Bending and transverse shear stresses in fiber-composite beams by the transformed-section method

Abstract

A method to determine bending and transverse shear stress distributions in beams composed of fiber-composite layers is presented. The method is based on the transformed-section concept and takes into account the effects of Poisson's ratios and in-plane shear coupling. To demonstrate the feasibility of the transformed-section model, numerical solutions are presented for three rectangular and I-shaped cross-sections. It is shown that for bending moments the transformed-section model presented herein is entirely consistent with the lamination theory. The model can also be used to determine the transverse shear stresses, and it is shown that the accuracy of the results may be significantly affected when the effects of Poisson's ratios and in-plane shear are neglected in the analysis.