This document is part of the notes written by Professor Terje Haukaas and posted at www.inrisk.ubc.

ca
The notes are revised without notice and they are provided as is without warranty of any kind.
You are encouraged to submit comments, suggestions, and questions to terje@civil.ubc.ca
It is unnecessary to print these notes because they will remain available online.
Timoshenko Beams
The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory neglects shear deformations by assuming that plane
sections remain plane and perpendicular to the neutral axis during bending. As a result,
shear strains and stresses are removed from the theory. Shear forces are only recovered
later by equilibrium: V=dM/dx. In reality, the beam cross-section deforms somewhat like
what is shown in Figure 1c. This is particularly the case for deep beams, i.e., those with
relatively high cross-sections compared with the beam length, when they are subjected to
significant shear forces. Usually the shear stresses are highest around the neutral axis,
which is where; consequently, the largest shear deformation takes place. Hence, the
actual cross-section curves. Instead of modelling this curved shape of the cross-section,
the Timoshenko beam theory retains the assumption that the cross-section remains plane
during bending. However, the assumption that it must remain perpendicular to the neutral
axis is relaxed. In other words, the Timoshenko beam theory is based on the shear
deformation mode in Figure 1d.


Figure 1: Shear deformation.
The average shear deformation in Figure 1d is linked with reality, i.e., the shear
deformation in Figure 1b and Figure 1c by equality of work. It is required that the work
carried out in the average deformation must equal the sum of the work carried out by all
fibres deforming:
dw! "
A
#
dA = dw
v
! V (1)
Substitution of the kinematic relationship w=! dx yields:
(a)
Shear stress
(b)
Fibre
deformation
(c)
Actual shear
deformation
(d)
Average shear
deformation
dx
!
v
-dw
v
-dw

Terje Haukaas University of British Columbia www.inrisk.ubc.ca
Timoshenko Beams Page 2
! " dx ( ) " #
A
$
dA = !
v
" dx ( ) " V (2)
Substitution of the material law "=G! , where G is the shear modulus defined by
G=E/(2(1+#)), yields:

!
G
"
#
$
%
&
'
( dx ( !
A
)
dA =
!
v
G
"
#
$
%
&
'
( dx ( V (3)
Furthermore, on the right-hand side the average shear stress is written in terms of the
shear force on the cross-section, i.e., "
v
=V/A
v
, where A
v
is an auxiliary shear area that is
defined shortly:

!
G
"
#
$
%
&
'
( dx ( !
A
)
dA =
V
A
v
"
#
$
%
&
'
(
1
G
( dx ( V (4)
Substitution of the expression for shear stress from Euler-Bernoulli beam theory on the
left-hand side, and definition of the shear area as A
v
=$ A, where $ is a constant that is
defined shortly yields:

1
G
! dx !
V !Q
I ! t
"
#
$
%
&
'
2
A
(
dA =
V
) ! A
!
1
G
! dx !V (5)
Solving Eq. (5) for $ yields:
! =
I
2
A"
Q
t
#
$
%
&
'
(
2
A
)
dA
(6)
Essentially, $ reveals how much of the cross-section that the shear force is smeared
uniformly over in the average shear deformation configuration. Upon determining the
shear area, A
v
, which is addressed in another document, the shear deformation is readily
included in the structural analysis, as shown in the unit virtual load method for
deformation computations. Notice in particular that, according to the equations written in
the text above, the shear angle contribution from each infinitesimally long beam element
is
!
v
=
"
v
G
=
V
GA
v
(7)
where A
v
=$A. Eq. (7) is employed in the unit virtual load method to include shear
deformation in the calculation of displacements and rotations. Eq. (7) is also used to
amend the differential equation for beam bending from Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. In
particular, it is the kinematic relationship that changes due to shear deformation. The
rotation of the cross-section is no longer equal to the rotation of the beam axis. As
observed in Figure 2, the cross-section is rotating more due to shear deformation. The
total cross-section rotation is
Terje Haukaas University of British Columbia www.inrisk.ubc.ca
Timoshenko Beams Page 3
! =
dw
dx
+"
v
(8)
Substitution into the kinematic equations from Euler-Bernoulli beam theory yields
! =
du
dx
= "
d#
dx
$ z = "
d
2
w
dx
2
"
d%
v
dx
&
'
(
)
*
+
$ z (9)
Combined with the classical equations for equilibrium and material law, the modified
differential equation for beam bending according to Timoshenko theory is
q =
d
2
dx
2
E!
d
2
w
dx
2
+
d"
v
dx
#
$
%
&
'
(
! z
2
dA
A
)
= EI
d
4
w
dx
4
+
d
3
"
v
dx
3
#
$
%
&
'
(
(10)
Substitution of Eq. (7) yields
q = EI
d
4
w
dx
4
+
1
GA
v
!
d
3
V
dx
3
"
#
$
%
&
'
(11)
Combined with the following classical equilibrium equation

q
z
=
dV
dx
(12)
the differential equation according to Timoshenko beam theory is

d
4
w
dx
4
=
q
z
EI
+
1
GA
v
!
d
2
q
dx
2
(13)

Figure 2: Contribution from shear deformation to cross-section rotation.
!
v
Flexural deformation:
Shear deformation:
dx
V
M
M+dM V+dV
! =
dw
dx
dw
dx
Forces:
! = "
v