Analysis of Stresses and

Strains
Focus of this lesson:
• We want to find the normal and shear stresses acting on any inclined
section.
• We want to derive the transformation relationships that give the stress
components for any orientation.
Plane stress and plane strain
• The plane stress condition applies when all loads and stresses are
contained within a 2-D plane. This occurs in the 'real world' when objects
are relatively thin e.g stresses in a thin plate or on the free surface of a
structural element, such as the surfaces of thin-walled pressure vessels
under external or internal pressure.
• Assume that one principal stress is much smaller than the other two.
• The plane strain condition applies when all displacements and strains take
place in a 2-D plane. This occurs when objects are thick.
• The terms plane stress and plane strain indirectly specify which quantities
are zero perpendicular to it.
Consider the infinitesimal element with its edges parallel to x, y, and z axes
• If only the x and y faces of the element are
subjected to stresses, i.e. the negligible
principal stress is oriented in the z-direction,
it is called plane stress. It can be shown as a
two dimension stress element.
• The equal normal stresses act on opposite faces, shear stress has two
subscripts the first denotes the face on which the stress acts, and the
second gives the direction of that face.
• t = t for static equilibrium.
xy yx

• Consider an element that is rotated through an angle θ, the stresses

acting on the rotated x1y1 element can be expressed in terms of stress
on the xy element by using equations of static equilibrium.
• θ is the rotation angle between
the two coordinate sets (positive
in the counterclockwise
direction). This angle along with
the stresses for the {x',y',z'}
coordinates are shown in the
following figure.
• The above equations can be expressed in a more convenient form
• We can also obtain the following equation for plane stress

This means that the sum of the normal stresses acting on the perpendicular faces for an
element under plane stress is constant, independent of the rotational angle θ.
Plane strain
• E.g. a dam subjected to water loading, or a pipe under internal
pressure have significant strain only in a plane; that is, the strain in
one direction is much less than the strain in the two other directions.
• If small enough, the smallest strain can be ignored and the part is said
to experience plane strain.
• Assume that the negligible strain is
oriented in the z-direction, to get
the 2D plane strain matrix, remove
all components with z subscripts.
where εxy = εyx
• The rotation between the two
coordinate sets is shown in the
figure, where θ is defined positive in
the counterclockwise direction.
• The transformation of strains with respect to the {x,y,z} coordinates to
the strains with respect to {x',y',z'} is performed via the equations: