SHEAR TEST

Design and Manufacturing

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Presented by:

M.D Babar Pasha 17-22-201

M.Siva Kumar 17-22-212
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S. No. Contents Slide No.

1. Introduction 3

2. Purpose of Shear Testing 5

3. Principle of Testing 10

4. Testing Procedure 11

5. Applications 15

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 DIRECT SHEAR STRESS
• Shearing stress is one that acts parallel to a plane, unlike the
Tensile and Compressive forces that act normal to it.

• Shear stresses can be produced in structural bodies by various

types of loading.

• If the resultants of parallel but opposite forces act through the

centroid of the sections that are spaced infinitesimal distances
apart, the shearing stresses over the sections are uniform.

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• These stress conditions are called direct shear stress.
• A shear force P acting on a surface area A causes an average
direct shear stress given by

 = P/A

• Since the concept of infinitesimal distance is only

theoretical, such conditions are never completely realized
in practical situations.
• However direct shear situations exist approximately in rivets
or welded plates.
• Connections among truss members, beams and columns are
often subjected approximately to direct shear stresses.
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 Purpose of shear testing:

The most common use of a shear test is

to determine the shear strength, which
is the maximum shear stress that the
material can withstand before failure
occurs, of a material.

This is a very important design

characteristic of many types of fasteners
such as bolts and screws.

Single Lap Bolted Joint

Source: Virtual labs 5

 DIRECT SHEAR TEST
• Direct shear conditions are approximately simulated in laboratory
tests by shearing forces distributed over very small lengths so
that the bending moments created as a result are very small and
the only possible failure mechanism remaining is through
shearing of the specimens.

• In the direct shear test, the shearing stress is considered

to be uniformly distributed over the cross-section.

• A round or flat stock specimen is clamped in a fixture and a

shearing force is applied through a suitable shear tool.

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• Two different cases of shearing may arise :

Ex.

Ex.

Source: Virtual labs 7

(a) shows the case of single shear where shearing occurs
across a single surface . Therefore, the shear stress in single
shear test is given by

 s= P/A
(b) shows the case of double shear where shearing occurs
across two surfaces. Therefore, the shear stress for double
shear test is given by

 s = P/(2A)

where P is the total force applied on the specimen through

the shear cutter and A is the cross-sectional area of the
specimen.

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• The failure surfaces for the two tests are also
somewhat different.

• Since the single shear is accompanied by bending

moment across the shearing surface ,as the specimen
is a cantilever beam, the failure surface is also bent,
i.e., it is inclined to the original surface.

• But since the bending moment across the shearing

surface for double shear is negligible the specimen is a
simply supported beam, the failure surface is almost
plane, i.e., similar to the original surface.

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 PRINCIPLE OF TEST
• Shear strength is determined by inserting a cylindrical specimen
through round holes in three hardened steel blocks, the centre of
which is pulled or pushed between the other two so as to shear
the specimen on two planes.

• The test consists of subjecting a suitable length of cylindrical

specimen to double shear loading using a suitable test rig in a
testing machine under a compressive load or tensile pull and
recording the maximum load P to fracture.

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 TEST PROCEDURE
• Mean diameter of the specimen must be determined.
• Specimen must be fixed in the shear tool.
• Set the UTM for the selected load range.
• The shearing tool is placed on movable cross-head of the
testing machine.
• The specimen is loaded gradually until the specimen is sheared
off.
• The ultimate load is recorded.
• Ultimate shear strength of the metal rod = P/2A

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Direct Shear stress on Mild steel plate

Figure : Universal Testing machine

Source: Virtual labs 12
Figure : Failure Load determination under UTM
Source: Virtual labs
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 APPLICATION
• The main application of the shear test is to determine the
shear strength of various materials and hence they can be
used accordingly for suitable applications.

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