LECTURE 1:

UNSYMMETRIC
BENDING

Prepared By: Inst. Liezl Tan

For CE 14 Lecture @ ICE 303
Jan. 20, 2016

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2 Discussion Outline
– Review of Flexural Stress for SYMMETRIC BENDING
– Significance / Practical Application of the concept of
UNSYMMETRIC BENDING
– Derivation of flexural stress for UNSYMMETRIC
BENDING
– How to determine the LOCATION and the
corresponding MAGNITUDE of the MAXIMUM
STRESS?
– Summary
 SYMMETRIC BENDING

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4 RECALL: Symmetric Bending

FLEXURE FORMULA

ASSUMPTIONS:
– Beam is initially straight and prismatic.
– Plane section before bending remains plane after bending.
– Material is Linear-Elastic and homogeneous.
– Beam does not twist or buckle. Negligible transverse shear
stress.
– Resisting moment is applied in the plane of symmetry
 Why study
UNSYMMETRIC
BENDING?
Inclined members
Lateral and vertical loads
Sections with no symmetry

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6 DEFINITION: Unsymmetric Bending
– Beam sections with a plane of symmetry but with the couple
(resisting moment) applied NOT IN or PARALLEL to the section’s
plane of symmetry.

– Beam sections with NO plane of symmetry.

7 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– Consider an arbitrary cross-section of a PRISMATIC and INITIALLY STRAIGHT
beam. (ASSUMPTION #1)
8 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– A couple M is applied at the left end of the beam.

M
9 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– For the beam segment to be in equilibrium, there must be an equal but
opposite couple at the right end (section exposed by traversing a plane) of the
M beam denoted by Mr (resisting couple)

Mr
 10 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– The resisting couple Mr, is the “RESULTANT” moment produced by the normal
stress acting on the cross section.

M
M y
y

σ
Mr

z
z
 11 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– For the beam segment to be in equilibrium,

y y
Mr
Mry
σ
S
z Mrz α z
12 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– In order to evaluate the equilibrium equations, we have to
determine HOW THE NORMAL STRESS IS DISTRIBUTED OVER THE
AREA dA?
– ASSUMPTION #2: Plane section remains plane. [implies ε is linearly
varying]
– ASSUMPTION #3: Linear-elastic Material. [implies that σ is linearly
varying with ε]

– BUT!!! since the beam is UNSYMMETRIC, the normal strain, ε,

although linearly varying, is NO LONGER dependent on one
variable / coordinate.

LINEAR ; MULTI-VARIATE
13 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– General form of a LINEAR, MULTI-VARIATE
Equation:

– Applying to normal stress (σ):

14 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending

– Plugging in the above equation into the

equilibrium equations:
15 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– To further simplify the evaluation of the integrals,
we can set the origin of the coordinate axes (y, z)
at the CENTROID of the cross section
(ASSUMPTION #4) zero zero

zero

zero
16 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– Let:
; ;

zero zero

Iyz Iy zero

Iz Iyz zero
17 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– The problem now reduces to solving 3 equations with 3
unknowns( k1, k2, k3) provided that Mry & Mrz are
known.
18 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending
– Solving for the coefficients (k1, k2):

– Substituting the coefficients into the GENERAL EQUATION

of stress (Linear, Multi-variate Equation):
19 Flexural Stress: Unsymmetric Bending

FORM 1:

FORM 2:
 EXAMPLE

ATTENDANCE CHECK!

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21 Example 1.1.
– Determine the stress at point A:
y

A 1” 2”

2”
2”
z
300 kip -in B
2”
2”
3”
 MAXIMUM STRESSES
[Location & Magnitude]

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23 Maximum Stresses: Unsymmetric Bending

– Portion of the cross-section experiences TENSILE stress

and a portion experiences COMPRESSIVE stress. Hence, at
some point on the cross section we will encounter a ZERO
STRESS.  NEUTRAL AXIS
– As previously discussed, stress is linearly varying.
Meaning, the further the element is from the neutral axis,
the higher the magnitude. Hence it is just logical to select
the point farthest from the neutral axis as the point of
maximum stress.
– In determining the maximum stress, one has to determine
the ORIENTATION OF THE NEUTRAL AXIS first.
– For unsymmetric bending, the NEUTRAL AXIS rotates
about the centroid by an angle equal to β.
24 Maximum Stresses: Unsymmetric Bending

– Using FORM 1 of the flexural stress formula for unsymmetric

bending, we let σ = 0.

𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑧 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
2
𝑦 𝐼𝑦 𝐼𝑧− 𝐼 𝑦𝑧 𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑧 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
= = =𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝛽
𝑧 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑦𝑧 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
2
𝐼𝑦 𝐼𝑧− 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
25 Maximum Stresses: Unsymmetric Bending

ORIENTATION OF THE NEUTRAL AXIS:

𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑧 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝛽=
𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑦𝑧

Once the orientation of the neutral axis is determined, the point

farthest from the neutral axis (longest perpendicular distance) will
experience the maximum stress.

So, DETERMINE THE COORDINATES (y,z) OF THE POINT FARTHEST

FROM THE NEUTRAL AXIS.
26 Maximum Stresses: Unsymmetric Bending

Then use either FORM 1 or FORM 2 in solving for the MAGNITUDE of

the maximum stress.
FORM 1:

FORM 2:
 EXAMPLE

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28 Example 1.1.
– Determine the orientation of the NEUTRAL AXIS:
y

A 1” 2”

2”
2”
z
300 kip -in B
2”
2”
3”
29 Example 1.1.
– Determine the MAGNITUDE OF THE MAXIMUM STRESS:
y

A 1” 2”
C
2”
0
2” 𝛽=50.83
z
300 kip -in B
2”

D 2”
3”
 SUMMARY

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31 SUMMARY
– Flexure Formula for UNSYMMETRIC BENDING

– How to determine the ORIENTATION OF THE

NEUTRAL AXIS?
𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑧 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝛽=
𝑀 𝑟𝑧 𝐼 𝑦 + 𝑀 𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑦𝑧
32 SUMMARY
– What are the ASSUMPTIONS set forth in the
derivation of the stress formula for the
unsymmetric bending?
– How to determine the LOCATION and the
corresponding MAGNITUDE of the
MAXIMUM STRESS
 END of LECTURE 1

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 SEATWORK BY PAIR

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