Stresses in Beams

Stresses in Beams
Forces and couples acting on the beam cause bending (flexural stresses) and shearing stresses on any cross section of the beam and deflection perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the beam. If couples are applied to the ends of the beam and no forces act on it, the bending is said to be pure bending. If forces produce the bending, the bending is called ordinary bending.
 

Assumptions
In using the following formulas for flexural and shearing stresses, it is assumed that a plane section of the beam normal to its longitudinal axis prior to loading remains plane after the forces and couples have been applied, and that the beam is initially straight and of uniform cross section and that the moduli of elasticity in tension and compression are equal.
 

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