Investigation of a cross-section with a constant transverse shear stress distribution using a numerical approach

Abstract

A structural beam which is subjected to shear forces acting perpendicularly to its longitudinal axis will experience longitudinal and transverse shear stresses. In beams where failure in the transverse direction is plausible, it is desirable to maintain a constant transverse shear stress over the beam cross-section to avoid stress concentrations and to use the least amount of material. A numerical approach to the inverse problem of solving for a beam cross-section with a constant transverse shear stress distribution was investigated in this study using Microsoft Excel’s Solver and Matlab. The efficiency and shape of the developed cross-section were dependent on the number of elements used to discretize the cross-section. As the number of elements approached infinity, the shape of the cross-section became infinitely thin at the top and infinitely wide at the neutral axis, while also approaching an efficiency of 100%. It is therefore determined that this is an ill-posed inverse problem and no such perfect cross-section exists.