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 18 Learning Outcome
• Solve an inelastic beam bending problem
Inelastic Beam Bending
Worksheet:
An I-beam is made of cold-rolled red brass with a cross section shown
below, and may be treated as an elasto-plastic material.
a) Determine the maximum elastic moment that the beam can support.
b) A strain gage on the top of the beam measures the strain in the x-
direction to be ε = 3250µ mm/mm. Determine the applied moment
for this situation.
c) Determine the maximum moment that the beam can support just
before it reaches a fully plastic condition.

Cold-Rolled Red Brass 200 mm

12.5 mm
12.5 mm

410 MPa
300 mm

12.5 mm
200 mm
0.002 mm/mm
 Worksheet: An I-beam is made of cold-rolled red brass with a cross section shown
below, and may be treated as an elasto-plastic material.
a) Determine the maximum elastic moment that the beam can support.
200 mm
Cold-Rolled Red Brass 12.5 mm
12.5 mm

410 MPa
300 mm

12.5 mm
200 mm
0.002 mm/mm
Find neutral axis and determine area moment of inertia, I 200 mm
12.5 mm
12.5 mm
150 mm
300 mm
Neutral
axis

12.5 mm
200 mm
 Worksheet: An I-beam is made of cold-rolled red brass with a cross section shown
below, and may be treated as an elasto-plastic material.
a) Determine the maximum elastic moment that the beam can support.

Cold-Rolled Red Brass 200 mm

12.5 mm
12.5 mm
410 MPa 150 mm
300 mm
Neutral
axis

12.5 mm
0.002 mm/mm 200 mm
I  150 x 10
6 4
Maximum Stress mm
c is the furthest distance
M c on the cross section from
 MAX
 the neutral axis
I