IV. On the elastic equilibrium of circular cylinders under certain practical systems of load

Abstract

The usual solution for the extension and compression of elastic bars assumes that the latter are strained under a normal tension or pressure uniformly distributed across the plane ends. In like manner the solution for torsion of such bars assumes that the external forces which cause the torsion consist of a determinate system of tangential stresses, acting across the plane ends. In both cases the solution is such that the torsion and extension are transmitted throughout the bar without change of type . Such terminal conditions of stress, however, do not usually occur in practice, and it accordingly becomes of considerable interest to find out how the results obtained for such a theoretical system of loading are modified, if at all, when we consider applied external stresses which give a closer representation of every-day mechanical conditions.