3 D Stress

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A. K.

Sengupta MET 301: 3D stress 1/3


1-21 Stress in three dimensions
In three dimensions, in each orthogonal direction X, Y & Z, there could be one normal and two
shear stresses. Thus the most generalized state stress at a point in 3D is as shown below. It is
also conveniently described by a stress tensor as follows:


Stress Tensor =
1
1
1
]
1

zz zy zx
yz yy xy
zx xy xx







It can be proved that if we orient the orthogonal axis system XYZ to a specific orientation,
denoted by the directions 1, 2 & 3, the shear stress from all faces will vanish and there will be
only normal stresses. These normal stresses are called principal normal stresses, S
1
, S
2
& S
3
.


IS

EQUIVALENT

TO









The values of the three principal normal stresses (S
1
, S
2
& S
3
) can be found from the three real
roots of S of the following cubic equation:

0 ) 2 (
) ( ) (
2 2 2
2 2 2 2 3
+
+ + + + +
xy zz zx yy yz xx xy zx yz zz yy xx
xy zx yz xx zz zz yy yy xx zz yy xx
S S S


.................. (1)
The values of S
1
, S
2
& S
3
should include the maximum and minimum normal stresses.

Once we know the values of these three principal stresses, then we can consider two of them at a
time (a 2 D problem) and find the true maximum shear stress
max
.

( )
2
, ,
1 3 3 2 2 1
max
S S S S S S of Max
.......................................... (2)
A. K. Sengupta MET 301: 3D stress 2/3
We can use two at a time, as a 2D stress, because of the fact that a stress does not have any affect
in its orthogonal plane.

These S
1
, S
2
& S
3
could be positive, zero or negative. Thus to determine the true
max
we need to
find the largest difference between two Ss and then divide it by 2.

Example 1: Following example shows an application of the above method .

Let us assume the stress condition at a point in a part is given by the following tensor:
1
1
1
]
1




0 0 0
0 40 20
0 20 50
zz zy zx
yz yy xy
zx xy xx





It is a 2D stress condition, because shear stresses in zx and yz planes are zero and the normal
stress in z plane is also zero.
zx
=
yz
=
zz
=0.

Putting values in equation (1) we get:
0 ) 20 40 50 ( ) 40 50 (
2 2 3
+ + S S S ; Products with zero terms are dropped.
0 1600 90
2 3
+ S S S ; this is still a cubic equation.
0 ) 1600 90 (
2
+ S S S ; that is S
1
= 0 and 0 1600 90
2
+ S S
0 1600 90
2
+ S S is a quadratic equation and has two roots
4 . 24 , 6 . 65
2
1600 4 90 90
,
2
3 2

t
S S
Thus the three principal stresses are 0, 65.6 & 24.4
Consequently true maximum shear stress
( )
2
, ,
1 3 3 2 2 1
max
S S S S S S of Max

max
= (65.6-0)/2 = 32.8

[Notice that (65.6-24.4)/2, or (24.2-0)/2 does not provide true max shear stress
max
]

Use of equation (1) and (2) to find the principal normal stresses for 2D stress situation is fairly
easy, because we know one of the principal normal stress is zero and we only solve one quadratic
equation to obtain the two roots.

Note: We could have used Mohr circle to find the two principal normal stresses S
2
& S
3
,
knowing that S
1
= 0 as no stress in Z direction.

Center of the circle (average stress) = (
xx
+
yy
)/2 = (50+40)/2 = 45
Radius of the circle = 6 . 20 20 5 20
2
40 50
2
2 2 2
2
2
2
+ +

,
_

,
_


xy
yy xx



A. K. Sengupta MET 301: 3D stress 3/3
S
2
=45+20.6 = 65.6

S
3
=45-20.6 = 24.4

S
1
= 0




When stress is truly 3D
When there are either normal or shear stress in yz or zx plane, equation (1) becomes a cubic
equation with a non-zero constant term (the last term in the expression). Unfortunately, there is
no direct formula to determine the roots of such a cubic equation. You may try one of the
following methods:
(1) Use the web tool in http://www.1728.com/cubic.htm.
(2) Use Module 1-5 in your textbook.
(3) Matlab software has a root function which can determine roots of a cubic equation.
(4) You can graph the value of the left hand side of the equation for many values of S in your
graphing calculator and can find the three values of S which will cause the value of the
expression to be zero.


65.6
0
24.4


32.8

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