Calculate Shear and bearing force

Typical connectors with shearing force

Bolt
P
P Easy to disassembly

Rivet
P
P
Cannot be disassembled

Key
M shaft Transmit rotating
Wheel
 How many possible scenarios of this connector being
damaged?
P
钢板 （ 1 ） Shear damage
along with I-I section to be sheared
铆钉 broken
1

1
P
 （ 2 ） Bearing damage
c d
Due to the bearing force, plastic
deformation occurs at the local
a b
area of rivet, i.e. at contacting
surface of ab ， cd

（ 3 ） Tensile damage

The plate is weakened at the rivet place and damage

occurs due to this tension.
Practical calculation for shearing

1
Fs Q
1
P

The internal force in shear area can be

found as,
QP
 Assumption :shear force is uniformly distributed
over the shear area ： The requirement I for shearing is,
Q Distribution of direct
   [ ]
AQ shear stress is usually
complex and not easily
Q —— shear force ； determined.
AQ—— shear area ；
Three key problems
τ —— shear stress;
1 、 Dimensions
[τ] —— allowable shear
stress 2 、 Maximum Loading
3 、 Strength check
Bearing stress
If two bodies are pressed against each other, compressive
forces are developed on the area of contact. The pressure
caused by these surface loads is called bearing stress.

P
钢板

铆钉

P
The difficulty inherent in such a complicated stress distribution is
avoided by the common practice of assuming that the bearing
stress is uniformly distributed over a reduced area.
The requirement I I for bearing is,
Pc
c   [ c ]
Ac
Pc —— bearing force
Ac —— reduced area ；
[σc ]—— allowable bearing limit
 Typical reduced area in bearing force
A reduced area for key connection is the effective bearing
area

A reduced area for rivet connection is taken to be the

projection area of the rivet

Key Rivet or bolt

 Upper bearing area

Key connection h
2 Lower bearing area

Upper half
circular area

Rivet and bolt

connection Lower half
circular area
 Key connection Rivet and bolt

Bearing stress
distribution
l
h
b
d
Abs  l  h h A bs  d  h
2

A reduced area for rivet connection is taken to be the projection

area of the rivet
Connection plat damage

The remaining area of cross

section at hole location
A j  t ( b  nd )
b － width of the plate
t － thickness of the plate
n － number of holes

Requirement III for plate is,

P
   [ ]
Aj
Example 1
A given rivet connection, axial force F ＝
20KN ， t=10mm ， allowable shear limit [τ] ＝
100MPa ， allowable bearing limit [σbs] ＝ 200MPa ，
please design the diameter of the rivet.
F
F t
t

Here only two allowable limits are provided. In other

words, we can make use of two limits to find the diameters
of rivet and pick the bigger one as the final design
 Solution ： （ 1 ） from direct shear

F d 2
F t Shear area: AQ 
4
t
Shear force ： Q  F  20kN

Q 4Q
Requirement I :   [ ]
AQ d 2

4Q 4  20  10 3
d    16mm
 [ ]   100
 （ 2 ） From bearing force

F Reduced area ：AQ  dt

F t
t
Bearing force ：Pc  F  20kN

Pc Pc
Requirement II: c    [ c ]
Ac dt

Pc 20  1000
d    10mm
t[ c ] 10  200

The final design is d=16mm 。

Example 2
Tenon connector is
shown ， a=b=12cm ， h=35cm ， c=4.5cm ， P=40KN
， find the shear stress at the connector.
Solution ： （ 1 ） Shear force Q=P ；
h h bearing force Pc=P ；
P c P
Shear area and bearing area are
a

shown
（ 2 ） shear and bearing
stress
b

Q P 40  1000
     0.952 MPa
Upper view AQ bh 120  350
挤压面
剪切面
P 40  1000
P P c    7.4 MPa
bc 120  45
Example 3
A connector is shown ， Given conditions
[σ]=160MPa ， [τ]=120MPa ，
[σbs]=300MPa 。 Please check the Pstrength of the
cover t1=7  100 KN
connector. 2
P = 200KN
t2=12
Main plate P
 100 KN
t1=7 2
I II
P = 200KN
b2=200 20 b1=160 P = 200KN

I II
Rivet connection
 Solution ：（ 1 ） Draw FBD of a rivet

P
Pc 1   20kN
2n
P
Pc 2   40kN
n
P
Pc 1   20kN
2n

P
Q  20kN
2n

P
Pc 2   40kN
n

P
Q  20kN
2n
 （ 2 ） Shear stress check
Q 20kN
    63.7 MPa  [ ]
AQ 
d2
4
（ 3 ） Bearing stress check
Pc 1 Pc 1 20  1000
 c1     142.8 MPa
Ac 1 dt1 20  7
Pc 2 Pc 2 40  1000
 c2     166.7 MPa
Ac 2 dt 2 20  12

Comparison ：  c1   c 2
（ 4 ） plot axial force diagram for cover and main plate

Cover t1=7 P  100 KN

2
P = 200KN
t2=12
Main plate P
 100 KN
t1=7 2
I II
P = 200KN
b2=200 20 b1=160 P = 200KN

I II
Main plate ： P
I
3 II
P
5 Axial force
diagram

I-I section I II
P 200  103
 II    104 MPa   
 b2  2d  t2  200  2  20  12  10 6

II-II section
3 3
P  200  103
 II  II  5  5  71.4 MPa   
 b2  3d  t2  200  3  20  12  10 6
 Cover ： I II P
/2
/5
P
Axial force
diagram
II-II Section I II
Internal force in II-Iiis bigger than the force in I-I ，
while, cross section area II is smaller that I-I cross
section ， thus only II-II section is checked.
P 3
100  10
 II  II  2   143 MPa   
 b1  3d  t1 160  3  20   7  10 6

（ 5 ） After checking above three requirements, the

connector is safe.