Saint-Venant’s Principle

The difference between the effects of two different but statically equivalent loads becomes
very small at sufficiently large distances from load.

Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant (1797-1886), Born in France

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Under Creative Commons
 Saint-Venant’s Principle (published in 1855)
A short block acted upon by concentrated forces P at its ends is shown in Fig. 1 (a).
Analysing this block for stresses as a two-dimensional problem using theory of
elasticity gives the results as shown in Figs.1 (b), (c) and (d)

Figure 1 Stress distribution near a concentrated force in a rectangular elastic block

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 Saint-Venant’s Principle
From Figure 1, it can be noted that at a
section a distance b/4 from an end (Fig.
1b), the maximum normal stress greatly
exceeds the average stress.
For a purely elastic material the maximum
stress theoretically becomes infinite under
the concentrated force, since a finite force
acts on a zero area.
But, in real situation, a truly concentrated
force is not possible and virtually all
materials exhibits some plastic behaviour.
Therefore the attainment of infinite stress
is impossible

Figure 1 Stress distribution near a concentrated force in a rectangular 3elastic block

 Saint-Venant’s Principle

Two basic observations can be noted here. First, the average stress for all cases, being based
on the condition of equilibrium, is always correct.

Second, the normal stresses at a distance equal to the width of member are essentially
uniform. This observation illustrates the famed Saint-Venant’s Principle.

 It simply means that the manner of force application on stresses is important only in the
vicinity of the region where force is applied; this also holds true for the disturbances caused
by changes in cross section.

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 Saint-Venant’s Principle
Thick rubber tube clamped at one end causes appreciable strains in the immediate neighborhood.
In fact Saint-Venant carried out some experiments on rubber bars.

https://www.piqsels.com/en/search?q=ventilation 5
An example experiment mentioned by Saint-
Venant

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 How Saint-Venanat’s Principle is used in torsion?

Courtesy Dr. Nelson Muthu

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 Saint-Venant’s Principle (as described by Love)

Principle of elastic equivalence of statically equivalent systems of load

The strains that are produced in a body by the application, to a small part of its
surface, of a system of forces statically equivalent to zero force and zero couple,
are of negligible magnitude at distances which are large compared with the
linear dimensions of the part.
• “In the problem in hand [bending of a bar by terminal couples], we infer that,
when the length of the bar is large compared with any diameter of its cross
section, the state of stress and strain set up in its interior by the terminal
couple is practically independent of the distribution of the tractions, of which
the couple is the resultant, in all portions of the bar except comparatively small
portions near its ends.”

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 Some results from:
Paushkin, A. and Saiyan, S., 2017. Numerical
study of the applicability of the Saint-Venant
principle. In MATEC Web of Conferences
(Vol. 117, p. 00134). EDP Sciences.

• This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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 Stress concentration

A stress concentration or the stress raiser is a point in a body where the stress is significantly
larger than its surrounding region.
Stress concentration mainly occurs because of irregularities in the geometry and changes in
cross section.
It also develops within the material of a component structure that cause an interruption of the
stress flow.
There are numerous situations, such as at bolt holes or changes in cross section, where the
maximum normal stresses are finite.
These maximum stresses in relation to the average stress for linearly elastic materials,
depend only on the geometrical proportions of a member.
The ratio of maximum to the average stress is called stress-concentration factor (K).

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 Stress concentration

For example, at a depth below the top

equal to one-quarter of width (b/4) as
shown in Fig. 1 (b) gives
K= 2.575 i.e.,  max  2.575  av.
Generalizing this scheme, the maximum
normal stress at a section is
P
 max  K av  K ,
A

where K is the approximate stress-

concentration factor and P/A is the average Figure 1 Stress distribution near a concentrated force in a rectangular elastic block

stress
The stress concentration factor decreases
with increasing stress uniformity
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 Stress concentration
 The K value for a flat bar with circular
hole under tensile loading can be given
by
 max
K
 av

Figure 2 Measuring of stress concentration factor k for a flat bar

with circular hole

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 Principle of Superposition

When a number of loads are acting on a body, the resulting strain, according to the
principle of superposition, will be the algebraic sum of the strains caused by the individual
forces

 If an elastic body is subjected to a number of direct forces (tensile or compressive) at

different sections along the length of the body, the deformation of the individual section
can be estimated using free body diagram.

 The total deformation of the body will then be equal to the algebraic sum of deformations
of the individual sections

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 Principle of Superposition
This principle of superposition states that the combined effect of force system acting on a
linear elastic body is the sum of effects of individual forces.

 If we work with a stress components of an elastic solid for given surface and body forces,
we have to satisfy:
(1) the equation of equilibrium given by:
 x  xy  xz
   X  0,
x y z
 y  xy  yz
   Y  0, (1)
y x z
 z  xz  yz
   Z  0,
z x y

where X, Y and Z are the body forces per unit volume. 19

 Principle of Superposition
(2) the compatibility conditions: 2
 2 x     yz  xz  xy 
2
 x  2 y  2 xy 2       ,
2
 2  , yz x  x y z 
y x xy
2
 y 2  2 y   2
 yz  xz  xy 
 2 z   yz 2      ,
(2)
2
 2  , xz y  x y z 
z y yz
2
2 2
  z   x  xz
2
 z     yz  xz  xy 
 2  . 2      .
x 2
z xz xy z  x y z 

X   x l   xy m   xz n,
Boundary conditions:
Y   y m   yz n   xy l , (3)

Z   z n   xz l   yz m,
where l, m and n are the direction cosines and 𝑋 and are the components of the surface forces per unit area.
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 Principle of Superposition
Let  x . . .,  xy . . ., be the stress components so determined and due to surface forces X ,Y , Z
and body forces X, Y, Z

Let  x . . .,  xy . . ., be the stress components in the same elastic solid due to surface forces X  , Y  , Z 
and body forces X , Y , Z 
Then the stress components x   x , . . ., xy   xy
 . . ., will represent the stress due to the surface
force X  X  , . . . ., and the body forces X  X  ,....

Thus, adding the equilibrium equations we get

  
x
 x x
    
y
 xy   xy 
 
z
 xz   xz   X  X   0

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 Principle of Superposition
Similarly,

X  X   ( x   x )l  ( xy   xy )m  ( xz   xz )n

The compatibility conditions can be combined in a same manner. The complete set of
equations shows that  x   x , . . ., xy   xy
 . . ., satisfying all the equations and
conditions determining the stress due to forces X  X  , . . . ., and the body forces X  X  ,....

This is an example of principal superposition. It can be extended to other types of boundary

conditions such as given displacement.

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An example from “E.P. Papov, Engineering
Mechanics of Solids”, Second edition, 2002.

Taken under fair use, for review purpose

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Another example from “E.P. Papov, Engineering
Mechanics of Solids”, Second edition, 2002.

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A statically indeterminate problem

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Is this statically determinate?

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 Overhang beam

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/25687372493 30