Shear Stress Distribution Equation for Beams

Suppose that a number of planks are laid one

on top of the other and supported at each end
as shown in Fig. (a). Applying a central
concentrated load to the planks at mid span will
cause them to bend as shown in Fig. (b). Due to
bending the underside of each plank will stretch
and the topside will shorten. It follows that there
must be a relative sliding between the surfaces
in contact.
(c)

If now the planks are glued together they will bend as shown in Fig. (C). The glue
has prevented the relative sliding of the adjacent surfaces and is therefore
subjected to a shear force. This means that the application of a vertical shear load
to a beam not only produces internal shear forces on cross sections of the beam
but shear forces on horizontal planes as well.

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Consider a simply supported beam of rectangular cross-section with width, b and
depth, d subjected to a distributed load q(x). Then consider an infinitesimally
small section or element a-b-c-d together with the internal forces

The element must be in equilibrium

By simplifying and ignoring the infinitesimals of higher order

Which means that the rate of change of the bending moment along a beam is
equal to the shear

Fig. 2

The above Figure illustrates the infinitesimal beam element with the bending
stresses distribution on both the left-hand (L) and right-hand (R) faces of the
element. The distribution is directly related to M and M+dM, respectively. Further,
from the theory of simple bending

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 Fig. 2

Now consider the equilibrium of (b)

Substituting (2) into (3)

In the above equation

--- the horizontal shear stress ( or the complimentary vertical shear stress)
I --- 2nd moment of area of the entire section
V --- shear force action on the entire section
b --- width of the beam section at the location where shear stress is calculated

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 Fig. 2
Is the first moment of area A about the neutral axis
i.e. the product of that part of the cross-section area (the shaded area in
Fig,2(c)) and the distance from the neutral axis to the centroid of the
area, Hence

We can re-express (4) as the general shear stress equation for beams

Example 1 - Rectangular cross-section

Determine the vertical shear stress distribution through the section at the
location of maximum shear force.

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Example 2
I section beam subjected to a vertical shear force. Find shear Stress distribution

First, consider shear stress in flange

Again parabolic and when y = d I 2,

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Then shear stress in web

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Example 3
Consider the above I-sectional beam subjected to two point loads as shown
below, where D=800mm, d=740mm, B=300mm and b=25mm.
At the location of maximum shear force, calculate the shear stress at
depths of 0, 30, 200 and 400 mm from the top edge of the section

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