INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

Axially Loaded Members

Lecture 5

Instructor: Prof. Umesh Kumar Sharma

 AXIALLY LOADED MEMBERS

• Structural components subjected only to

tension or compression are known as axially
loaded members.

• Solid bars with straight longitudinal axes are

the most common type, although cables and
coil springs also carry axial loads.

• Examples of axially loaded bars are

– truss members,
– Connecting rods in engines,
– spokes in bicycle wheels,
– columns in buildings, and
– struts in aircraft engine mounts.

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Changes In Lengths Of Axially Loaded Members:
Springs

• If the material of the spring is linearly

elastic, the load and elongation will be
proportional.

• The constant k is called the stiffness of the

spring and is defined as the force required to
produce a unit elongation, that is, k = P/δ.

• Similarly, the constant f is known as the

flexibility and is defined as the elongation
produced by a load of unit value, that is, f =
δ/P.

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Changes In Lengths Of Axially Loaded Members:
Prismatic Bars

• Axially loaded bars elongate under tensile loads

and shorten under compressive loads, just as
springs do.
• To analyze this behavior, let us consider the
prismatic bar, also assume that load is concentric,
the material is homogeneous and linearly elastic,
which means that it follows Hooke’s law.

• This equation shows that the elongation is directly

proportional to the load P and the length L and
inversely proportional to the modulus of elasticity E
and the cross-sectional area A.
• The product EA is known as the axial rigidity of the
bar.
• Sign Conventions

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Changes In Lengths Of Axially Loaded Members:
Cables

• Cables are used to transmit large tensile forces,

for example, when lifting and pulling heavy
objects, raising elevators, guying towers, and
supporting suspension bridges.

• Can't take compression. Tensile force may vary

both in direction and magnitude.

• Cables are constructed from a large number of

wires wound in some particular manner.

• The cross-sectional area of a cable is equal to the

total cross sectional area of the individual wires,
called the effective area or metallic area.

• Under the same tensile load, the elongation of a

cable is greater than the elongation of a solid bar
of the same material and same metallic
cross-sectional area, Effective Modulus.

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Changes in Length under Non-Uniform Condition:
Bars with Intermediate Axial Loads

• Determine the internal axial forces N1, N2, and N3 in segments 1, 2, and 3,
respectively, from the free-body diagrams

• Determine the changes in the lengths of the segments and add δ1, δ2, and δ3 to
obtain δ, the change in length of the entire bar:

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Bars Consisting of Prismatic Segments

• The change in length may be obtained from the equation

• In which the subscript i is a numbering index for the

various segments of the bar and n is the total number of
segments.

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Bars with Continuously Varying Loads or Dimensions

• True for low angles of taper