Plastic section modulus

The Plastic section modulus is used for materials where (irreversible) plastic behaviour is dominant. The majority of designs do
not intentionally encounter this behaviour.

The plastic section modulus depends on the location of the plastic neutral axis, or PNA. The PNA is defined as the axis that splits
the cross section into two equal areas so that the area of compression equals the area of tension. So, for a square cross section
the plastic and elastic neutral axis coincide, but given a T-shape for example, this isn't necessarily the case.

The plastic section modulus is then the sum of the areas of the cross section on each side of the PNA (which are equal) multiplied
by the distance from the local centroids of the two areas to the PNA:

Z = ACyC + ATyT

Rectangular section

where: b1,b2=width, t1,t2=thickness, y1,y2 are the distances

For the two flanges of an I-
from the neutral axis to the centroids of the flanges
beam with the web excluded [3]
respectively.

Solid Circle

Hollow Circle