Cantilever with I-section — Permissible tip load by Tresca (max
shear) theory
Problem data
A cantilever beam of length L = 1.5 m carries a concentrated tip load P (downwards). The cross
section is the I-section shown in the figure; the section dimensions read from the drawing are:
overall depth d = 150 mm, flange width bf = 200 mm,
flange thickness tf = 12 mm, web thickness tw = 12 mm.
Material yield stress σy = 200 MPa. Factor of safety F S = 1.5. (Values E = 200 GPa, ν = 0.3 are
given but are not required for the static Tresca check.)
We determine the largest permissible P using the maximum shear (Tresca) criterion:
σy /F S
τmax,(state) = .
2
For a plane stress state with bending normal stress σ and shear τ at the critical point,
r
σ 2
τmax,state = + τ 2.
2
1. Section properties (mm, N–mm units)
Let the web clear height be
hw = d − 2tf = 150 − 2(12) = 126 mm.
Area and I: Top (and bottom) flange area
Af = bf tf = 200 × 12 = 2400 mm2 .
Flange centroid distance from neutral axis (NA)
d tf
yf = − = 75 − 6 = 69 mm.
2 2
Flange second moment about its own centroid
bf t3f
If,cent = .
12
Use parallel-axis to get one flange contribution
If = If,cent + Af yf2 .
1
Web second moment about NA (web vertical):
tw h3w
Iw = .
12
Total second moment
I = 2If + Iw .
(Plugging numbers)
200 · 123 12 · 1263
I≈2 + 2400 · 692 +
12 12
≈ 2 3456 + 2400 · 4761 + 12 · 2,000,376
≈ 2.4910776 × 107 mm4 .
Distance to extreme fibre (top)
d
c= = 75 mm.
2
2. Bending stress at the fixed support (top fibre)
Bending moment at the root of the cantilever
M =PL (with L = 1500 mm).
Bending stress at top fibre
Mc P Lc
σ= = .
I I
Lc
Define the coefficient Kσ = so σ = P Kσ . With the computed I,
I
MPa
Kσ ≈ 0.00451611784 (i.e. σ[MPa] = P [N] · Kσ ).
N
3. Shear stress (transverse shear) at neutral axis (web)
The vertical shear at the support is V = P . The shear stress in the web at the neutral axis is
VQ
τ= ,
I tw
where Q is the first moment of the area above the NA about the NA. The area above NA consists
of the top flange plus the upper half of the web:
area of flange = Af = 2400 mm2 , distance to NA yf = 69 mm,
hw
area of half web = Awh = tw = 12 × 63 = 756 mm2 ,
2
hw /2 63
centroid of half web from NA = = = 31.5 mm.
2 2
Thus
Q = Af yf + Awh · 31.5 ≈ 2400 · 69 + 756 · 31.5 = 1.894 14 × 105 mm3 .
Q
Define Kτ = so τ = P Kτ . Numerically
I tw
MPa
Kτ ≈ 0.000633641441 .
N
2
4. Tresca (maximum shear) criterion with safety factor
Tresca requires r
σ 2 σy /F S
+ τ2 ≤ .
2 2
Substitute σ = P Kσ and τ = P Kτ :
r
K 2 σ σy
P + Kτ2 ≤ .
2 2FS
Therefore the allowable tip load Pallow is
r
σy Kσ 2
Pallow = + Kτ2 .
2FS 2
Numerical values:
σy 200 MPa
= = 66.6667 MPa,
2FS 2 × 1.5
r
Kσ 2 MPa
+ Kτ2 ≈ 0.00234527857 .
2 N
Thus
Pallow ≈ 28 425.9 N ≈ 28.43 kN.
5. Resulting stresses at this allowable load
With P = Pallow :
σ = P Kσ ≈ 28425.9 × 0.00451612 ≈ 128.37 MPa (top fibre),
τ = P Kτ ≈ 28425.9 × 0.00063364 ≈ 18.01 MPa.
Check (left side of Tresca eq.)
r
σ 2
q 2
+ τ2 = 64.187 + 18.012 ≈ 66.667 MPa,
2
which equals σy /(2F S) as required.
Principal stresses at the critical point (for information):
r
σ σ 2
σ1,2 = ± + τ 2 ⇒ σ1 ≈ 130.85 MPa, σ2 ≈ −2.48 MPa.
2 2
6. Remarks
• The calculation used the straight-beam bending formula σ = M c/I and classic shear for-
mula τ = V Q/(Itw ). Those are appropriate here since the section geometry and loading are
conventional.
• If a different section thickness/geometry is used, re-evaluate I and Q and re-run the algebra
above.
• If you prefer, I can produce the same result with every algebraic step expanded and a full
symbolic solve in the LATEX file.