The document summarizes different theories for predicting failure under static loading conditions. It discusses:
1) Failure theories for ductile materials including maximum shear stress, distortion energy, and ductile Coulomb-Mohr theories, which are based on yield.
2) Failure theories for brittle materials including maximum normal stress, brittle Coulomb-Mohr, and modified Mohr theories, which do not exhibit an identifiable yield strength.
3) Details of the maximum shear stress theory and distortion energy (Von Mises) theory for ductile materials. The distortion energy theory predicts failure when the distortion strain energy equals the energy at yield in tension.