Mechanics of Materials III:

Beam Bending
Dr. Wayne Whiteman
Senior Academic Professional and Director of the Office of Student Services
Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Module 30 Learning Outcomes
• Continue design for an appropriate beam to be
used in a real world engineering problem.
• Explain the Maximum Shear Stress Failure
Theory
Elastic Worksheet: A steel beam is subject to a loading and
Beam Design has a cross section as shown below, Design for an
appropriate wide flange I-beam to carry the load.
90 kN
145 kN/m 90 kN

0.6 m 1.8 m 0.6 m 0.9 m

Elastic Flexural Stress Transverse Shear Stress
y

V Q
 
N.A. Ib
x
τ
Maximum Shear Stress Theory
(Tresca’s Yield Criterion)
[Henri Tresca-French Mechanical Engineer]

Failure occurs when:

  FAILURE
 Recall: Design
Create a new engineering component or structure that
will meet specifications and performance criteria

Factor of Safety (FoS)

Failure Stress Strength of Material
Factor of Safety  FoS  
Actual Stress Max Computed Stress

For Max Shear Stress Theory, we

FoS  1 avoids failure
will use shear stress instead of
normal stress
The design criteria
The designer defines failure;
the engineering
component/structure doesn’t
component/structure
meet performance criteria;
must achieve
e.g. excessive deformation,
fracture, etc.
 For Normal Stress Theory, we used a
simple tension test (STT)

We will assume that in a complex loading condition (e.g.

non-uniform beam bending with flexure and shear), the
material has the same capability as found in the STT
  FAILURE

Mohr’s Circle - Stress

 0 ,  FAILURE 
.  FAILURE
 PROPORTION AL

 PROPORTION AL
LIMIT ( YIELD )

. .
LIMIT ( YIELD ) 2

0 ,0   ,0 
. FAILURE
 Mohr’s Circle - Stress

 0 ,  FAILURE 
.  FAILURE
 PROPORTION AL

 PROPORTION AL
LIMIT ( YIELD )

. .
LIMIT ( YIELD ) 2

0 ,0   ,0 
. FAILURE

 PROPORTION AL
Failure Stress LIMIT ( YIELD )
Factor of Safety  FoS  
Actual Stress  ACTUAL
( ALLOWED )

FoS  1 avoids failure

Maximum Shear Stress Theory
(Tresca’s Yield Criterion)
[Henri Tresca-French Mechanical Engineer]

Failure occurs when:

  FAILURE

This theory is good for ductile

materials (e.g. steel, aluminum,
plastic, etc)

Because yield in ductile materials

is usually caused by the slippage
of crystal planes along the
maximum shear stress surface.