22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timoshenko beam theory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Timoshenko beam theory was developed by Ukrainian-born scientist and engineer Stephen Timoshenko early in the 20th century.[1][2] The model takes into account shear deformation and rotational inertia effects, making it suitable for describing the behaviour of short beams, sandwich composite beams or beams subject to high-frequency excitation when the wavelength approaches the thickness of the beam. The resulting equation is of 4th order, but unlike ordinary beam theory - i.e. EulerBernoulli beam theory - there is also a second order spatial derivative present. Physically, taking into account the added mechanisms of deformation effectively lowers the stiffness of the beam, while the result is a larger deflection under a static load and lower predicted eigenfrequencies for a given set of boundary conditions. The latter effect is more noticeable for higher frequencies as the wavelength becomes shorter, and thus the distance between opposing shear forces decreases. If the shear modulus of the beam material approaches infinity - and thus the beam becomes rigid in shear - and if rotational inertia effects are neglected, Timoshenko beam theory converges towards ordinary beam theory.

Contents
1 Quasistatic Timoshenko beam 1.1 Boundary conditions 1.2 Example: Cantilever beam 2 Dynamic Timoshenko beam 2.1 Axial effects 2.2 Damping 3 Shear coefficient 4 See also 5 References

Deformation of a Timoshenko beam (blue) compared with that of an Euler-Bernoulli beam (red).

Quasistatic Timoshenko beam

In static Timoshenko beam theory without axial effects, the displacements of the beam are assumed to be given by

where are the coordinates of a point in the beam, are the components of the displacement vector in the three coordinate directions, is the angle of rotation of the normal to the midsurface of the beam, and is the displacement of the mid-surface in the -direction. The governing equations are the following uncoupled system of ordinary differential equations:
Deformation of a Timoshenko beam. The normal rotates by an amount which is not equal to .

The Timoshenko beam theory for the static case is equivalent to the Euler-Bernoulli theory when the last term above is neglected, an approximation that is valid when

where

is the length of the beam.

Combining the two equations gives, for a homogeneous beam of constant cross-section,

The bending moment and the shear force elastic Timoshenko beam, are:

in the beam are related to the displacement

and the rotation

. These relations, for a linear

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

1/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Derivation of quasistatic Timoshenko beam equations From the kinematic assumptions for a Timoshenko beam, the displacements of the beam are given by

Then, from the strain-displacement relations for small strains, the non-zero strains based on the Timoshenko assumptions are

Since the actual shear strain in the beam is not constant over the cross section we introduce a correction factor

such that

The variation in the internal energy of the beam is

Define

Then

Integration by parts, and noting that because of the boundary conditions the variations are zero at the ends of the beam, leads to

The variation in the external work done on the beam by a transverse load

per unit length is

Then, for a quasistatic beam, the principle of virtual work gives

The governing equations for the beam are, from the fundamental theorem of variational calculus,

For a linear elastic beam

Therefore the governing equations for the beam may be expressed as

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

2/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Combining the two equations together gives

Boundary conditions
The two equations that describe the deformation of a Timoshenko beam have to be augmented with boundary conditions if they are to be solved. Four boundary conditions are needed for the problem to be well-posed. Typical boundary conditions are: Simply supported beams : The displacement is zero at the locations of the two supports. The bending moment applied to the beam also has to be specified. The rotation and the transverse shear force are not specified. Clamped beams : The displacement and the rotation are specified to be zero at the clamped end. If one end is free, shear force and bending moment have to be specified at that end.

Example: Cantilever beam

For a cantilever beam, one boundary is clamped while the other is free. Let us use a right handed coordinate system where the direction is positive towards right and the direction is positive upward. Following normal convention, we assume that positive forces act in the positive directions of the and axes and positive moments act in the clockwise direction. We also assume that the sign convention of the stress resultants ( and ) is such that positive bending moments compress the material at the bottom of the beam (lower coordinates) and positive shear forces rotate the beam in a counterclockwise direction. Let us assume that the clamped end is at and the free end is at . If a point load is applied to the free end in the positive direction, a free body diagram of the beam gives us

and

Therefore, from the expressions for the bending moment and shear force, we have

A cantilever Timoshenko beam under a point load at the free end.

Integration of the first equation, and application of the boundary condition , leads to

at

The second equation can then be written as

Integration and application of the boundary condition

at

gives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

3/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The axial stress is given by

Dynamic Timoshenko beam

In Timoshenko beam theory without axial effects, the displacements of the beam are assumed to be given by

where directions,

are the coordinates of a point in the beam, are the components of the displacement vector in the three coordinate is the angle of rotation of the normal to the mid-surface of the beam, and is the displacement of the mid-surface in the -direction.

Starting from the above assumption, the Timoshenko beam theory, allowing for vibrations, may be described with the coupled linear partial differential equations:[3]

where the dependent variables are , the translational displacement of the beam, and , the angular displacement. Note that unlike the Euler-Bernoulli theory, the angular deflection is another variable and not approximated by the slope of the deflection. Also, is the density of the beam material (but not the linear density). is the cross section area. is the elastic modulus. is the shear modulus. is the second moment of area. , called the Timoshenko shear coefficient, depends on the geometry. Normally, is a distributed load (force per length).

for a rectangular section.

These parameters are not necessarily constants. For a linear elastic, isotropic, homogeneous beam of constant cross-section these two equations can be combined to give[4][5]

Derivation of combined Timoshenko beam equation The equations governing the bending of a homogeneous Timoshenko beam of constant cross-section are

From equation (1), assuming appropriate smoothness, we have

From (3), assuming appropriate smoothness,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

4/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Differentiating equation (2) gives

From equations (4) and (6)

From equations (3) and (7)

Plugging equation (5) into (8) gives

Rearrange to get

Axial effects
If the displacements of the beam are given by

where

is an additional displacement in the -direction, then the governing equations of a Timoshenko beam take the form

where

and

is an externally applied axial force. Any external axial force is balanced by the stress resultant

where

is the axial stress and the thickness of the beam has been assumed to be

The combined beam equation with axial force effects included is

Damping
If, in addition to axial forces, we assume a damping force that is proportional to the velocity with the form

the coupled governing equations for a Timoshenko beam take the form

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

5/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and the combined equation becomes

A caveat to this Ansatz damping force (resembling viscosity) is that, whereas viscosity leads to a frequency-dependent and amplitude-independent damping rate of beam oscillations, the empirically measured damping rates are frequency-insensitive, but depend on the amplitude of beam deflection.

Shear coefficient
Determining the shear coefficient is not straightforward (nor are the determined values widely accepted, i.e. there's more than one answer); generally it must satisfy:

The shear coefficient depends on the Poisson's ratio. The attempts to provide precise expressions were made by many scientists, including Stephen Timoshenko, Raymond D. Mindlin, G. R. Cowper, John W. Hutchinson, etc. In engineering practice, the expressions by Stephen Timoshenko[6] are sufficient in most cases. For solid rectangular cross-section,

For solid circular cross-section,

See also
Bending moment Bending EulerBernoulli beam theory Sandwich theory Plate theory

References
1. ^ Timoshenko, S. P., 1921, On the correction factor for shear of the differential equation for transverse vibrations of bars of uniform cross-section, Philosophical Magazine, p. 744. 2. ^ Timoshenko, S. P., 1922, On the transverse vibrations of bars of uniform cross-section, Philosophical Magazine, p. 125. 3. ^ Timoshenko's Beam Equations (http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~bilbao/master/node163.html) 4. ^ Thomson, W. T., 1981, Theory of Vibration with Applications 5. ^ Rosinger, H. E. and Ritchie, I. G., 1977, On Timoshenko's correction for shear in vibrating isotropic beams, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., vol. 10, pp. 1461-1466. 6. ^ Stephen Timoshenko, James M. Gere. Mechanics of Materials. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1972. Pages 207.

Stephen P. Timoshenko (1932). Schwingungsprobleme der technik . Verlag von Julius Springer. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timoshenko_beam_theory&oldid=590940665" Categories: Continuum mechanics Structural analysis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

6/7

22/4/2014

Timoshenko beam theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page was last modified on 16 January 2014 at 08:39. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoshenko_beam_theory

7/7