This document is part of the notes written by 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 Beam Theory

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.

Terje Haukaas

University of British Columbia

www.inrisk.ubc.ca

dx

!v
-dw

-dwv

(a) Shear stress

(b) Fibre deformation

(c) Actual shear deformation

(d) Average shear deformation

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 dA = dw
A

(1)

Substitution of the kinematic relationship w= dx yields:

( dx ) dA = (
A

dx ) V

(2)

Substitution of the material law =G yields:

G dx dA = G dx V
A

(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/Av, where Av is an auxiliary shear area that is defined shortly:

G dx dA = A G dx V
A v

V 1

(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 Av= A, where is a constant that is defined shortly yields:

1 V V Q G dx I t dA = A G dx V A
2

(5)

Solving Eq. (5) for yields:

Timoshenko Beam Theory

Page 2

Terje Haukaas

University of British Columbia

www.inrisk.ubc.ca

I2 Q A dA t A
2

(6)

Essentially, reveals how much of the cross-section that the shear force is smeared uniformly over in the average shear deformation configuration. The value of for a few typical cross-section shapes is provided in Figure 2.

!=

5 6

!=

9 10

!=

1 2

!"

Aweb A

Figure 2: Shear area Av= A for a few cross-section types.

Upon determining the shear area, Av, associated with the beam cross-section, 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 V = G GAv

(7)

where Av=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 3, the cross-section is rotating more due to shear deformation. The total cross-section rotation is

dw + v dx

(8)

Substitution into the kinematic equations from Euler-Bernoulli beam theory yields

du d 2 w d v = + z dx dx 2 dx

(9)

Combined with the classical equations for equilibrium and material law, the modified differential equation for beam bending according to Timoshenko theory is

Timoshenko Beam Theory

Page 3

Terje Haukaas

University of British Columbia

www.inrisk.ubc.ca

q=

d 2 w d d 4 w d 3 v d2 E 2 v z 2 dA = EI 4 dx 2 dx dx dx 3 dx A

(10)

Substitution of Eq. (7) yields

d 4w 1 d 3V q = EI 4 GAv dx 3 dx
dV dx

(11)

Combined with the following classical equilibrium equation the differential equation according to Timoshenko beam theory is

q=

(12)

d 4w q 1 d 2q = + dx 4 EI GAv dx 2

(13)

Bending deformation:
dx

dw

!v
Shear deformation:

!v
Figure 3: Contribution from shear deformation to cross-section rotation.

Timoshenko Beam Theory

Page 4