Ductility: Another View [E29]

It is often said that ""steel is an inherently ductile material,"" and yet this statement fails to explain how steel occasionally behaves in a brittle manner. Most texts include both yield and tensile strengths in the listing of mechanical properties, but sometimes steel fails with no sign of yielding before fracture. Structural engineers designing structures to resist earthquake loading rely on ductile behavior to absorb seismically-induced loads, and yet brittle fractures have been observed after earthquakes. These apparent paradoxes can be understood when the role of shear stresses and ductility is properly understood. Notches and constraint, known to be problematic when ductility is desired, can also be explained in terms of shear stresses. Designing structural systems to enable the development of shear stresses is essential if ductility is desired. This presentation will give insight into how ductility can be achieved and provide some insight into how Mohr's Circle can be used to easily explain ductility.

Track: Design Analysis

View content