Shear Stress Example: 1 (3/30/00)

Determine the largest shear

Shear Stress Example stress for the beam shown.

Given the 7' beam with the cross-section

shown above left, what is the largest shear
stress in the beam?

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Shear Shear

The shear diagram for the particular From the shear diagram we can read off
loading is shown below the beam. Does the maximum internal shear force = 5.4 kips.
this diagram satisfy the differential The sign is not important for our shear stress
relationship dV/dx = -w(x) ? computation.

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Shear Stress Example: 2 (3/30/00)

Shear Calculating Q(y0)

Recall the formula used to calculate shear stresses Generally, the most time consuming part of
due to bending, τ = VQ/It. We have just read the determining the shear stress in a beam is calculating
internal shear force, V, off of the shear diagram. the value of Q(yo), the first moment of area about
We also already calculated the moment of inertia for the centroid for the area above or below a cut
this particular section. The remaining problem is that located a distance yo from the centroid.
of calculating Q and t.

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Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0)

Here are the dimensions of the cross section, and

the location of the centroid we calculated earlier.
Again, what we mean by the term
These are the data we need to compute Q.
Q(yo) is the value of the integral of y•dA
over the area A', where A' is the area
above or below the cut, and y is the
distance to the centroid of the entire

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Shear Stress Example: 3 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0)

As you have learned in previous classes,

the integral expression is equivalent to the
centroidal distance times the area, A'.

For simple geometric regions, there is no need

to actually do any integrals. The first moment
of area can be calculated using the location of
the centroid of A'.

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Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0)

For this case, the centroid of

A' is easily determined.

The area is calculated as shown.

Note that A' is also a function of yo.

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Shear Stress Example: 4 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0)

Multiplying these two quantities together

This function is a parabola, and its
leads to the desired expression for Q as a
plot is shown to the right. Note that
function of yo.
the function is zero at the outer
edge of the section, and is a
maximum at the centroid of the

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Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0)

The numerical result is 5.28 in^3.

Note the units.

The maximum value is

calculated setting yo = 0.

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Shear Stress Example: 5 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0) Calculating Q(y0): Upper Section

We follow the same procedure as

before, identifying A' as shown.
We have now determined Q(yo) and Qmax
for the lower half of the section. What
about the top part of the section?

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Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75"

The distance from the centroid to To compute Q conveniently, we locate the

the cut is again denoted yo, and is centroid of the area, A'.
measured as shown.

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Shear Stress Example: 6 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75"

The calculation is similar to last time.

A' is calculated next

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Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≥ 0.75"

Forming the product leads to the

desired result. Of course, this
expression is only valid in the upper At the junction of the vertical and horizontal portions
part of the "T", where the width is 4". of the section, Q takes on the value 5.0 in^3

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Shear Stress Example: 7 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75"

To calculate Q below the point P, we just

keep doing the same sort of calculations, but
they get slightly more complicated.

Labeling this junction point P, we have

the result shown.

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Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75"

In particular, we need to calculate the

total moment of area of the entire
shaded region shown. This requires
the slight generalization of the discrete The result for A'1 is just Q(P), and if
equation as shown above. we consider the case yo = 0, we get the
equation above.

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Shear Stress Example: 8 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75" Calculating Q(y0): y0 ≤ 0.75"

Putting in the numbers...

... leads us to the same result we had
before for the bottom portion of the
section. This is no accident: it is a
direct result of the definition of the
centroid.

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VQ/I is called the shear flow, and it is

typically denoted q. This quantity is
We now have the maximum values of V and Q, related to the amount of horizontal
and we already know I. What about t? We will shear force we accumulate as we move
consider t shortly, but it turns out that it is useful along the beam. Later in this stack, we
to consider VQ/I by itself. will see a important application for this
quantity.

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Shear Stress Example: 9 (3/30/00)

The numerical value for this case can be calculated directly.

And here's the result. Note
the units.
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We are now ready to consider the

thickness, and thereby compute the
shear stress. Applying equilibrium to the little block gives the
equation above. Note that shear flow is related
to shear along the beam.

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Shear Stress Example: 10 (3/30/00)

A simple calculation for

the 1" thickness we
have in this case.

The shear stress can be

calculated as indicated.

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So, after all our fussing around, we

have determined the maximum
The answer! shear stress in the beam.

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Shear Stress Example: 11 (3/30/00)

Bending Stresses Bending Stresses

Comparing this value to the maximum bending Just for fun, let's see what happens if we
stress, we can see that the shear stress is very small. simply compute the average shear stress.
This is usually the case with beams, so in practice
bending stresses generally govern design. What
might happen with a material like wood?

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Bending Stresses

What about the business of the shear

stresses acting in the horizontal direction?
In this case, we are way off. Remember,
always be careful using average stresses.

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Shear Stress Example: 12 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(x0)

Our area A' is as shown, and it is

characterized in terms of xo, rather
than in terms of yo.

We use the same equations, except we

need to calculate Q a bit differently.

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Calculating Q(x0) Calculating Q(x0)

The tricky part is to realize that we still

need to compute the vertical moment of
this area about the section centroid.
Thus, we still use y-bar. For this particular case, the
centroid of A' is calculated as
shown.

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Shear Stress Example: 13 (3/30/00)

Calculating Q(x0) Calculating Q(x0)

Forming the product gives Q.

Here we have taken xo = 1 in.

A' itself can be expressed

as shown.

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Calculating Q(x0)

This is the result for this case. Now that we have Q, we can
Values for other xo's are compute the shear flow, q.
computed similarly.

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Shear Stress Example: 14 (3/30/00)

Putting in the numbers …

… gives this result.

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The picture makes it clear.

We can now compute the

shear stress, but what is t?

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Shear Stress Example: 15 (3/30/00)

Using the Shear Flow

Putting in t=1", we compute the

stress. This stress is quite small
relative to our earlier results.
One of the important practical applications for shear stress/flow
calculations is the determination of connector spacing in built-up sections.
To see how this is done, we will assume that the T-section we have been
considering is actually fabricated by bolting together the flange and web
sections. Our task is to determine an adequate bolt spacing.

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Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

We will assume that we know the capacity of the bolts we

will be using. In real life, you would most likely need to
choose your own bolts size, and you would probably need to We need to determine the shear flow that must be
repeat the analysis to follow for a couple alternative choices. transferred across the web/flange connection, and
so we recall the Q corresponding to this location.

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Shear Stress Example: 16 (3/30/00)

Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

The shear flow expression is as

indicated, and we can compute the
maximum value of q as before…
Here are the

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Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

We need to determine the spacing of

And here is the result. Note that the units are force per length. In this connectors such that the accumulated force
context, the shear flow can be interpreted as the accumulated shear force per length does not exceed the capacity of
that must be transferred per unit length along the beam. the connectors.

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Shear Stress Example: 17 (3/30/00)

Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

And here's the

Here are the
numbers again.

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Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

The spacing requirement depends on the value of the

shear, and so in principle we can specify different spacings
at different locations in the beam. Can you think of
A simple calculation tells us how
practical reasons for using the same spacing throughout the
many spaces we need at a minimum.
beam? We will use equal spacing here, and so we need to
divvy up the 84 inches of beam length into segments with a
length less than 5.9 inches.

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Shear Stress Example: 18 (3/30/00)

Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

Since we can't install 20% of a bolt, we Assuming the total extra length on the beam ends
need to round up. is equivalent to one space, we need at least 15

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Using the Shear Flow Using the Shear Flow

Here's the extra end length, which
we can consider fluff to be

Here's a simple relation for the fluff, and a table of

values corresponding to different choices for spacings,
s. Any one of these will work; we will choose the
middle one as a reasonable fit.

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Shear Stress Example: 19 (3/30/00)

Using the Shear Flow Summary

Here is the final configuration, ready for fabrication.

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End

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