This normal strain depends only on the assumption made regards to the deformation.

When a moment is applied to the beam, therefore, it will only cause a normal stress in the longitudinal or x- direction. All the other components of normal and shear stress will be zero. It is uniaxial state of stress that cause material to have longitudinal normal strain component max . Furthermore, by Poisson ratio, there must also be associated strain components y = - v x and z = - v x , which deform the plane of cross-sectional area, although these deformation is usually neglected. Such deformation will, however, cause the cross-sectional dimensions to become smaller below the neutral axis and larger above the neutral axis. The illustration of it can be seen in figure

Figure 6

Consideration of the beam subjected to pure bending shown in Figure indicates that the lower surface stretches and is therefore in tension and the upper surface shorten and thus is in compression. Hence there must be an xz-plane in between in which longitudinal deformation is zero. This is termed the neutral plane, and a transverse axis lying in the neutral plane is the neutral axis. Consider the deformations between two sections AC and BD , a distance x apart, of an initially straight beam. A longitudinal EF at the distance y below the neutral axis will have initially the same length as the GH at the neutral axis. During bending EF stretches to become EF but GH being at the neutral axis is unstrained when it become GH. Therefore, if R is the radius curvature of GH,