A. WORKING (ALLOWABLE) STRESS DESIGN .

(In this section, the examples are about solving

the maximum force applied or minimum area/dimension for the design, given that the
allowable stress of the material is indicated).

Working (Allowable) Stress is the maximum stress that a material can sustain. When assembling
a structure or a machine, the materials’ allowable capacity has already been indicated by the
manufacturer. What is left for you is to adjust the other elements of the design so that you may
able to satisfy the requirement of what is only allowed stress that you can induce to the
material.

For working stress design the principle should be:

Actual Stress ≤ Allowable Stress *for safe design

The allowable stress dictates the magnitude of the force and the area that should be adopted in
the design. If the magnitude of the force and the area have been determined from allowable
stress, then by computing the actual stress, the resulting stress should be lower than that of the
allowable stress. Otherwise the structure would fail, and no designer wants that.

To further understand the concept, study the following examples:

Example 1a-4. The figure shows a two-member truss supporting a block of weight W. The
cross-sectional areas of the members are 800 mm2 for AB and 400 mm2for AC. Determine the
maximum safe value of W if the working stresses are 110 MPa for AB and 120 MPa for AC.
Solution:

Step 1: Analyze the given. Here in this problem, the area of the members and the working
stresses are already indicated. Since these parameters are already set, what is left for us is to
determine the maximum load W that the system can carry so that we would not exceed the
working or allowable stresses for each. It is important that we express the load sustained by
each member in terms of W, as illustrated:

By drawing the free-body diagram:

At joint A: ∑ Fy=0 : ↑+: P AB sin 40 °+ P AC sin 60 °=W → 1

∑ Fx=0: →+: P AB cos 40 °=P AC cos 60 °
cos 60°
P AB= (P ¿ → 2
cos 40 ° AC

cos 60 °
Subst. 2 to 1: ( P ¿ [ sin 40° ] + P AC sin60 ° =W
cos 40 ° AC
P AC =¿ 0.778W

Step 2: Now that we have already expressed the loads in terms of W, we shall substitute it into
the formula:

For member AC: For member AB:

A = 400 mm2 A = 800 mm2

N N
σ ≤ 120MPa or σ ≤ 110MPa or
mm2 mm2
P AC =¿ 0.778W P AB=¿ 0.508W

P AC P AB
σ AC = σ AB =
A AC A AB

N 0.778 W N N 0.508W N
120 2
= 110 =
400 mm 2 2
mm mm 800 mm2
 As you can see, there are two recommended maximum value of W as per the capacity of each
member of a truss. BUT THERE MUST ONLY BE ONE ANSWER. Which one should you
choose?

Step 3: Choose the correct answer.

P
Remember that the as the load increases, the stress increases too → σ=
A
So then, we must adopt the least numerical value of W for the system, so that we can
accommodate the weakest member of the structure. The weakest member is AB. Why? Take
note that its allowable stress is only 110 MPa, as compared to AC, 120 MPa.

Proof:

If we adopt W = 61. 7 kN

Then P AC =¿ 0.778W = 0.778(61.7) =48 kN and P AB=¿ 0.508W = 0.508(61.7) = 31.344

kN

Now substitute this to the formula to solve for the actual stress if W = 61.7 kN

48 x 1000 N 31.344 x 1000 N

σ AC (actual) = σ AB (actual) =
400 mm2 800 mm2

σ AC (actual) =120MPa σ AB (actual) =39.18MPa

σ AC (actual) ? σ AC(allowable) σ AB (actual) ? σ AB(allowable)

120 MPa ≤ 120 MPa (safe!) 39.18 MPa ≤ 110 MPa (safe!)

BOTH members do not exceed the allowable stresses!!!

What if we adopt W = 173.228 kN ???

Then P AC =¿ 0.778W = 0.778(173.228) = 134.771 kN and

P AB=¿ 0.508W = 0.508(173.228) = 88.0 kN

Now substitute this to the formula to solve for the actual stress if W = 173.228 kN

134.771 x 1000 N 88.0 x 1000 N

σ AC (actual) = 2
σ AB (actual) =
400 mm 800 mm2

σ AC (actual) =336.93MPa σ AB (actual) =110MPa

σ AC (actual) ? σ AC(allowable) σ AB (actual) ? σ AB(allowable)

336.93 MPa ¿ 120 MPa ( not safe!) 110 MPa ≤ 110 MPa (safe!)

As you can see, only one member is safe should we adopt W = 173. 228 kN. It does not
make sense because in reality if member AC fails, then the whole structure would fail
tremendously too like a domino effect.

Thus, THE FINAL ANSWER should be W = 61.7 kN