Shear strength Information & Shear strength Links at HealthHaven.com

Shear strength in engineering is a term used to describe the strength of a material or component against the type of yield or structural failure where the material or component fails in shear.

In structural and mechanical engineering the shear strength of a component is important for designing the dimensions and materials to be used for the manufacture/construction of the component (e.g. beams, plates, or bolts) In a reinforced concrete beam, the main purpose of stirrups is to increase the shear strength.

For shear stress $τ$ applies

$\tau = \frac {\sigma_1 - \sigma_2}{2} ,$

where

σ 1

is major principal stress

σ 2

is minor principal stress

In general: ductile materials fail in shear (ex. aluminum), whereas brittle materials (ex. cast iron) fail in tension. See tensile strength.

To calculate: Given failing force and area, example-bolt shear strength:

$\tau = \frac {F}{A} = \frac {F}{\pi r_{bolt}^2} = \frac {4F}{\pi d_{bolt}^2}$

As a very rough guide^[1]:

Material	Ultimate Strength Relationship	Yield Strength Relationship
Steels	USS = approx. 0.75*UTS	SYS = approx. 0.58*TYS
Ductile Iron	USS = approx. 0.9*UTS	SYS = approx. 0.75*TYS
Malleable Iron	USS = approx. 1.0*UTS
Wrought Iron	USS = approx. 0.83*UTS
Cast Iron	USS = approx. 1.3*UTS
Aluminiums	USS = approx. 0.65*UTS	SYS = approx. 0.55*TYS

USS: Ultimate Shear Strength, UTS: Ultimate Tensile Strength, SYS: Shear Yield Stress, TYS: Tensile Yield Stress

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Matter/shear_tensile.htm

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