AMS Unsymmetrical Bending

If load line of a beam dose not coincides with one of the principal axes of the section or dose not lays
on the plane containing principal axis of inertia, the bending takes place in a plane different from a
principal plane. This type of bending is known as unsymmetrical bending.

Or

Bending occurs by applied external load, which does not lies on the plane containing one of the
principal axis of inertia, then the bending is known as unsymmetrical bending.

In case of unsymmetrical bending, the direction of neutral axes is not perpendicular to plane of
loading.

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The two main reasons of unsymmetrical bending are:-

a. The section is symmetrical about one axes or both the axes like I-section, rectangular section,
circular section, T- section, etc where product of inertia is zero but load line is inclined to both
the principal axes.
b. The section itself is unsymmetrical like angle section or channel section but load line along
vertical any centroidal axes

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DETERMINATION OF PRINCIPAL AXES AND PRINCIPAL MOMENT OF INERTIA.

State the principal Axes and Principal Moment of inertia.

If the two axes are such that, about which the product of inertia is found zero, the two axes are then
called the principle axes. The moment of inertia about a principal axes is called the principal moment
of inertia.

= =

Consider a section of area A and G is the centroid of the said area.

Let:-

XX and YY are the pair of perpendicular axis passing through C.G.

UU and VV are the pair of principal axis passing through C.G.

= Angle between principal axis and perpendicular axis i.e Angle between XX and UU OR
Angle between YY and VV

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Consider a elemental section of area dA in the first quadrant of the perpendicular axis XX and
YY having co-ordinates x and y.

Co-ordinates of the elemental section are x and y relative to XX and YY (w.r.t perpendicular
axis)

Co-ordinates of the elemental section are u and v relative to UU and VV (w.r.t principal axis)

From geometry it can be found out that

= cos + sin

= cos sin

= 2 = ( cos sin )2

= ( 2 2 2 + 2 2 )

= (( 2 2 ) 2 (( ) ) + (( 2 2 ))

= 2 2 + 2

= 2 = ( cos + sin )2

= ( 2 2 +2 + 2 2 )

= (( 2 2 ) + 2 (( ) ) + (( 2 2 ))

= 2 + 2 + 2

= = ( cos + sin )( cos sin )

= ( cos 2 sin2 + 2 2 )

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= ( 2 2 ) + ( 2 ) ( 2 )

= cos 2 + sin 2 sin 2
2 2

= cos 2 + ( ) sin 2
2

As UU and VV are the pair of principal axis, the product of inertia becomes zero i.e. IUV = 0

=> cos 2 + ( ) sin 2 = 0
2

=> ( ) sin 2 = cos 2
2

2
=> tan 2 =

The above equation gives two value of 2 differing by i.e the value of differing by /2.

If the value of = 0, then XX axis coincide with UU axis and YY axis coincide with VV
axis.

If the value of is +ve then it is measure anticlockwise from XX axis i.e the UU axis rotated
through an angle in anticlockwise direction from XX and vice-versa.

Similarly from geometry

= cos sin

= cos + sin

= 2 = ( cos + sin )2

= ( 2 2 +2 +2 2 )

= (( 2 2 ) + 2 (( ) ) + ((2 2 ))

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= 2 2 + 2

As = 0, = 2 + 2

= 2 = ( cos sin )2

= (2 2 2 + 2 2 )

= ((2 2 ) 2 (( ) ) + (( 2 2 ))

= 2 2 + 2

As = 0, = 2 + 2

+ = +

Bending:-

Bending moments are produced by transverse loads applied to beams.

Consider a cantilever beam, the bending moment acting on a section of the beam, due to an applied
transverse force, is given by the product of the applied force and its distance from that section as
shown in figure.

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Due to applied load the cantilever bend and form a convex surface at the top and concave surface at
bottom. Same effect can be formed by application of moment at the section instead of transverse load
as shown in figure.

Hence in can be conclude that, the transverse load produce bending moment and bending moment is
only responsible for bending of beam. The bending moment is acting on a plane perpendicular to
cross-section of beam. So it can be concluded that the angle between load axis and moment axis is 900.

As convex surface produced at the top and concave surface at bottom, the upper part is being stretched
and lower part is being compressed. Due to stretching upper part is under tension and lower part is
under compression. From the figure bellow it can be observed that the moment that acting about the
axis is coming out from the section at the top portion resulting tension where as the moment going into
the section at bottom resulting compression. Again traveling from top surface to bottom surface the
stress change from tension to compression i.e. +ve to ve. Hence it can be said that there is a surface
exist where stress is zero and that surface is known as neutral surface. The intersection line of neutral
surface and cross-section is known as neutral axis.

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Similarly for the case of simply-supported beam is analyzed bellow in term of figure.

Consider a straight beam subjected to bending moment as shown in figure.

When a bending moment is applied to a straight prismatic beam, the longitudinal lines become curved
and vertical transverse lines remain straight and yet undergo a rotation. Again the upper part of the
beam forms a concave surface and the lower part form a convex shape. This implies that compression
occurs at the upper part where as the lower part is under tension. When traveling from upper part to
lower part along the thickness i.e. from compression surface to tension surface, a surface is exist
having zero stress. This zero stress surface is known as neutral surface.

A neutral surface is where longitudinal fibers of the material will not undergo a change in length.

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RESOLUTION OF BENDING MOMENTS

A bending moment M applied in any plane parallel to the z-axis can be resolved into Mx and My
components by normal vector rules. By doing it in a visual way it will be easier to see:

Figure : Resolved bending moment about x and y axis.

From figure the following relationships can be obtained:

Mx = M sin

My = M cos

Sign convention of moment:-

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Bending moment M is considered to be +ve.

Bending moment M is considered to be -ve.

Bending moment M is considered to be +ve.

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Bending moment M is considered to be -ve.

Expression for Unsymmetrical bending:-

Consider a beam subjected to load as shown in figure. Due to load Wy , bending moment Mx
produced about the X axis across the cross-section. Similarly due to load Wx , bending moment My

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produced about the Y axis across the cross-section. These bending moments Mx and My are
responsible for producing deflection along Y direction and X direction respectively.

It can be conclude that the load axis and the moment axis are perpendicular to each other.

Determination of bending stress at a point :-

Consider a cantilever beam subjected to a transverse load as shown in figure. Due to load bending
moment M produced in a anticlockwise manner when seen as per the figure and producing tensile
stress (+ve stress) at the top and compressive stress (-ve stress) at the top.

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When external load W applied along load axis, moment M produced in anticlockwise manner about the
moment axis when seeing as per the figure for a cantilever beam. The bending moment Mx & My and Mu & Mv
can be calculated by using resolution of bending moment.

Determination of stress:-

Consider a point having co-ordinate (x, y) wrt X&Y axis and (u, v) wrt U&V axis. Stress at a point in
unsymmetrical axis always calculated taking principal axis of inertia into account. The bending
momentM has two rectangular components Mu & Mv.

=

Stress due to = (, )

Stress due to = (, )

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Net stress produced at the point = + =

Different consideration used for unsymmetrical bending:-

1. If the cross-section is symmetrical about any one axis i.e (either X axis or Y axis), then
2
product of inertia Ixy=0. When product of inertia is zero, tan 2 = =0, => = 0. It

means that XX axis coincide with UU axis and YY axis coincide with VV axis. Hence
Mx = Mu and My = Mv.

= + =

2. If the cross-section is unsymmetrical but load in transverse direction is not acting along Y
axis, then moment produced about an axis lies in the XY plane and moment M has two
rectangular components & .
=
=

Net stress produced at the point = + =

On putting the value of u, v, , , &

= cos + sin

= cos sin

= + =

3. If the cross-section is unsymmetrical but load in transverse direction i.e. along Y axis,
then moment produced about X axis.
=
=

Net stress produced at the point = + =

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On putting the value of u, v, , , &

= cos + sin

= cos sin

= + =

=
= =

= =

4. Similarly deflection can be calculated as per the following.
= ( ) "UU"
= ( ) "VV"

= +

Determination of Neutral axis:-

On neutral axis the bending stress is zero. Let consider a point on the neutral axis having co-ordinates
(u, v) wrt UU & VV axis. Stress at that point is zero.

= + = + =

=> =

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=> = =

Alternative method to solve unsymmetrical section problem & determine the stress:-

Consider any unsymmetrical section, represented by Figure, the assumption is made initially that the
stress at any point on the unsymmetrical section is given by

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= ( ) + ( )

where P and Q are constants; in other words it is assumed that bending takes place about the X and Y
axes at the same time, stresses resulting from each effect being proportional tothe distance from the
respective axis of bending.
Now let there be a tensile stress a on the element of area dA. Then force F on the element = dA
The direction of the force being parallel to the Z axis. The moment of this force about the X axis is
then .dA.y
Total moment = Mx = = ( + ) = + 2
As we know that:

2 =

2 =

= +
Similarly, considering moments about the Y axis,
=

The sign convention used above for bending moments is the corkscrew rule or Maxwells screw rule.
A positive moment is the direction in which a corkscrew or screwdriver has to be turned in order to
produce motion of a screw in the direction of positive X or Y , as shown in Figure. Thus with a
knowledge of the applied moments and the second moments of area about any two perpendicular axes,
P and Q can be found from eqns. ( ) and ( ) and hence the stress at any point (x, y ) can be find
out.

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Sign convention:-
1. When due to the senses moment Mx i.e (Clockwise or Anticlockwise) the screw move in
+ve X axis, then the moment Mx is considered as +ve, where as if the screw move in -ve
X axis, then the moment Mx is considered as -ve.
2. When due to the senses moment My i.e (Clockwise or Anticlockwise) the screw move in
+ve Y axis, then the moment My is considered as +ve, where as if the screw move in -ve
Y axis, then the moment My is considered as -ve,
Determination of position of Neutral axis:-
Since stresses resulting from bending are zero on the N.A. the equation of the N.A. is:-
Px + Qy = 0

= =

where (N.A, is the inclination of the N.A. to the X axis).
If the unsymmetrical member is drawn to scale and the N.A. is inserted through the centroid of the
section at the above angle, the points of maximum stress can be determined quickly by inspection as
the points most distant from the N.A., e.g. for the angle section of Figure, subjected to the load shown,
the maximum tensile stress occurs at R while the maximum compressive stress will arise at either S or
T depending on the value of.

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