Mechanics and Materials

Chapter 6: Bending
Lecture Outline

i. Composite Beams
ii. Reinforced Concrete Beams
iii. Curved Beams
Composite Beams
• Beams constructed of two or more different materials are called
composite beams
• Engineers design beams in this manner to develop a more efficient
means for carrying applied loads
• Flexure formula cannot be applied directly to determine normal
stress in a composite beam as the material is not homogeneous
• Thus a method will be developed to “transform” a beam’s x-section
into one made of a single material, then the flexure formula can be
applied

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Composite Beams
•  Normal strain variation is shown in figure (b) if material is
homogeneous and will vary linearly. Stress in found in material 1
from and material 2 by
• If material 1 is stiffer than material 2 , the stress variation is not
linear rather will jump at the juncture, due to variation in modulus
of Elasticity.

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Composite Beams
• To avoid complicated stress distribution it is simpler to “transform”
the beam into one made of a single material
• If the beam is transformed so that it only contains less stiff material
2, the height of the upper portion remains same but it must be
widened to carry a load equivalent to that carried by the stiffer
material 1.

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Composite Beams
•  The width can be determined by considering force dF acting
on area dA = dzdy of the beam dF=A=
• Assuming the width of a corresponding element of a height
dy in Fig (e) is ndz, then dF=A=

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Composite Beams
• Equating these forces as they produce the same moment
about the z neutral axis

• Dimensionless factor n, is called the transformation factor. It

indicates that x-section, with a width b on original beam, be
increased to a width of b2 = nb in region where material 1 is
being transformed into material 2.

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Composite Beams
•  If the beam is transformed so that it only contains more stiff material
2, the height of the upper portion remains same but its width must
be reduced in order to carry a load equivalent to that carried by the
stiffer material 1. Less stiff material is required to support the
moment. The transformation factor n is less than 1 as

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Composite Beams
• Once “transformed”, the normal-stress distribution over
the transformed x-section will be linear as shown below.

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 Composite Beams
• The stress in the transformed material has to be multiplied
 

by transformation factor n (or n’). This is because the area

of the transformed material A=is n times the area of the
actual material A=

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 Composite Beams
Important Points
• Composite beams made from different materials to efficiently carry
a load
• Application of flexure formula requires material to be homogeneous,
and x-section of beam must be transformed into a single material
• Transformation factor is a ratio of the moduli of different materials
that make up the beam. It converts dimensions of x-section of
composite beam into a beam of single material.
• Stress in transformed section must be multiplied by transformation
factor to obtain stress in actual beam

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Problem
The composite beam in Fig. is made of wood and reinforced with
a steel strap located on its bottom side. If the beam is subjected
to a bending moment of M = 2 kN .m, determine the normal stress
at points B and C. Est = 200 GPa, Ew = 12 GPa,

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Solution
•Transform
  the section in to one made entirely of steel. Steel has a
greater stiffness than wood the width of the wood is reduced to an
equivalent width for steel Est Ew
n= Ew / Est Est = 200 GPa, Ew = 12 GPa,
Width of the transformed section is

The location of the neutral axis

(centroid) is

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Solution
The moment of inertia about the neutral axis is

I=
 

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Solution
•Applying
  the flexure formula the normal stress at
Band C is

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Solution
The normal stress at wood at point B is
determined from
n= Ew / Est Est = 200 GPa, Ew = 12 GPa,

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 Reinforced Concrete Beams
• Concrete is very susceptible to cracking when it is in tension,
therefore by itself it will not be suitable for resisting a bending
moment
• In order to avoid the failure of concrete in tension, steel reinforcing
rods are placed within a concrete beam at a location where the
concrete is in tension

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Reinforced Concrete Beams

• The rods are placed farthest away from beam’s neutral axis,
so that the moment created by the forces developed in them
is greatest about the neutral axis
• However steel rods also need concrete coverage to prevent
corrosion or loss of strength in case of fire
• Codes used for actual reinforced concrete design assume the
concrete will not be able to support any tensile loading, since
the possible cracking of concrete is unpredictable

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 Reinforced Concrete Beams
•  The neutral axis must be located and maximum stress in
the concrete and steel must be determined
• Area of steel Ast is transformed in to an equivalent area of
concrete Aconc using transformation factor n= Est / Econc
• The ratio gives n as Est = 200 GPa, Econc = 25 GPa
 • Greater amount of concrete is required to
replace the steel. The transformed area is nAst.
Here d represents the distance from the top of
the beam to the thin strip of (transformed) steel,
b is the beam’s width, and h is the yet unknown
distance from the top of the beam to the neutral
axis.
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 Reinforced Concrete Beams
•  The obtain h the distance from the top of the beam to neutral
axis, the neutral axis must pass through the centroid C of the
cross-sectional area
• With reference to the neutral axis, therefore, the moment
of the two areas together, , must be zero
Also

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Problem
The reinforced concrete beam has the cross-sectional area
shown in Fig. (a). If it is subjected to a bending moment of
M = 60 kip.ft, determine the normal stress in each of the
steel reinforcing rods and the maximum normal stress in the
concrete. Take Est = 29(103) ksi and Econc = 3.6(103) ksi.

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 Solution
Section properties
Total area of steel, Ast = 2[(0.5 in)2] = 1.571 in2 will be transformed
into an equivalent area of concrete as shown in Fig. (b)

Centroid must lie on the neutral axis, thus  yA = 0

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Solution
Section properties
Using the value of , the moment of inertia of the
transformed section about the neutral axis is

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 Solution
Normal Stress
Applying the flexure formula to the transformed
section, the maximum normal stress in the concrete is

The normal stress resisted by the concrete strip that

replaced the steel is

The normal stress in each of the two reinforcing rods is

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Curved Beams
• Flexure formula only applies to members that are straight as
normal strain varies linearly from the neutral axis
• Thus another equation needs to be formulated for curved
beam, i.e., a member that has a curved axis and is subjected
to bending
• Typical examples include hooks and rings. In all cases, the
members are not slender, but rather have a sharp curve

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 Curved Beams
• Assumptions for analysis:
1. X-sectional area is constant and has an axis of symmetry
that is perpendicular to direction of applied moment M.
This moment is positive if it tends to straighten out the
member
2. Material is homogeneous and isotropic and behaves in
linear-elastic manner under loading
3. X-sections of member remain plane after moment applied
and distortion of x-section within its own plane, as caused
by Poisson’s effect will be neglected

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Curved Beams

•   Radius r references the known location of the centroid for the

cross-sectional area, radius R references the yet unspecified
location of the neutral axis, and r locates the arbitrary point or
area element dA on the cross section all originating from the
center of curvature O of the member.
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 Curved Beams
•   If we isolate a differential segment of the
beam, Fig. (b), the stress tends to deform the
material such that each cross section will
rotate through an angle . The normal strain in
the material located at radius r will now be
determined.
• This strip has an original length rd ; however,
due to the rotations the strip’s total change in
length is (R - r).
• Consequently, = (R - r)/ . If k = / d , a constant,
since it is the same for any particular strip, we
have = k(R - r)/r.

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 Curved Beams
•   Unlike the case of straight beams, here it
can be seen that the normal strain is a
nonlinear function of r, in fact it varies in
a hyperbolic fashion. This occurs even
though the cross section of the beam
remains plane after deformation. Since
the material is linear elastic, then = E,
and so

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 Curved Beams
Location of neutral axis:

A
R=
dA
∫ A r

R = the location of neutral axis, specified from center of curvature

 

Oof member
A = the x-sectional area of the member
r = the arbitrary position of the area element dA on x-section
specified from center of curvature P’ of member
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 Curved Beams
Common x-sections to use in integral in Eqn.

A
R=
dA
∫ A r

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 Curved Beams
Normal stress in curved beam:

M(R  r) My
= =
Ar(r  R) Ae(R  y)

• The above equations represent 2 forms

of the curved-beam formula, used to
determine the normal-stress distribution
in a member

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 Curved Beams
Normal stress in curved beam:
• The stress distribution is as shown, hyperbolic, and is
sometimes called circumferential stress
• Radial stress will also be created as a result
• If radius of curvature is greater than 5 times the depth of
member, flexure formula can be used to determine the
stress instead

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Curved Beams
Summary
• Curved beam formula used to determine circumferential
stress in a beam when radius of curvature is less than five
times the depth of the beam
• Due to beam curvature, normal strain in beam does not vary
linearly with depth as in the case of straight beam. Thus,
neutral axis does not pass through centroid of section
• Ignore radial stress component of bending, if x-section is a
solid section and not made from thin plates

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Curved Beams
Procedure for analysis
Section properties
• Determine x-sectional area A and location of centroid r,
measured from center of curvature
• Compute location of neutral axis, R. If x-sectional area
consists of n “composite” parts, compute ∫ dA/r for each part.
• For entire section,

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Curved Beams
Procedure for analysis
Normal stress
• Normal stress located at a pt r away from the center of
curvature is determined Eqn.

• If distance y to pt. is measured from neutral axis, then

compute e = r  R and use Eqn.
• Since r  R generally produces a very small number, it is
best to calculate r and R with sufficient capacity so that
subtraction leads to e with at least 3 significant figures
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Curved Beams
Procedure for analysis
Normal stress
• Positive stress indicates tensile stress, negative means
compressive stress. Positive M tends to straighten out the
member
• Stress distribution over entire x-section can be graphed, or a
volume element of material can be isolated and used to
represent stress acting at the pt on x-section where it has been
calculated

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Thanks