STRESSES IN BEAMS

Forces and couples acting on the beam cause

BENDING (FLEXURAL STRESSES) and shearing
stresses on any cross section of the beam and
DEFLECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE
LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE BEAM.
If couples are applied to the ends of the beam and
no forces act on it, the bending is said to be PURE
BENDING.
It refers to flexure of a beam under a CONSTANT
BENDING MOMENT. Therefore, pure bending occurs
only in regions of a beam where the SHEAR FORCE
IS ZERO
 STRESSES IN BEAMS
If forces produce the bending, the bending is
called ORDINARY BENDING.
It is also known as NON UNIFORM BENDING
refers to flexure in the presence of shear forces,
which means that the bending moment changes as
we move along the axis of the beam.

The DEFLECTION OF THE BEAM AT ANY

POINT ALONG ITS AXIS Is the displacement of
that point from its original position, measured in
the y direction.
 STRESSES IN BEAMS

SIMPLE BEAM IN PURE BENDING

SIMPLE BEAM WITH CENTRAL REGION IN

PURE BENDING AND END REGIONS IN NON
UNIFORM BENDING
 CURVATURE OF A BEAM
When loads are applied to a beam, its longitudinal
axis is deformed into a curve, as illustrated

The resulting strains and stresses in the beam are

directly related to the CURVATURE OF THE
DEFLECTION curve.
the CURVATURE k (Greek letter kappa) is
defined as the reciprocal of the radius of
curvature
 CURVATURE OF A BEAM
the CURVATURE k (Greek letter kappa) is
defined as the reciprocal of the radius of
curvature
the curve to the center of curvature is
called the radius of curvature p (Greek
letter rho),
Curvature is a 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
smaller, and the curvature will become larger.
 CURVATURE OF A BEAM
The SIGN CONVENTION FOR CURVATURE
DEPENDS UPON THE ORIENTATION of the
coordinate axes. If the x axis is positive to the right
and the y axis is positive upward then the
curvature is positive when the beam is bent
concave upward and the center of curvature is
Conversely, the above the is
curvature beam.
negative when the
beam is bent concave downward and the center of
curvature is below the beam.
LONGITUDINAL STRAINS IN BEAMS
THE STRAIN-CURVATURE RELATION

The preceding equation shows that the longitudinal

strains in the beam are proportional to the curvature
and vary linearly with the distance y from the neutral
surface
When the point under consideration is above the
neutral surface, the distance y is positive. If the
curvature is also positive , then ex will be a negative
strain, representing a shortening
LONGITUDINAL STRAINS IN
BEAMS
By contrast, if the point under consideration is
below the neutral surface, the distance y will be
negative and, if the curvature is positive, the
strain ex will also be positive, representing an
elongation.
Note that the sign convention for ex is the
same as that used for normal strains in
earlier chapters, namely, elongation is
positive and shortening is negative.
LONGITUDINAL STRAINS IN BEAMS
Determine the maximum normal strain produced in
a steel wire of diameter 1/16 in. when it is bent
around a cylindrical drum of radius R = 24 in
Radius of curvature. The radius of curvature of the
bent wire is the distance from the center of the drum
to the neutral axis of the cross section of the wire:
 LONGITUDINAL STRAINS IN
BEAMS
A copper wire having diameter d = 3mm is bent into
a circle and held with the ends just touching (see
figure). If the maximum permissible strain in the
copper is
ᵋ = 0.0024 , what is the shortest length L of wire
max

that can be used?

LONGITUDINAL STRAINS IN
BEAMS
 FLEXURAL STRESS
Stresses caused by the bending moment are
known as FLEXURAL OR BENDING STRESSES.
Consider a fiber at a
distance y from the
neutral axis, because of
the beam’s curvature, as
the effect of bending
moment, the fiber is
stretched by an amount of
cd. Since the curvature of
the beam is very small,
bcd and Oba are
considered as similar
 FLEXURAL STRESS
The strain on this fiber is

By Hooke’s law, ε = σ / E, then

which means that the stress is proportional to the

distance y from the neutral axis.

Considering a differential area dA at a distance y from N.A.,

the force acting over the area is
 FLEXURAL STRESS

The resultant of all the elemental moment about N.A. must be equal to the
bending moment on the section.
 FLEXURAL STRESS

where ρ is the radius of curvature of the beam in mm (in),

M is the bending moment in N·mm (lb·in), fb is the flexural
stress in MPa (psi), I is the centroidal moment of inertia in
mm4 (in4), and c is the distance from the neutral axis to
the outermost fiber in mm (in).
 SECTION MODULUS
In the formula

the ratio I/c is called the SECTION MODULUS and

is usually denoted by S with units of mm3 (in3)
MAXIMUM BENDING STRESS
The maximum tensile and compressive bending stresses
acting at any given cross section occur at points located
farthest from the neutral axis. Let us denote by c1 and c2 the
distances from the neutral axis to the extreme elements in the
positive and negative y directions, respectively
Then the corresponding maximum normal stresses 1

and 2 (from the flexure formula) are

Note that the distances c1 and c2 to the top and bottom of

the beam are always taken as positive quantities.
 SAMPLE PROBLEM
A thin strip of hard copper (E =16,000 ksi)
having length L = 90 in. and thickness t = 3/32
in. is bent into a circle and held with the ends
just touching (see figure).

(a) Calculate the maximum

bending stress in the strip.
(b) By what percent does the
stress increase or decrease if
the thickness of
the strip is increased by 1/32
in.?
SOLUTION
 SAMPLE PROBLEM
A WT305 × 41 standard steel shape is used to support the
loads shown on the beam. The dimensions from the top and
bottom of the shape to the centroidal axis are shown on the
sketch of the cross section. Consider the entire 10-m length of
the beam and determine:
(a) the maximum tension bending stress at any location along
the beam, and
(b) the maximum compression bending stress at any location
along the beam.

INA=48.7 x 106 mm4

SOLUTION