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 28 Learning Outcomes
• Continue design for an appropriate beam to be
used in a real world engineering problem.
• Identify types of stresses acting on each
portion of the beam cross section.
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
Elastic Flexural Stress Transverse Shear Stress
y

V Q
 
N.A. Ib
x
τ

A A

B B

N.A.
C C
 A A

B B

N.A.
C C

  0
Recall M c
 
I
y
A M c
σ M  
I
x

Maximum Flexural Stress

(occurs at extreme fiber)
 A A

B B

N.A.
C C

V Q
 
Ib

B M y
 
q(x) Force per unit length I

M V
M+dM
N.A.
c y

V+dV
dx
τ
σ1 σ2
 A A

B B

N.A.
C C

Maximum Transverse
Shear Stress
V Q
 
Ib

C   0

In general, the maximum

shear stress occurs at the
neutral surface

N.A.
c y