5.

Flexural and Shearing Stresses in Beams

5.1 Introduction

Lateral loads acting on a beam cause the beam to bend, or flex, there by deforming the axis of the beam in to a curve.
Thus the axis is bent into a curve called the deflection curve of the beam or the elastic curve. The loads create internal
actions, or stress resultants, in the form of shear forces and bending moments as shown in the preceding chapter. This
chapter deals with the stresses and strains associated with the shear forces and bending moments.

Basic assumptions in flexure (bending) theory:

1. Transverse sections of the beam, which are plane before bending, will remain plane during bending.
2. From consideration of symmetry during bending, transverse sections will be perpendicular to circular arcs
having a common center of curvature.
3. The radius of curvature of the beam during bending is large compared with the transverse dimensions.
4. Longitudinal elements of the beam are subjected only to simple tension or compression and there are no lateral
stresses & shear stresses.

5.2 Normal stress in beams

Expressions of normal stress in beams are best explained by determining the normal strains in beams. The strains and
stresses in the beam are directly related to the shape of deflection curve, which is determined by the curvature.

Consider portion of a beam subjected to pure bending (See figure 5.1). (Pure bending refers to flexure of a beam under a
constant bending moment. In contrast, nonuniform bending refers to flexure in where there is variation in bending
moment.) The upper surface of the beam stretches and is therefore in tension and the lower surface shortens and thus is in
compression. Hence there must be an xz-plane in between in which longitudinal deformation is zero. This plane of the
beam is called the neutral plane or surface and the intersection of this surface with a cross section is called neutral axis.
Consider the deformations between two sections AC and BD, a distance dx apart, of an initially straight beam. A
longitudinal fiber EF at a distance y below the neutral axis will have initially the name length as the fiber GH at the
neutral axis. During bending EF shortens to become E'F', but GH, being at the neutral axis, is unstrained when it becomes
G'H'. Therefore if ρ is the radius of curvature of G'H',

The longitudinal strain in fiber E'F' is

But EF = GH=G'H'=ρ.dθ; therefore

The term 1/ρ is the curvature of the beam and is designated by the Greek letter κ (kappa).

(5.1)

Since ρ = dx/dθ

1
Eqn.5.1 is derived solely from the geometry of the deformed beam; the properties of the material did not enter into the
derivation. Therefore, the equation is valid irrespective of the shape of the stress-strain diagram of the material. It can be
seen that strain is distributed linearly across the section, being zero at the neutral axis.

z
x
'
A '
B
G'
H'
E' F'
C' D' y
A B
G H
M E F M
C D

dx

A' B'

G' H'
M M
E' F'
C' D'
ρ

dθ

Fig. 5.1 Beam under pure bending.

The Stress- Strain Relation ship

The stress σx acting normal to the cross-section of a beam can be obtained from the normal strains ε x. Longitudinal
elements of the beam are subjected only to tension or compression (i.e., σ y = σz = 0); therefore, the stress strain diagram
for the material will provide the relationship between σ x and εx. if the material is elastic with a linear stress-strain diagram,
Hooke’s law can be used and the stress will become
(5.2)

Thus eqn. 5.2 shows the normal stress acting on the cross section vary linearly with the distance y from the neutral
surface.

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Internal resisting moment

As no resultant normal force acts on the cross section

Because the curvature κ & modules of elasticity E are constants at the cross section, we have
(5.3)
Provided the beam is under pure bending, eqn. 5.3 implies the neutral axis passes through the centroid of cross section.

z
N.A

y x
dF=σx dA
y
dA

Fig. 5.2 Derivation of relation between bending moment and bending stress.

Considering fig. 5.2 above the moment of the differential axial force dF about the neutral axis is dM o =y.dF. Therefore the
total internal resisting moment is

This internal stress resultant must balance the external applied moment M. Thus from equilibrium;

But

But the expression in the above equation is the moment of inertia (second moment of area) of the cross-
sectional area with respect to the neutral axis and will be denoted by I.
Thus or (5.4)
From eqns. 5.2 and 5.4 normal stress can be obtained by
(5.5)

Where M = bending moment, in N.m

I = second moment of area (moment of inertia), in m4
σx = Stress, N/m2
y = distance from NA to point in question, in m
E = Young's modulus, in N/m2
ρ = radius of curvature of NA, in m
The quantity EI is the flexural rigidity of the beam.
Equation 5.5 is called the flexural formula and the normal stress. Stress computed using this formula is known as bending
stress.

For the outer surface of the beam, the maximum stress will be

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 σc

σt
Fig. 5.3 Typical bending stress distribution due to positive bending moment.

The quantities I/ytmax and I/ycmax are functions of geometry only; they are termed as the section moduli and are denoted by
Ztand Zc. For a beam of rectangular cross section with width b and height h, the moment of inertia and section modulus
are

and therefore section modulus,

For circular cross section of diameter d, these properties are

and therefore section modulus,

Discuss on the determination of bending stress distribution on T, I, and U sections. (Procedures only)

5.3 Shear stress in beams

When a beam is subjected to lateral loads, both bending moments M and shear forces V act on the cross sections. If we
consider a beam of rectangular cross- section having width b and height h it can reasonably be assumed that the shear
stress τ acts parallel to the shear force V. If it is assumed that these shear stresses have a uniform distribution across the
width of the beam the shear stress can then be determined.
Consider a small element of the beam. When shear stresses act on one side of an element they are accompanied by shear
stresses of equal magnitude acting on perpendicular faces of the element (fig 5.3). At any point within the beam, these
complementary shear stresses are equal in magnitude. This observation leads to the fact that at either the top or bottom of
the element the horizontal shear stresses must vanish because there are no stresses on the outer surface of the beam.
Therefore, the vertical shear stress τ also must vanish at the top & bottom of the beam (that is , τ = o when y=± h/2).

τ
b
z n τ τ
V
h
O n m τ τ
m x
τ

Fig. 5.3 Shear stresses acting on an element.

To evaluate these shear stresses consider the equilibrium of an element pp 1n1n between two adjacent cross sections
separated by a distance dx.

m m1 b
h/2 M M+dM τ
x O
4
 τ h z
σx p p1 y1 y y1
h/2
n n1 ■
dA
dx y τmax

(a) Side view (b) cross-section (c) shear stress

Fig. 5.4 Diagram for derivation of the shear formula

If the element of area dA is located on the left hand face pn of the element, the normal force is

The total horizontal force F1 acting on the left hand face:

Similarly the total force F2 acting on the right hand face:

The horizontal force F3 acting on the top face PP1 is:

For static equilibrium

Or

From which
but

Therefore
in which first moment of the area about the neutral axis = Q

The above equation becomes and it is called the shear formula.

The first moment Q for the shaded area in the figure 5.4 above is obtained by multiplying the area by the distance from
the centroid of the area to the neutral axis.

From which

The maximum value of shear stress occurs at the neutral axis, Where y1 = 0 and it becomes 0 when y1= ± h/2.

Therefore

Substituting the expressions for I, b, and Q in to the shear formula, we can obtain an expression for maximum shear in
beams of circular cross section.

Thus, in which A is the area of the beam.

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This equation shows that the maximum shear stress in a circular beam is 4/3 times the average shear stress V/A. If a beam
has a hollow circular cross section, we may obtain the maximum shear stress from the shear formula by substituting the
properties of the cross section.
i.e and (where r2 is the outer radius.)

And the maximum shear stress is

In the above equation if r1 = 0 it will reduce to the maximum shear stress equation for a solid circular beam.
Discuss shear stress distribution on I, T, and U sections.(with example)