CHAPTER 5

SHEAR IN BEAMS
1.INTRODUCTION
 In general, a beam will support both shear and moment.
And due to these actions, corresponding stresses occur.
 In the previous chapter stress due to bending was
discussed, now stress due to internal shear force will be
discussed.

Stress due to bending stress due to shear

CONT…
 It is reasonable to assume that the shear stresses acting on
the cross section are parallel to the shear force, that is,
parallel to the vertical sides of the cross section.

 It is also reasonable to assume that the shear stresses are

uniformly distributed across the width of the beam,
although they may vary over the height

 Using these two assumptions, we can determine the

intensity of the shear stress at any point on the cross
section.
CONT…
 before analysing shear stress it is important to look at the
complementary property of shear.

 shear stresses acting on one side of an element are

accompanied by shear stresses of equal magnitude acting on
perpendicular faces of the element.
CONT…
 To demonstrate that there is actually longitudinal shear
stress, consider the beam to be made from three boards,

 Due to longitudinal shear stress, the boards not bonded

together tend to slide on one another.
2. THE SHEAR FORMULA
 We are now ready to derive a formula for the shear stresses
in a rectangular beam. However, instead of evaluating the
vertical shear stresses acting on a cross section, it is easier
to evaluate the horizontal shear stresses acting between
layers of the beam. Of course, the vertical shear stresses
have the same magnitudes as the horizontal shear
stresses.
CONT…
 Consider the beam subjected to a general type of loading
CONT…
 Take out the section with length of dx and draw the stresses
acting on it.

 Notice that the vertical shear stress is not drawn here

because we are only interested in the equilibrium in the x
direction.
CONT…
 Since we are looking for the horizontal shear stress, lets
take another section on the sectioned diagram.
CONT…
 Now evaluate the equilibrium in the x direction to find the
shear stress.
CONT…
 This equation can be simplified by considering:
 The derivation of moment is shear

 The integral part of the equation is the first moment of area of

the shaded area. Lets denote it by Q

 Substitution these we get:

EXAMPLE 1
SOLUTION
CONT…
CONT…
EXAMPLE 2
SOLUTION
CONT…
2.1 ON THE USE OF THE SHEAR FORMULA.
 One of the major assumptions used in the development of
the shear formula is that the shear stress is uniformly
distributed over the width t at the section.
CONT…
 will not give accurate results when used to determine the
shear stress at the flange–web junction of a wide-flange
beam, since this is a point of sudden cross-sectional change
and therefore a stress concentration occurs here
CONT…
 The shear formula should not be used across a section that
intersects the boundary of the member at an angle other
than 90°
3. SHEAR FLOW IN BUILT UP MEMBERS
 Occasionally in engineering practice, members are ‘built up’
from several composite parts in order to achieve a greater
resistance to loads. If the loads cause the members to bend,
fasteners such as nails, bolts, welding material, or glue may
be needed to keep the component parts from sliding relative
to one another. In order to design these fasteners or
determine their spacing, it is necessary to know the shear
force that must be resisted by the fastener. This loading,
when measured as a force per unit length of beam, is
referred to as shear flow q.
CONT…
 The magnitude of the shear flow can be obtained using a
development similar to that for finding the shear stress in
the beam.
 To show this, we will consider finding the shear flow along
the juncture, where the segment in the figure below is
connected to the flange of the beam.
CONT…
CONT…
 It is very important to identify Q correctly when
determining the shear flow at a particular junction on the
cross section.
EXAMPLE 4
SOLUTION
EXAMPLE 5
SOLUTION
CONT…
4. SHEAR FLOW IN THIN WALLED MEMBERS
 In this section we will show how to apply the shear flow
equation to find the shear-flow distribution throughout a
member’s cross-sectional area. We will assume that the
member has thin walls, that is, the wall thickness is small
compared to its height or width. As will be shown in the
next section, this analysis has important applications in
structural and mechanical design.
CONT…
 Consider the beam shown below made of an I section.

 On thin walled sections like in the figure above, a horizontal

shear stress exists on the flange section. This shear stress
can be calculated by taking a section on the flange and
applying the shear formula.
CONT…
 The shear flow on the I section looks like:

 Notice that vertical shear stress exists on the flange but the
magnitude is small enough to be ignored for thin walled
sections.
CONT…
 For the I-section the shear flow can be driven as follows.
CONT…
Shear stresses in the upper flange
 The shear stress can be calculated with respect to the
distance s measured from the tip of the flange.

 As shown in the shear stress flow, maximum shear stress

occurs at the middle of the flange .i.e. when s = b/2

 The corresponding shear stress is given by:

CONT…
Shear stresses in the web
 As done for the flange, take a section at a distance r from
the neutral axis.
CONT…
From the foregoing analysis, three important points should be
observed.
1. The value of q changes over the cross section, since Q will be
different for each area segment A’ for which it is determined. In
particular, q will vary linearly along segments (flanges) that are
perpendicular to the direction of V, and parabolically along
segments (web) that are inclined or parallel to V.
2. q will always act parallel to the walls of the member, since the
section on which q is calculated is taken perpendicular to the
walls
3. The directional sense of q is such that the shear appears to
‘flow’ through the cross section, inward at the beam’s top flange,
‘combining’ and then ‘flowing’ downward through the web since
it must contribute to the shear force V, and then separating and
‘flowing’ outward at the bottom flange.
EXAMPLE 6
SOLUTION
 Find I
CONT…
CONT…
5. SHEAR CENTRE FOR OPEN THIN WALLED MEMBERS
 In the previous section, it was assumed that the internal
shear V was applied along a principal centroidal axis of
inertia that also represents an axis of symmetry for the
cross section

 In this section we will consider the effect of applying the

shear along a principal centroidal axis that is not an axis of
symmetry.

 As before, only open thin walled members will be analysed,

so the dimensions to the centreline of the walls of the
members will be used.
CONT…
 A typical example of this case is the channel section shown
in figure below.
CONT…
 Here it is cantilevered from a fixed support and is subjected
to the force P. if this force is applied along the once vertical,
unsymmetrical axis that passes through the centroid C of
the cross section, the channel will not only bend
downward, it will also twist clockwise as shown.

 Under this loading condition, we CAN NOT use the

shear formula since the shear stress is altered by the
twisting.

 To understand why the member twists, it is necessary to

show the shear flow distribution along the channel’s flanges
and web.
CONT…

 If the moments of these forces are summed about point A, it

can be seen that the couple or torque created by the flange
forces is responsible for twisting the member.

 The actual twist is clockwise when viewed from the front of

the beam as shown in the figure below, since reactive
internal ‘equilibrium’ forces Ff cause the twisting.
CONT…
 In order to prevent this twisting it is therefore necessary to
apply P at a point O located an eccentric distance e from the
web of the channel.
CONT…
 The point O so located is called the shear centre or
flexural centre. When P is applied at the shear centre, the
beam will bend without twisting.
EXAMPLE 7
SOLUTION
CONT…