Bending Stress Explorer

What am I seeing?

• Bending stress varies linearly with distance from the neutral axis, which passes through the centroid.
• The section modulus Z = I/y tells you the moment a section can carry per unit of allowable stress.
• For unsymmetric sections like a tee, the top and bottom fibre stresses differ because ytop and ybot differ.
• Sagging moment puts the top in compression and the bottom in tension.