Shear Center in Thin-Walled Beams Lab

• Shear flow is developed in beams with thin-walled cross sections

– shear flow (qsx): shear force per unit length along cross section
• qsx=τsx t
• behaves much like a “flow,” especially at junctions in cross section
– shear flow acts along tangent (s) direction on cross section
• there is a normal component, τnx, but it is very small
• e.g., because it must be zero at ±t/2
– shear force: qsxds (acting in s direction)
• Shear flow arises from presence of shear loads, Vy or Vz
– needed to counter unbalanced bending stresses, σx
– to determine, must analyze equilibrium in axial (x) direction
• Shear center:
– resultant of shear flow on section must equal Vy and Vz
– moment due to qsx must be equal to moment due to Vy and Vz
– shear center: point about which moment due to shear flow is zero
– not applying transverse loads through shear center will cause a
twisting of the beam about the x axis
AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 1
 Approach for Lab

• Apply transverse loading to tip of a cantilever thin-walled beam

– use cross-arm at tip to apply both a lateral force and twisting mom.
– measure bending deflection
– measure twisting
– vary location of load point along cross-arm
– repeat for beam rotated 90 deg. about x axis
• Data analysis
– record deflections using LVDT
– plot twisting versus load position on cross-arm
– determine location on cross-arm where load produces no twisting
• Compare the measured shear center with theoretical location
– shear flow calculations used to compute shear center
– consider both y axis and z axis loading (rotated 90 deg)

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 2

 Review from AE2120 (2751), AE3120
• Bending of beams with unsymmetrical cross sections
– bending stress depends on Iy, Iz and Iyz
– neutral surface is no longer aligned with z or y axes
• Shear stresses are computed from axial force equilibrium
– shear stress needed to counter changing σx
– analysis strictly correct for rectangular sections only
• Thin-walled cross sections
– thin walls support bending stress just like a solid section (no change)
– thin walls support shear stress in tangential direction
• transverse shear component is negligable...
• because it must vanish at the free surfaces (edges of cross section)
– shear flow: τxs t (force/unit length along section)
– shear flow must be equivalent to Vy and Vz so it must:
• produce same vertical and horizontal force (Vx and Vy )
• produce same mumoment about any point in cross section
– point about which no moment is developed: SHEAR CENTER
• lateral load must be applied through SC to avoid twisting beam
• twisting loads will cause section to twist about SC (center of rotation)

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 3

 Test Configuration

Cantilever
Cantileverwith
withthin-
thin-
walled C section
walled C section

LVDT
LVDTmeasures
measurestip
tip
deflection on cross-arm
deflection on cross-arm

cross arm

LVDT

weight

Small
Smallweight
weightused
usedtotoapply
apply
Lab Apparatus load at point on cross-arm
load at point on cross-arm

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 4

 Lab Procedure

1. Determine the beam material properties from reference material (e.g., referenced
textbooks or MIL Handbook 5 which can be found in the GT Library).
2. Find the centroid of the given beam cross-section.
3. Determine Iz, Iy, Iyz for the given section.
4. Determine the shear flow distribution on the cross-section for a Vy shear load.
5. Determine the shear flow distribution on the cross-section for a Vz shear load.
6. Determine the shear center for the cross-section.
7. Using data from the lab, determine the measured location of the shear center and
compare this with the location determined in step 6 above.

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 5

 Beam Cross Section
Y
1.353in.

Use
Usesingle
singleline
lineapprox
approxfor
Z for
1.330in. cross section (t<<b,h)
cross section (t<<b,h)

0.420in.

Centroidal Axes: Area Moments (of Inertia):

0.050in.
I yy = z 2 dA
0 = z dA A
A
I zz = y 2 dA
0 = y dA A
A
I yz = yz dA
A
AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 6
 Bending of Beam with Unsymmetrical Cross Section
Y

Z A1
But
Butalso
alsoconsider
consider
equilibrium
equilibriumofof
Acts over
cross section
segment
segmentAA11(see
(see
next slide!)
next slide!)
General:
( y I yy − z I yz ) M z + ( y I yz − z I zz ) M y
σx = −
I zz I yy − I yz
2

Symmetric cross section, Mz=0:

y Mz
σx = −
I zz
AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 7
 Shear Stresses and Shear Flow
Y
σx Complementary
Complementary
qqsx acts on A1 in
sx acts on A1 in
opposite
oppositedirection
direction
qsx
Z s

A1 σx+dσx

X
Axial force equilibrium for element:

é é
0 = å Fx = ê ò σ x dA + qsx dx − ê ò σ x dA
êë A1 x + dx
êë A1 x

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 8

 Shear Flow
Result for qsx:

−Vy æ −Vz æ
qsx = 2 ç
I yy y dA − I yz z dA + 2 ç
I zz z dA − I yz y dA
ç
I yy I zz − I yz è A1 A1
ç
I yy I zz − I yz è A1 A1

Z
Shear flow: qsx(s)

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 9

 Shear Center

Moment
Momentdue
dueto
toVVyy
must
mustbe
beequal
equalto
toMM0 0
s
Vy

Z ez
Shear flow: qsx(s)

Therefore:
Therefore:
Shear
Shearcenter
centerlies Moment,
lies Moment,MM00, ,at
at
distance e from
distance ez z from origin due to
origin due to
origin
originwhere: shear
where: shearflow,
flow,qqsx
sx
MM0=V
=Vyeez
0 y z

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 10

 Examples of Shear Centers
Y
Y

Vy qsx
Vy
Z Z

Shear Shear qsx

Center Center
lies on
y axis

Section
SectionSymmetric
Symmetricabout
aboutyyaxis:
axis: Angle
AngleSection:
Section:
Shear
Shearcenter
centermust
mustlie
lieon
onyyaxis
axis Shear
Shearcenter
centermust
mustlie
lieatat
vertex
vertexofoflegs
legs(regardless
(regardlessofof
(similar
(similarargument
argumentfor
forzzaxis
axissymmetry)
symmetry) orientation
orientationofofsection)
section)

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 11

 Shear Center Must Lie Outside C
Y
qsx
B
Vy h/2
qsx
Z e

Shear A h/2
Center qsx

Sum moments from qsx about A:

=force in each flange x h/2 eemust
mustbe bepositive
positive
for q as shown
for qsxsx as shown
Must equal moment from Vy about A: so
soshear
shearcenter
center
=Vy x e lies
lies to leftofof
to left
section
section

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 12

 Data Acquisition

• Use PC data acquisition program to acquire deflection and

strain data and test machine load
– Use 2 LVDT displacement gages
– Measure vertical displacements at ends of cross arm
– Use to determine vertical deflection and cross arm rotation
– Use single weight but move to different locations on cross arm

Replace
Replace dial
dial
Cross
Cross arm
arm gages
gages with
with LVDT’s
LVDT’s

Loading
Loading system
system

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 13

 Data Reduction

• Acquired data is voltage from transducers

– convert to inch units
– Determine vertical displacement per applied load
– Determine rotation per applied load
– Plot rotation vs cross arm location: 0 point defines shear center
– or: plot both displacements: crossing point defines shear center
• Example (next slide)

AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 14

 Sample Data
Shear
ShearCenter
Centerisispoint
pointwhere
where
AE 3145 Lab - Fall 99 Rotation = 0 or point where
Rotation = 0 or point where
Lab name=Lab#7 Shear Center LVDT1=LVDT2
LVDT1=LVDT2
Group name = Monday1
Load Position Channel 1 Channel 2 Excitation Voltage
0.00E+00 -1.04E+01 -3.57E+00 2.50E+00
5.00E-01 -8.93E+00 -3.23E+00 2.50E+00 0.040
1.00E+00 -7.70E+00 -3.10E+00 2.50E+00
1.50E+00
Convert -7.04E+00to -3.54E+00
voltages 2.50E+00 0.020
Convert voltages to

Reading (inch or radian)

2.00E+00 -6.15E+00
displacement using -3.75E+00
LVDT 2.50E+00
displacement using LVDT
2.50E+00 -4.68E+00 -3.38E+00 2.50E+00 0.000
calibration
calibration data
data -3.67E+00 2.50E+00
3.00E+00 -3.87E+00 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
-0.020
3.50E+00 -2.52E+00 -3.42E+00 2.50E+00
4.00E+00 -1.81E+00 -3.81E+00 2.50E+00 -0.040
Cal: 10 10 -0.060 LVDT 1
Position LVDT 1 LVDT 2 Deflection Rotation
0.0 -0.104 -0.036 -0.036 -0.068 -0.080 LVDT 2
0.5 -0.089 -0.032 -0.032 -0.057 Rotation
1.0 -0.077 -0.031 -0.031 -0.046 -0.100
1.5 -0.070 -0.035 -0.035 -0.035
-0.120
2.0 -0.062 -0.038 -0.038 -0.024 Position
2.5 -0.047 -0.034 -0.034 -0.013
3.0 -0.039 -0.037 -0.037 -0.002
3.5 -0.025 -0.034 -0.034 0.009
Plot
Plotyour
your
4.0 -0.018 -0.038 -0.038 0.020 data!
data!

Compute
Computeavgavgdeflection
deflection
and
and rotation fromgeometry
rotation from geometry
AE3145 Shear Center Lab (S2k) Slide 15