Torsion is the twisting of a straight bar

resulting from loading by moments or

torques.
There are several ways
to represent applied
torques.
(a) Loads applied at a
distance from the
center of the shaft
result in torques. The
dominant sign
convention is a right
hand rule.
(b) Double arrows
pointing in the
direction of your right
thumb represent a
rotation in the
direction of your
fingers.
(c) Alternatively circles in
the sense of the
rotation can be
drawn.
Deformation of a beam
in torsion
Angles of twist is a function of position
along the rod. For the figure below the
angle of twist increases as x increases.
Consider a section of the rod a radial
distance  (rho) from the axis of the shaft.
The front and back surfaces will undergo
different rotations. This difference in
rotations results in a shear strain.
back   x 
front   x   

  lim  
2 CA
B A

BD d
 
dx dx
This means that the shear strain at any
point in the shaft is only a function of the
distance from the axis and the position
along the rod axes. The shear strain is
given by: 
    max
c
 d
  G  G
dx

    max
c
 For each element in cross-section
of area dA located at  subjected
to a force of

dF  dA
the torque produced by this
force is given by

dT   dA 
The total torque is then given
by

T    dA      max dA
A 
A
c
 max
T  dA
 2

c A
Torsion Formulae

Tc T Where J is the polar moment of

 max  ;  inertia of the shafts cross-sectional
J J area about the longitudinal axis
 J    dA2 For cylinder. Take annulus at  with
thickness d then
A
dA  2d

c

J    2d   2   d 
c
2 3
c4
0
0 2


For tube
J
2
c4
outer c 4
inner 
Due to complementary nature of shear stresses equal
shear stresses must act on all four elements of a
volume element. i.e. radial shear stress distribution
also leads to an axial shear stress distribution.
Torsion leads to axial shear. Because wood is anisotropic cracking
occurs parallel to grain in axial direction.
Angle of Twist
For long shafts the total angle of twist
is an important design characteristic.
The total angle is found in an
analogous way to how we find total
deflection in uniaxial tension.
For each small segment the angle of
twist (d) and the total angle of twist
for the entire rod  are given by

T x 
d  dx
J x G
T x 
L
 dx
0
J x G
If the rod has a constant cross-
section this simplifies to
TL

JG
Superposition and sign Convention
For step changes in cross-section and/or the presence of multiple torques along the
length of the shaft we can use superposition

TL
 
JG
By convention we use the right hand rule
Superposition and sign Convention
For step changes in cross-section and/or the presence of multiple torques along the
length of the shaft we can use superposition

TL
 
JG
By convention we use the right hand rule
What is the total angle of twist of the end of the shaft A with respect to end D?
Step 1 Section the shaft and find the torque for each section
Step 2 Assign signs to the torque on each section
Step 3 Calculate the angle of twist
 TL
 
JG

A/ D 
 80 N .mLAB   70 N .m LBC   10 N .mLcd
JG JG JG
Statically Indeterminate Torque-Loaded Members
If both ends are fixed the member may be statically indeterminate

M x 0 T  TA  TB  0
2 equations but three unknowns! So we need to use a
condition of compatibility

A/ B  0
Find an expression for the reactions
TA and TB in terms of the know
quantities, T, L, LAB and LAC.
 Taking Sections we have

TA LAC TB LBC
A/ B 0 
JG JG

 LBC 
TA  T  
 L 
 LAC 
TB  T  
 L 
Problems