CIVL 1160

Civil Engineering and Modern Society

Chapter 3

Forces on Civil
Engineering Structures

Prof. Thomas HU
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 FORCE AND STRESS
• External force: by outside agent (e.g. gravity)
• Internal force: (e.g. bridge deck & supports) arises from
interaction
• Objects may interact with one another over an area
• Force acting on an object = sum of average
pressure × area
average pressure
total force = average
pressure x area

• Stress = pressure = (force / area) in kN/m2

• E.g. force acting on a window
= (average wind pressure) x (area of window)
Main Types of Forces
 Tension (pull)
 Compression (push)
 Torsion (twist)
 Shear (cut/tear)
 Bending
 TENSION
• Stretching an object by pulling its
ends apart (a pair of forces involved;
both pulling away from object)
• An object being pulled but not
allowed to move: tension develops
inside (otherwise: no tension but
movement results)
(free to move)
force
movement
(movement
restricted)
tension
inside
reaction force
 Deformation by Tension
• Elastic deformation of material:
 Elongation
 Necking
• Object will return to its original length &
shape once the tension force is removed
L + DL
F F

L
F=0
 Structures in Tension

A swing Hanging columns

Video: Ropes & cables in tension,

membrane structures, etc.
 Failure due to Tension
• Results from “tensile testing machine”

“ductile” “brittle”
materials materials
(elastic) (inelastic)
 COMPRESSION
• Tendency to crush a material by squeezing it
together (a pair of forces involved; both
pushing into the object)
• When an object is pushed but not allowed to
move, compression develops inside
(free to move)

force movement
(movement
compression restricted)
inside
force reaction
 Deformation by Compression
• Elastic deformation of material:
 Shortening
 Bulging
• Object will return to its original length & shape when
the compression is removed

L - DL

force Force (reaction from

wall, say)
L
no force
 Deformation by Compression
(cont’d)

• If the object is long & slender, there may also

be a buckling deformation
 Structures in Compression

Igloo (snowhouse)

Elevated Arch bridge

water tank

Video: Human bodies in

compression, ancient
structures, etc.
 Failure due to Compression

• Long and slender objects may

buckle (fail) under compression

• Short objects may fail like these:

“ductile” “brittle”
materials materials
(splitting) (shear off)
 TORSION Free to
rotate if
unrestrained
at other end

T=
Torsion
force
T
If refrained
from
rotation at
T other end,
torsion
develops in
the object
 Deformation by Torsion
• Elastic deformation of material:
 Rotation (twist)

• Object will return to its original shape when

torsion forces are removed
Structures in Torsion

Tall
buildings
Drill
pipes

Power transmission shafts

 Collapse of the Takoma Bridge
• Opened: July 1940
• Collapsed: Nov. 1940
• Vertical movement of bridge deck observed
during windy conditions
• Wind drove structure into destructive
torsional vibration mode -- left side of
roadway ↓ while right side ↑, and vice versa
• Center line of bridge remained relatively
motionless while the two sides of bridge
twisted in opposite directions
• Collapse of the bridge
 SHEAR
• Created by opposite forces not acting on the same line

Motion occurs if
this end is not
restricted
Force

If the end refrained from movement by a force of the same

magnitude, shear force develops within the object

Force OR

Force Force
Force
• Video: how shear forces work
 Deformation by Shear
• Elastic deformation of the material:
 Object will deform into an inclined
shape

• Object will return to its original shape when

the shear is removed
 BENDING
• Object will rotate if it has a pinned
end (e.g. door with hinge) F

F F

L L

Fixed
end
(cannot
rotate) M
Pinned end • “Bending moment”: M = F x L (in
(free to rotate) kN-m) (relative to support at L away)
• Bending stresses occur if fixed end
 BENDING (CONT’D)
Consider beam supported on both sides:
• Loaded by force P at midspan  bends
downward (D = deflection at midspan)
P
P/2 P/2

• “Stiffness” (at midspan), k = P/D (kN/m)

 STIFFNESS OF STRUCTURES
• E = Young’s Modulus (material) (in MPa or GPa)
• I = “(Area-) Moment of Inertia” (geometry) (in
cm4 or m4)

“k” =

“k” =
# of columns
 Deformation by Bending
• When bent like these,
compression occurs on
one side and tension on
other side of object
• Verify this (sponge/drawing)

compression

fixed
tension end
pin roller
 Structures in Bending

“Cantilever structures”: only supported on one end

“Simply supported beams”

Video: Bending
 Failure due to Bending
• Largest tension /
compression: found at
the extreme fibers
• Deformation occurs in a
continuous manner

bulging or
crushing
Fixed base

tension
cracks
Animation summary
of 5 types of forces
 Tensile Testing
How does a certain material
behave under tension?
test this part

Specimen: prepared to
allow firm grip on two ends
by testing machine
Tension force slowly
applied, increasing from
zero
The two ends slowly pulled
apart until material breaks
 Tensile Testing
 Required force (F) and specimen
elongation (d) recorded simultaneously
 A plot is generated from the load-elongation
data for subsequent analysis
F
破裂
F* = ? Rupture

d
 Tensile Testing
 Turns out: Force-elongation results depend
on specimen size

• Same diameter
under same F:
Larger d results
for a longer
specimen

• Larger diameter  larger

F needed to create the
same d

Is there a general property about the material

(independent of specimen dimensions)?
 Eliminating Size-Dependency
Turns out:
(1) Should consider stress instead of
force alone,
Stress (σ) = force acting per unit area

 Find applied tensile force F per (original)

cross-sectional area (A0) on which it acts:

σ= F
A0
 Recall: units of stress: 1 N/m2 = 1 Pa;
1 MPa = 1 N/mm2
 Eliminating Size-Dependency
Example 1
 A 10 kN force is applied to a circular
rod with diameter 10 mm. The stress
in the rod is
σ = (10×103 N) / {π [(10×10-3m)/2]2}

= 127,388,535 N/m2

≈ 127 MPa
 Eliminating Size-Dependency
and
(2) Should consider strain instead of absolute
elongation, defined as
Strain (e) = elongation per unit length
 Find elongation (d) per (original) length (L0):

𝛿
𝜀=
𝐿0
 Units: m/m or mm/mm (dimensionless)
 Stress-strain diagrams
Now plot the σ vs. ε curve. This graph

• Is independent of
specimen size
• Depends only on the
material used
• Reveals important
material properties
(e.g. when this
material will fail)
no matter the size of specimen
changes, it gives same result
only depend on the material used
 Stress-strain diagrams
Elastic behavior

* Initial response is linear

Hooke’s Law: Stress and strain are
(initially) proportional to each other
Elastic
Range * Elastic Limit
 no longer a straight line
beyond this stress value
 permanent deformation occurs
the size won’t change back to the original one
 Stress-strain diagrams
Modulus of Elasticity (Young’s Modulus)

Slope of linear part of stress-strain

diagram: σ stress
E= =
ε strain
• A measure of stiffness, i.e. a material’s
ability to resist stretching when loaded
E • Inherent property of a given material
• Same units as stress (why?)
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 2
The rod in example 1 above is 2 m long
and made of steel with E = 200 GPa. What
is its change in length?
Answer:
E = σ/ɛ
 ɛ = d / L0 = σ/E
 d = σ · Lo / E
= (127×106 Pa) (2 m) / (200×109 Pa)
= 0.00127 m
= 1.27 mm
Stress-strain diagrams

If the load disappears,

the specimen returns to
its original un-stretched
length
Elastic behavior
(recoverable)

(Stretch exaggerated for

illustration)
 Ductile vs. Brittle Materials
 Ductile materials: relatively
large tensile strains up to
rupture (e.g. steel,
aluminum)

more sudden when breaks

 Brittle materials: relatively

small strains up to rupture
(e.g. chalk, concrete)
 A strain value of 0.05 is
sometimes taken as the
dividing line between
“ductile” and “brittle”
 Compression Testing
 Specimens given large cross-
sectional area to avoid buckling
or bending
 Stress-strain relationships
similar to tension tests: initially
elastic behavior
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 3 (from Ang & Tang, Probability Concepts in
Engineering Planning and Design)
A tensile load test was performed on an
aluminum specimen. The applied force and
corresponding elongation of the specimen at
are recorded in the table given.
Note: 1 kip = 1,000 pounds; ksi = kips per
square inch (US units for stress)

(a) Assume the force-elongation relation of aluminum over this range

is linear. Find the best estimate for the Young’s modulus E of this
aluminum specimen. The cross-sectional area is 0.1 sq. in and
the length is 10 in. E is the slope of the stress-strain curve.
(b) Improve the model in (a), as zero elongation should correspond to
zero tensile force, i.e. the proper model should be y = bx. What
would be the best estimate of Young’s modulus in this case?
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 3: Solution using a CAS calculator
• Insert a new calculator page, clear all (1-letter) variables
• Enter constants A0 (0.1 in2) and L0 (10 in)
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 3 (a): Solution using a CAS calculator
• Go back to calculator page (ctrl – arrow)

• Note: units of “b” =stress / strain

= (kip/in2) / (10-3 in/in) = 1000 ksi
• So the estimated Young’s
modulus is 9210 ksi
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 3 (b)
• Now insert a new • Arrow to • Menu – Data – Column
Vernier pick Table Options… (“x”)
DataQuest page View • Tab to Link to List (the
strain values)
• Similarly link y to stress
 Stress-strain diagrams
Example 3 (b)
• You should generate the • Menu – Analyze – Curve Fit –
data shown Choose (B) Proportional
• Go to graph view

• So the better estimate of Young’s

modulus is 9720 ksi
 Alternative method for 3(a)
Example 3(a): You can do everything on a single calculator
page as follows:
 Insert calculator page & enter two data lists “force”, “delta” as follows
(you must use { } to enclose the ordered data, separated by commas)
 Then enter A0 and L0 (case-insensitive) as numbers

 Divide each list by the appropriate number to create another list:

 Alternative method for 3(a)
 On calculator page press menu – Statistics – Stat Calculations
 Pick Linear Regression (a + bx) to find the equation of the best-fitting
straight line for the x-y data provided

 Specify the names of your x and y lists (strain and stress, respectively)
– OK
 See results for a and b
 Alternative method for 3(a)
 You can put values previously stored in a list back on a spreadsheet if
needed (or skip this step if there’s no need to do so)
 Doc – Insert – Lists & Spreadsheet

 Go to the top of first column and enter a list name (say, strain)
 The data in strain fills up that column. Repeat in the second column for
the stress data
 Alternative method for 3(a)
 To visualize the data, doc – Insert – Data & Statistics

 Pick strain and stress data for the respective x, y axes

 A “scatter plot” appears
 Alternative method for 3(a)
 Menu – Analyze – Regression – Show Linear (a + bx)

 The best-fitting “regression line” appears together with its equation

 Alternative method for 3(b)
 Use known formula for “a” in “Y = aX” model: a = S xy / S x2
 (On calculator page) menu –
Statistics – Stat. Calculations
– Two variable statistics

 Provide (list names) X and

Y (careful which is which)
– Tab to Ok

 A big table of numbers generated

(need #’s in its 13th and 4th rows)
 Store table in a variable (“nmbs”,
say) (up arrow to copy it, enter
then sto  nmbs)
 Extract the required numbers by
nmbs[row#,col#] and divide
 Estimate of E is 9720 ksi (σ = Eɛ)
End of Ch. 3