Equivalent Stress

Equivalent Stress
Introduction
The equivalent stress output from LUSAS and MYSTRO (also known as effective or
generalised stress) represents an envelope of the direct and shear stress components and is
based upon classical failure criteria theorems. There are a number of these theorems, each of
which caters for the varying failure characteristics of different materials. In this note, the von
Mises failure criterion is in focus, but the general points made apply equally to other yield
functions such as Tresca, Mohr-Coulomb and the like.

When using the von Mises material models in LUSAS, the equivalent stress is computed
from equations based upon the distortion-energy theorem (also known as the shear-energy or
von Mises-Hencky theory). This yield criteria has been shown to be particularly effective in
the prediction of failure for ductile materials such as metals.
The Von Mises Failure Criteria
In terms of the principal deviatoric
1
stresses, the von Mises stress is computed from

E
= 3(J
2
)


where J
2
is the second deviatoric stress invariant of the stress tensor defined by

J
2
= 1/6 [(
1
-
2
)
2
+ (
2
-
3
)
2
+ (
3
-
1
)
2
]

The equivalent stress may also be expressed in terms of direct stress components as

E
= [(
x
-
y
)
2
+ (
y
-
z
)
2
+ (
z
-
x
)
2
+ 6(
xy
2
+
yz
2
+
zx
2
)]

/2

When expanded, this becomes

E
= [
x
2
+
y
2
+
z
2
-
x

y
-
y

z
-

x
+ 3(
xy
2
+
yz
2
+
zx
2
)]

and the corresponding equation for equivalent strain
2
is

E
= [
x
2
+
y
2
+
z
2
-
x

y
-
y

z
-
z

x
+ 0.75(
xy
2
+
yz
2
+
zx
2
)]


The number of terms available for use with these two general equations depends on the
element type and are given below


1
In many practical applications such as metal plasticity, soil mechanics and biomechanics, it is
physically relevant to isolate the hydrostatic pressure component from the stress tensor. For
example the deviatoric component of stress in the x-direction would be computed as

x
- (
x
+
y
+
z
)/3
2
Note that LUSAS and MYSTRO output as the shear strain (commonly termed the Engineering
strain) which is not the same as the shear strain tensor component (). Their relationship is (=2)

Equivalent Stress
- 2 -
Stress Component
Available
Element Type

x

Uniaxial Case

x
,
y
,
xy

Plane Stress

x
,
y
,
xy

Plane Strain (Approximate Model)

x
,
y
,
xy
,
z

Axisymmetric Solid

x
,
xy
,
xz

Beams

x
,
y
,
z
,
xy
,
yz
,
zx

Solids

x
,
xy
,
xz
,
yz

Semiloof Beam (BSL4)

x
,
z

Axisymmetric Sheet

x
,
y
,
xy
,
z

Plane Strain

x
,
y
,
xy
,
yz
,
zx

Thick Shells

The definitions of equivalent stress and strain for stress resultant output may be obtained by
simply replacing the stress components (
x
, etc.) with their counterparts (N
x
, etc.).
Equivalent Stress Greater Than The Yield Stress?
For a number of the LUSAS nonlinear materials, the von Mises failure criteria is used to
determine whether yield has occurred at a Gauss point. This is performed by comparing the
yield stress (
Y
) computed at the previous iteration with the magnitude of the failure criteria
(
E
) as computed from the current predicted iterative stress field. If the inequality (
E

Y
) is
violated then material yielding is assumed to have occurred. The stress state is then modified
by accumulating plastic strain until the inequality is satisfied.

It is possible for one or more of the direct stresses to exceed the user specified value of initial
uniaxial yield stress however. There are a number of explanations if this occurs

The definition of the distortion-energy theory itself permits this behaviour. It typically
occurs for stress fields with low shear stress compared to the direct stresses. If the
inequality;
x

y
>
xy
2
is satisfied in the two dimensional, three component stress
equation, then the effective stress will always be greater than the direct stresses (try, for
instance
x
= 1,
y
= 2 and
xy
= 0)

The presence of a hardening gradient will cause the initial uniaxial yield stress to change
with increasing plastic strain. The updated or current yield stress should be used for
checking purposes (available from the LUSAS output file when Gauss point output has
been requested at tabulation). The initial uniaxial yield stress will remain constant
throughout the analysis with the specification of perfect plasticity (zero hardening
modulus)

The solution for the increment being investigated may not be adequately converged.
Slackening the residual and/or maximum absolute residual norms to achieve
convergence should be a last resort. Residual norm magnitudes less than 0.1 are
normally achievable and should be aimed for ideally

The failure criteria is always evaluated at the Gauss point level. In general, the
extrapolation carried out to obtain the nodal results will not necessarily satisfy the above
failure criteria and any checks of this sort should be performed on Gauss point results

Equivalent Stress
- 3 -
The plasticity formulation used for the thick shell element suite is based on a plane
stress assumption (i.e.
z
=0), giving the usual stress output of

x
,
y
,
xy
,
yz
,
zx

Because of this assumption, the element is not able to use the classical plasticity
algorithms available for three dimensional solid elements (the missing stress,
z
, being the
main problem). The plasticity formulation used for these elements, therefore, only uses
the stress terms

x
,
y
,
xy

and ignores the transverse shear terms, assuming them to remain elastic (a reasonable
assumption in the general case).