COMPOSITE BEAMS

The terms composite beam and reinforced beam are applied to beams that are
made of two or more different materials. Usually, the material that forms the bulk of a
composite beam is inexpensive but not sufficiently strong in bending to carry the loading
by itself. The function of the reinforcement is to increase the flexural strength of the
beam.
The flexure formula σ = My/I derived in lesson 5 does not apply to composite beams
because it is based on the assumption that the beam is homogeneous. However, we
can modify the formula by transforming the composite cross section into an equivalent
homogeneous section that has the same bending stiffness. The other assumptions
made in the derivation of the flexure formula are retained for composite beams. The
most important of these is that plane cross sections remain plane upon deformation.

Flexure Formula for Composite Beams

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*All figures were copied from The book “Strength of Materials by Pytel, A and Kiusalaas, J (2nd edition)
Equation above shows that the area of material 2 is weighted by the factor n when we
determine the location of the neutral axis. A convenient way to account for this
weighting is to introduce the equivalent, or transformed, cross section shown in Fig.
below, which is made entirely of material 1. The weighting factor is taken into account
by multiplying the width of area A2 by n. Thus, the neutral axis of the original cross
section passes through the centroid C of the transformed cross-sectional area.

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*All figures were copied from The book “Strength of Materials by Pytel, A and Kiusalaas, J (2nd edition)
Example: A simply supported wood beam is reinforced with a steel plate of width b as
shown in the figure. The beam carries a uniformly distributed load (including the weight
of the beam) of intensity 300 lb/ft over its 20-ft span. Using b = 4 in. and
Est/Ewd =20, determine the maximum bending stresses in the wood and the steel.

Example: The wood beam is reinforced by steel plates of width b at the top and bottom.
Determine the smallest value of b necessary to resist a 40-kN.m bending moment.
Assume that Est/Ewd =15 and that the allowable bending stresses are 10 MPa for
wood and 120 MPa for steel.

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*All figures were copied from The book “Strength of Materials by Pytel, A and Kiusalaas, J (2nd edition)
Shear Stress and Deflection in Composite Beams

Shear stress

The equation for shear stress derived in lesson 5 also applies to

composite beams, provided that Q and I are calculated using the transformed
section and b is the width of the original cross section.

Deflection
The deflections of composite beams can be computed by the methods used for
homogeneous beams, provided we use the flexural rigidity E1I of the transformed cross
section.

Example: A composite beam with the cross section shown is made by joining two 4-in.
by 8-in. wood planks with 0.375-in.-thick steel plates. Determine the largest vertical
shear force that the beam can carry if the shear stress in the wood is limited to 500 psi.
Use Est/Ewd = 15.

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*All figures were copied from The book “Strength of Materials by Pytel, A and Kiusalaas, J (2nd edition)
Example: The beam described in Prob. 9.4 carries a 2500-lb concentrated force at
the middle of its 18-ft simply supported span. Determine the midspan deflection of
the beam using E =29 x 106 psi for steel.
(The wood beam is reinforced at the bottom by a steel plate of width b = 4 in.
If Est/Ewd = 20, determine the largest vertical concentrated load that can be applied
at the center of an 18-ft simply supported span. The working stresses are 1.2 ksi for
wood and 18 ksi for steel.)

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*All figures were copied from The book “Strength of Materials by Pytel, A and Kiusalaas, J (2nd edition)