Third Edition

CHAPTER MECHANICS OF

4 MATERIALS
Ferdinand P. Beer
E. Russell Johnston, Jr.
John T. DeWolf

Lecture Notes:
Pure Bending

J. Walt Oler
Texas Tech University

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MECHANICS OF MATERIALS Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Pure Bending
Pure Bending
Other Loading Types
Symmetric Member in Pure Bending
Bending Deformations
Strain Due to Bending
Beam Section Properties
Properties of American Standard Shapes
Deformations in a Transverse Cross Section
Stress Concentrations
Eccentric Axial Loading in a Plane of Symmetry
Unsymmetric Bending

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Pure Bending

Pure Bending: Prismatic members

subjected to equal and opposite couples
acting in the same longitudinal plane

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Other Loading Types

• Eccentric Loading: Axial loading which

does not pass through section centroid
produces internal forces equivalent to an
axial force and a couple

• Transverse Loading: Concentrated or

distributed transverse load produces
internal forces equivalent to a shear
force and a couple

• Principle of Superposition: The normal

stress due to pure bending may be
combined with the normal stress due to
axial loading and shear stress due to
shear loading to find the complete state
of stress.
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Symmetric Member in Pure Bending

• Internal forces in any cross section are equivalent
to a couple. The moment of the couple is the
section bending moment.
• From statics, a couple M consists of two equal
and opposite forces.
• The sum of the components of the forces in any
direction is zero.
• The moment is the same about any axis
perpendicular to the plane of the couple and
zero about any axis contained in the plane.
• These requirements may be applied to the sums
of the components and moments of the statically
indeterminate elementary internal forces.
Fx    x dA  0
M y   z x dA  0
M z    y x dA  M

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MECHANICS OF MATERIALS Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Bending Deformations
Beam with a plane of symmetry in pure
bending:
• member remains symmetric
• bends uniformly to form a circular arc
• cross-sectional plane passes through arc center
and remains planar
• length of top decreases and length of bottom
increases
• a neutral surface must exist that is parallel to the
upper and lower surfaces and for which the length
does not change
• stresses and strains are negative (compressive)
above the neutral plane and positive (tension)
below it
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Strain Due to Bending

Consider a beam segment of length L.
After deformation, the length of the neutral
surface remains L. At other sections,
L     y 
  L  L     y      y
 y y
x    (strain va ries linearly)
L  
c c
m  or ρ
 m
y
 x   m
c

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Stress Due to Bending

• For a linearly elastic material,
y
 x  E x   E m
c
y
   m (stress varies linearly)
c

• For static equilibrium,

• For static equilibrium,
y
Fx  0    x dA     m dA  y 
c M    y x dA    y   m  dA
 c 

0   m  y dA   I
c M  m  y 2 dA  m
c c
First moment with respect to neutral Mc M
plane is zero. Therefore, the neutral m  
I S
surface must pass through the
y
section centroid. Substituti ng  x    m
c
My
x  
I
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Beam Section Properties

• The maximum normal stress due to bending,
Mc M
m  
I S
I  section moment of inertia
I
S  section modulus
c
A beam section with a larger section modulus
will have a lower maximum stress
• Consider a rectangular beam cross section,
1 3
I 12 bh
S   16 bh3  16 Ah
c h2

Between two beams with the same cross

sectional area, the beam with the greater depth
will be more effective in resisting bending.
• Structural steel beams are designed to have a
large section modulus.
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Properties of American Standard Shapes

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Deformations in a Transverse Cross Section

• Deformation due to bending moment M is
quantified by the curvature of the neutral surface
1   1 Mc
 m  m 
 c Ec Ec I
M

EI

• Although cross sectional planes remain planar

when subjected to bending moments, in-plane
deformations are nonzero,
y y
 y   x   z   x 
 

• Expansion above the neutral surface and

contraction below it cause an in-plane curvature,
1 
  anticlastic curvature
 

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Stress Concentrations

Stress concentrations may occur: Mc

m  K
I
• in the vicinity of points where the
loads are applied

• in the vicinity of abrupt changes

in cross section
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Eccentric Axial Loading in a Plane of Symmetry

• Stress due to eccentric loading found by
superposing the uniform stress due to a centric
load and linear stress distribution due a pure
bending moment
 x   x centric   x bending
P My
 
A I
• Eccentric loading
• Validity requires stresses below proportional
FP limit, deformations have negligible effect on
M  Pd geometry, and stresses not evaluated near points
of load application.

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MECHANICS OF MATERIALS Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Unsymmetric Bending
• Analysis of pure bending has been limited
to members subjected to bending couples
acting in a plane of symmetry.

• Members remain symmetric and bend in

the plane of symmetry.

• The neutral axis of the cross section

coincides with the axis of the couple

• Will now consider situations in which the

bending couples do not act in a plane of
symmetry.

• Cannot assume that the member will bend

in the plane of the couples.

• In general, the neutral axis of the section will

not coincide with the axis of the couple.
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MECHANICS OF MATERIALS Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Unsymmetric Bending
• 0  Fx    x dA      m dA
y
 c 
or 0   y dA

neutral axis passes through centroid

 y 
Wish to determine the conditions under • M  M z       m dA
y
 c 
which the neutral axis of a cross section σ I
of arbitrary shape coincides with the or M  m I  I z  moment of inertia
c
axis of the couple as shown. defines stress distribution

• The resultant force and moment

• 0  M y   z x dA   z   m dA
from the distribution of y
elementary forces in the section  c 
must satisfy or 0   yz dA  I yz  product of inertia

Fx  0  M y M z  M  applied couple couple vector must be directed along

a principal centroidal axis

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MECHANICS OF MATERIALS Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Unsymmetric Bending
Superposition is applied to determine stresses in
the most general case of unsymmetric bending.
• Resolve the couple vector into components along
the principle centroidal axes.
M z  M cos M y  M sin

• Superpose the component stress distributions

Mzy Myy
x   
Iz Iy

• Along the neutral axis,

x  0  
Mzy Myy
 
M cos  y  M sin  y
Iz Iy Iz Iy
y Iz
tan    tan 
z Iy

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