Since l2/l1 = 1.1,
From Eq. 3 A1l1 = A2l2 = constant
A1/A2 = 1.1,
So that
A2 = A1/1.1.
The true stress is then shown to be:
σtrue = 1.1P/A1
By combining Eqs. 1a, 2a, and 3, the relationship between true
and engineering stresses is shown to be

A 1 l1 = A 2 l 2

P
li = lf at the end of test
σtrue = (li /l0) = σeng (li /l0) = σeng (1 + ϵeng) 4
A0
By combining Eqs. lb and 2b, true and engineering strains
may be related by:
ϵtrue = ln (ϵeng+1)

The need to define true strain as in Eq. 4 stems from the fact
that the actual strain at any given time depends on the
instantaneous length li .
On the basis of engineering strain, the two deformation strains
would be (l1 – l0) / l0 and (l2 – l1) / l1. Adding these two
increments does not yield a final strain of (l2 – l0) / l0 . On the
other hand, a summation of true strains does lead to the
correct result. Therefore l1 l2 l2
ln + ln = ln = ϵtrue total
l0 l1 l0

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

 Question
A 25 cm long spacemen with a diameter of 0.25 cm is loaded with a
4500 Newton weight. If the diameter decreases to 0.22 cm, compute the
following:
•The final length of the spacemen,
•The true stress and true strain at this load,
•The engineering stress and strain at this load.
Solution:
a: Since A1l1 = A2l2

b: The true stress and true strain at this load:

c: The engineering stress and strain at this load:

The use of true strains offers an additional convenience when

considering the constant-volume plastic deformation process
in that ϵx+ϵy+ϵz = 0. In contrast, we find a less convenient
relationship, (1+ ϵx)(1+ ϵy)(1+ ϵz) =1, for the case of
engineering strains.