CHAPTER FOUR

4. Torsion
 Introduction
• Torsion refers to the twisting of a straight bar when
it is loaded by moments (or torques) that tend to
produce rotation about the longitudinal axis of the
bar.
• For instance, when you turn a screwdriver (Fig. 4 1a),
your hand applies a torque T to the handle (Fig.4-1b) and
twists the shank of the screwdriver.
• Moments that produce twisting of a bar, such as moments
T1 and T2 in Fig. 4-2, are called torques or twisting
moments.

• Cylindrical members that transmit power through

rotation are called shafts; Most shafts have circular
cross sections, either solid or tubular.
 Torsional Deformations of a circular Bar
• Consider a prismatic bar of circular cross-section twisted by torques
T acting at the ends
• The cross section of the bar is subjected to the same internal torque
T, we say the bar is in pure torsion.

Assumption
1) The material is homogeneous, i.e. of uniform elastic properties throughout.
(2) The material is elastic, following Hooke's law with shear stress proportional to
shear strain.
(3) The stress does not exceed the elastic limit or limit of proportionality.

(4) Circular sections remain circular.

• (5) plane Cross-sections remain plane. (This is certainly not the case
with the torsion of non-circular sections.)
• (6) Cross-sections rotate as if rigid, i.e. every diameter rotates
through the same angle.

• The element is therefore in a state of pure shear, and the

magnitude of the shear strain ϒmax is expressed in terms of the
radius r and rate of change of the angle of twist ϕ with respect to the
distance x measured along the axis of the bar.
Where Ɵ is the angle of twist per unit length or the rate of twist

• In general, both ϕ and Ɵ vary with the distance x along the axis of
the bar.
• However, in the special case of pure torsion, the rate of twist is
constant and equal to the total angle of twist ϕ divided by the length
L of the bar, that is, Ɵ =ϕ/L. Therefore, for pure torsion only, we
obtain

• For a hollow circular bar having an internal and external diameter of

𝑟1 and 𝑟2 the minimum shear strain on the inner surface of the bar is
given by

𝑟1
𝛾𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝛾𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑟2
• the shear stress at an interior point (radius r), and Ɵ is the rate of
twist (note that Ɵ has units of radians per unit of length) for a
linearly elastic material can be computed by using Hooke's law.

𝜏 = 𝐺𝛾 … … … … … … (1)
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝐺𝑟𝜃 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝛾 = 𝑟𝜃 … . . (2)
𝜌
𝜏 = 𝐺𝜌𝜃 = 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 … … … … . . (3)
𝑟

• These equations show that the shear stresses vary linearly with
the distance form the center of the bar as illustrated by the
triangular stress diagram
 The Torsion Formula
• The shear force acting on a differential area A of the figure shown
below is equal to 𝜏dA, where 𝜏 is the shear stress at radius r. The
moment of this force about the axis of the bar is equal to the force
times its distance from the center, or 𝜏𝜌dA. Substituting for the
shear stress 𝜏 from Eq.(3), we can express this elemental moment as

The resultant moment (equal to the torque T) is the

summation over the entire cross-section area of all
such elemental moments:

• In which The polar moment of inertia of the circular cross section

• For a solid or hollow circular shaft subject to a twisting moment T,
the torsional shearing stress τ at a distance ρ from the center of the
shaft is

where J is the polar moment of inertia of the section and r is the outer
radius.

𝜋𝑟 4
J=
2
2𝑇
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 3
𝜋𝑟

2𝑇
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
𝜋(𝑟2 3 − 𝑟1 3 )
• The shear stress at distance r from the center of the bar is

ANGLE OF TWIST
The angle ϕ through which the bar length L will twist is
𝑇𝐿
ϕ= in radians where T is the torque in N-mm, L is the
𝐽𝐺
length of shaft in mm, G is shear modulus in MPa, J is the polar
moment of inertia in 𝑚𝑚4 , D and d are diameter in mm, and r is the
radius in mm.
• Transmission of power by circular shafts
The most important use of circular shafts is to transmit mechanical
power from one device or machine to another, as in the drive shaft of
an automobile, propeller shaft of a ship, or the axle of a bicycle. The
power is transmitted through the rotary motion of the shaft, and the
amount of power transmitted depends upon the magnitude of the torque
and the speed of rotation.
A common design problem is to determine the required size of a shaft
so that it will transmit a specified amount of power at a specified
rotational speed without exceeding the allowable stresses for the
material. Let us suppose that a motor driven shaft is rotating at
an angular speed ω, measured in radians per second
(rad/s). The shaft transmits a torque T to a machine that
is performing useful work.
The power transmitted by the shaft is
𝑃 = 𝑇𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑇𝑓
where T is the torque in N-m, f is the number of revolutions per second, and P is the
power in watts.
• Example 1 : What is the minimum diameter of a solid steel shaft
that will not twist through more than 3° in a 6-m length when
subjected to a torque of 12 kN·m? What maximum shearing stress
is developed? Use G = 83 GPa.
𝑇𝐿 𝑇𝐿 𝜋
Solution ϕ = ↔ 𝜋𝐷4 ∗𝐺
= 3°( )
𝐽𝐺 180°
32
12𝐾𝑁. 𝑚 ∗ 6𝑚 𝜋
⇒ = 3°( )
𝜋𝐷4 ∗ 83 ∗ 106 𝐾𝑁/𝑚2 180°
32
⇒ 12 ∗ 6 ∗ 180 ∗ 32 = 3𝜋 2 ∗ 83 ∗ 106 ∗ 𝐷4
⇒ 𝐷 = 0.11398𝑚 = 113.98𝑚𝑚
16𝑇 16 ∗ 12𝐾𝑁. 𝑚 41272𝑘𝑁
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 3
= 3
= 2
= 41.272𝑀𝑝𝑎
𝜋𝐷 𝜋 ∗ (0.11398 𝑚) 𝑚
Example 2: A steel propeller shaft is to transmit 4.5 MW at 3 Hz
without exceeding a shearing stress of 50 MPa or twisting through
more than 1° in a length of 26 diameters. Compute the proper diameter
if G = 83 GPa.
Solution:
Example 3: Show that the hollow circular shaft whose inner
diameter is half the outer diameter has a torsional strength equal to
15/16 of that of a solid shaft of the same outside diameter.
Solution :
• Example 4: Determine the maximum torque that can be applied to a hollow circular steel
shaft of 100-mm outside diameter and an 80-mm inside diameter without exceeding a
shearing stress of 60 MPa or a twist of 0.5 deg/m. Use G = 83 GPa.
Example :
The End!