von Mises stress, fatigue,

and failure theory

BME 615
von Mises stress - v
In an elastic, isotropic body subjected to 3D
loads, a complex 3 dimensional system of
stresses is developed.
At any point there are stresses acting in
different directions, and the direction and
magnitude of stresses changes from point to
point.
The von Mises criterion is a formula for
calculating whether the stress combination at
a given point will cause failure.
Note: it is based on the behavior of typical
engineering materials and has relatively little
to do with any biological tissue behavior
People use it because its built into FE codes
and gives a single value to map (rather than
mapping each value in a stress tensor
separately)
von Mises stress - v
In ductile engineering materials, von
Mises found that, even though no
principal stress exceeds the yield
stress, it is possible for yielding to
result from a combination of stresses.
The von Mises criterion is a formula for
combining these 3 stresses into an
equivalent stress, which is then
compared to the yield stress of the
material.
Yield stress is a known property of the
isotropic material, and is usually
considered to be the 1D yield stress.
 von Mises stress - v
s v = 3 IIs

( ) ( ) (
s xx - s yy + s yy - s zz + (s zz - s xx ) + 6 s xy2 + s yz2 + s zx2 )
2 2 2

sv =
2

(s ) + (s ) ( )
2 2 2
-s2 - s 3 + s 3 - s1
sv = 1 2

2
3s ijs ij
sv = Failure Criterion
2
Material yielding begins when 2nd
deviatoric stress invariant reaches
critical value (k)
Independent of first stress
invariant ( does not depend on
hydrostatic component)
von Mises stress - v

Ellipse is the locus of all

points with the same

This is a poor metric as

a failure criterion for
biological tissues
Used for convenience
von Mises Stress

6
 Fatigue and Failure
Fatigue Failure
Strain a better failure parameter than
stress (given by /E), not as affected by
porosity

Strain-N (number of cycles) relationship

plotted, follows power law behavior

Miners Rule For bone:

n
Ni n
1
Ni
1
i 1 A( / E ) i
B
i 1 N Fi

n - # of different load levels, i = particular load level, Ni - # of load applications at level i,

7
NFi - # of load applications that would cause failure at the ith load level; A&B empirical constants
 Fatigue and Failure
Failure Criteria
Complex behavior of bone (anisotropic,
asymetric) requires complex failure
criteria for multiaxial loading

Tsai-Wu criterion used for complex

composite materials, works for bone

Tsai-Wu criterion:
F1 1 F2 2 F2 2 F11 12 F22 22 F33 32 2 F12 1 2

2 F13 1 3 2 F23 2 3 F44 42 F55 52 F66 62 1

Mathematically, quadratic, ellipsoidal equation

Coefficients obtained from uniaxial tension compression, planar shear testing,
biaxial testing in various planes