Moment – Curvature relationship

If we take a portion of beam under pure

bending, to illustrate the concept of
curvature:

When loads are applied to a beam, its longitudinal axis is deformed into a curve.
And the resulting strains and stresses in the beam are directly related to the
curvature of the deflected curve and it deflects uniformly if it is under constant
bending moment.

If we draw lines normal to the line tangent to the arbitrary point a & b, these will
be an intersection point o and we call that center of curvature of the deflected
curve.
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 Moment – Curvature (Cont . . . )
The distance from the curve to the center of curvature is called radius of curvature, 
(rho) and the curvature  (kappa) is defined as the reciprocal of the radius of
curvature.
From the geometry of triangle oab, we obtain *d = ds
1 1 𝑑𝜃
Thus, 𝜅=𝜌 𝜅= =
𝜌 𝑑𝑠
Curvature is the measure of how sharply a beam is
bent.
If the load on a beam is small, the beam will be nearly
straight, the radius of curvature will be very large and
the curvature will be very small. If the load is increased,
the amount of bending will increase - the radius of
curvature will become larger.
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 Moment – Curvature (Cont . . . )
To evaluate normal strain in a beam subjected to pure bending, consider a line
cd located at a distance y from the neutral axis.

The longitudinal line cd had the same

length with ab on the neutral axis before
bending, but after bending the curve cd
will shorten. And this shortened curve is
at a distance ( - y) from the center of
curvature.

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 Moment – Curvature (Cont . . . )
Before bending of the beam 𝐿𝑐𝑑 = 𝐿𝑎𝑏 = 𝜌 ∗ 𝑑𝜃 and after bending the size of 𝐿𝑎𝑏
remains constant but 𝐿′𝑐𝑑 = 𝜌 − 𝑦 𝑑𝜃.

Therefore, Δ𝐿𝑐𝑑 = 𝐿𝑐𝑑 − 𝐿′𝑐𝑑 = 𝐿𝑐𝑑 −𝐿𝑎𝑏 = −𝑦 𝑑𝜃

Δ𝐿 −𝑦 𝑑𝜃 −𝑦
=> 𝜀𝑧 = = =
𝐿𝑎𝑏 𝜌 𝑑𝜃 𝜌

Therefore, the strain curvature relation is:

−𝑦
=> 𝜀𝑧 = = −𝜅𝑦
𝜌

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 Moment – Curvature (Cont . . . )
For the linear elastic material by substituting hook’s law for uniaxial stress (=*E) into
the above equation we obtain: −E ∗ y
σx = E ∗ ε x = = −E ∗ κ ∗ y
ρ
The moment curvature relation can be stated, from the flexural formula derived in the
previous section
M∗y −E ∗ y
σx = = = −E ∗ κ ∗ y
I ρ

This implies that 1 M

κ= =
ρ EI
This is relation is known as moment - curvature equation and it shows that the
curvature is directly proportional to the bending moment M and inversely proportional
to the quantity EI, which is called flexural rigidity.
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 Question 4
A cantilever beam AB is loaded by a couple 𝑀𝑂 at its free end as shown in the
figure. The length of the beam is L=1.2m and the longitudinal strain at the top
surface is 0.8 0/00 . The distance from the top surface of the beam to the
neutral surface is 50mm.

Calculate

a. The radius of Curvature, 

b. The curvature, 

c. The deflection, , at the end of the beam.

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 Composite beams
Frequently beams are made up of different materials. In this section only
beams made up of two different materials will be discussed.

Here the two basic assumptions of classical beam theory is important.

As long as neither of the material is subjected to stresses above the

proportional limit, Hooke’s law applies.

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 Composite beams (Cont . . . )
Therefore, from the strain relation
𝑏 𝜎𝑏 𝜎𝑎 𝑏 𝐸 𝑏
𝜀𝑏 = 𝜀𝑎 => = => 𝜎𝑏 = 𝜎𝑎 𝐸𝐵
𝑎 𝐸𝐵 𝐸𝐴 𝑎 𝐴 𝑎

From this it is evident that,

at the junction between two
materials where distances a
& b are equal, there is an
abrupt change in stress
determined by the ratio of
moduli of the two
materials 𝑛 = 𝐸𝐵 /𝐸𝐴 .
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 Composite beams (Cont . . . )
We can construct a section of one material on which the resisting internal forces and
the strain are the same as the original section. Such a section is termed as equivalent
or transformed cross-sectional area. The transformation of a section is accomplished by
changing dimension of a cross section parallel to the neutral axis in the ratio of the
elastic moduli of the material.
𝑃1 𝑃2
𝜎1 𝜎2 𝐴1 𝐴2
𝜀1 = 𝜀2 => = => =
𝐸1 𝐸2 𝐸1 𝐸2

𝐸2 𝐴1 ℎ ∗ 𝑏1 𝑏1
P1 = P2 => = = =
𝐸1 𝐴2 ℎ ∗ 𝑏2 𝑏2

𝐸2
𝑏1 = 𝑏
𝐸1 2

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 Composite beams (Cont . . . )
Assume E2 > E1

If we transform first order horizontal element in the upper part of beam section, the
strain is constant in both cases implies that the stress decreases because of
transforming the section to less stiffer one.

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 Composite beams (Cont . . . )
It is also possible to transform the middle section of material 1 sandwiched between
material 2 as shown in the figure below.

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 Question 5
Consider a composite beam of the cross-sectional dimensions shown in the figure
below. The upper 150 mm by 250mm part is wood, Ew = 10.0 Gpa; the bottom
100mm by 150mm strap is steel, ES = 200.0 Gpa.

If this beam is subjected to a bending

moment of 30kNm around a horizontal
axis, what are the maximum stress in
steel and wood?

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 Question 6
The reinforced concrete beam shown below is subjected to a uniform dead load of
56kN/m. The section at the point of maximum moment shows that 4  22 bars are
provided as reinforcement.
Determine the maximum stress in the steel bars and concrete.
(Esteel = 200.0 Gpa and Econc. = 25.0 Gpa)

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