Assignment 1 Solid Mechanics (Due Apr 1 (Fri) 6 pm) (Total 100 Marks)

Place your assignment into the submission box (Level II opposite to my office S207)
Problem 1
The stress acting on two planes at a point is shown in the figure. Determine the shear stress on plane AB and
the principal stresses at the point.

!"

45

60 MPa
60

[2 Marks]

80 MPa
90

Problem 2 (Total 15 marks):

An initially straight beam is bent into a curve with constant radius R as shown in the figure below. Material
fibers that are perpendicular to the axis of the undeformed beam are assumed to remain perpendicular to the
axis after deformation, and the beams thickness and the length of its axis are assumed to be unchanged (see
SA&D course, which explains these hypotheses). Under these conditions the deformation can be described as

     sin/

       cos/

  0
a) Calculate the engineering strain matrix, expressing your answer as a function , , ;
[10 Marks]
b) Calculate the deformed length of an infinitesimal (very small) material fiber at point , ,  that has
original length  and orientation in  direction; (Tip: use the definition of normal strain)
[5 Marks]
c) Calculate the deformed length of an infinitesimal (very small) material fiber at point , ,  that has
original length  and orientation in  direction;
[5 Marks]
d) Show that the two material fibers described in (b) and (c) remain mutually perpendicular after deformation
assuming that   1; (Tip: use the definition of shear strain)
Find the principal directions and principal strains. You should be able to write these down using your physical
intuition without doing any tedious calculations.
[15 Marks]



, 




Undeformed beam

Deformed beam

Problem 3
A concrete column of mass density % supports its own weight, as shown in the figure. (Assume that the solid is
subjected to a uniform gravitational body force of magnitude ' per unit mass).
a) Show that the stress distribution (  %')   and ( 
equilibrium equations.



 0 satisfies the two-dimensional stress



[10 Marks]

'

)


b) Suppose that the concrete contains a large number of randomly oriented micro-cracks. A crack which lies at
an angle * to the -axis will propagate if
+

, -(+ .

where (+ and + are normal and shear stress acting on the plane defined by angle *, - is the friction coefficient
between faces of the crack and  is a critical shear stress that is related to the size of the micro-cracks and the
fracture toughness of the concrete, and is therefore a material property (we will talk about fracture properties a
bit later in this course).
Assume that - = 1. Find the orientation of the micro-crack that is most likely to propagate.
[20 Marks]
c) For the same friction coefficient as in b) (- = 1) find an expression for the maximum possible height of the
column as a function of its material properties.
[10 Marks]