Theories of Failures

1
 Introduction
Failure of a member is defined as one of two conditions.
1.Fracture of the material of which the member is made. This type of failure is the
characteristic of brittle materials.
2.Initiation of inelastic (Plastic) behavior in the material. This type of failure is the one generally
exhibited by ductile materials.

When an engineer is faced with the problem of design using a specific material, it
becomes important to place an upper limit on the state of stress that defines the material's
failure. If the material is ductile, failure is usually specified by the initiation of yielding, whereas if
the material is brittle it is specified by fracture.
• These modes of failure are readily defined if the member is subjected
to a uniaxial state of stress, as in the case of simple tension however,
if the member is subjected to biaxial or triaxial stress, the criteria for
failure becomes more difficult to establish.

• In this section we will discuss four theories that are often used in
engineering practice to predict the failure of a material subjected to a
multiaxial state of stress.

• A failure theory is a criterion that is used in an effort to predict the

failure of a given material when subjected to a complex stress
condition.
Failing Factors
Principal or Normal Stress
Stress
Shear Stress

Strain Principal Strain

Total Strain Energy

Energy
Maximum Distortion Energy

4
 Failure Criteria's
• Maximum Principal Stress

• Maximum Shear Stress

• Maximum Principal Strain

• Maximum Strain Energy

Theory
• Maximum Distortion
Energy Theory

5
 Maximum Principal Stress Theory
W-hen the maximum
principal stress induced in a
material under complex load
condition exceeds the
maximum normal strength
in a simple tension test the
material fails
Good for brittle
materials

6
 Maximum Shear Stress Theory
When the maximum
shear strength in actual case
exceeds maximum allowable
shear stress in simple
tension test the material
case.
Good for ductile
materials

7
 Maximum Principal Strain Theory
When the maximum
normal strain in actual case
is more than maximum
normal strain occurred in
simple tension test case the
material fails
Not recommended

8
 Total Strain Energy

When the total strain

energy in actual case
exceeds the to-tal strain
energy in simple tension
test at the time of failure,
the material fails
Good for ductile material

9
 Maximum Distortion Energy
When the shear strain
energy in the actual case
exceeds shear strain energy
in simple tension test at the
time of failure the material
fails
Highly recommended

10
Comparison

11
 Failure Criterion
Maximum Principal Stress
Brittle Material Maximum Principal Strain
Maximum Strain Energy
Density

Maximum Shear Stress

Ductile Material
Maximum Distortion
Energy Density

12
 Conclusion
• We are study the different type of theory of
failure
• In with only maximum distortion theory and
strain energy theory are used