Shear stress - Wikipedia 01/01/2025, 00:18

Shear stress
Shear stress (often denoted by τ, Greek: tau) is
the component of stress coplanar with a material Shear stress
cross section. It arises from the shear force, the Common symbols τ
component of force vector parallel to the material SI unit pascal
cross section. Normal stress, on the other hand, Derivations from F
arises from the force vector component τ= A
other quantities
perpendicular to the material cross section on
which it acts.

General shear stress

The formula to calculate average shear stress τ or force per
unit area is:[1]

where F is the force applied and A is the cross-sectional

area. A shearing force is applied to the top
of the rectangle while the bottom is
The area involved corresponds to the material face parallel held in place. The resulting shear
to the applied force vector, i.e., with surface normal vector stress, τ, deforms the rectangle into a
parallelogram. The area involved
perpendicular to the force.
would be the top of the
parallelogram.

Other forms

Wall shear stress

Wall shear stress expresses the retarding force (per unit area) from a wall in the layers of a
fluid flowing next to the wall. It is defined as:

where µ is the dynamic viscosity, u is the flow velocity, and y is the distance from the wall.

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It is used, for example, in the description of arterial blood flow, where there is evidence that it
affects the atherogenic process.[2]

Pure
Pure shear stress is related to pure shear strain, denoted γ, by the equation[3]

where G is the shear modulus of the isotropic material, given by

Here, E is Young's modulus and ν is Poisson's ratio.

Beam shear
Beam shear is defined as the internal shear stress of a beam caused by the shear force applied to
the beam:

where

f is the total shear force at the location in question,

Q is the statical moment of area,
b is the thickness (width) in the material perpendicular to the shear, and
I is the moment of inertia of the entire cross-sectional area.
The beam shear formula is also known as Zhuravskii shear stress formula after Dmitrii
Ivanovich Zhuravskii, who derived it in 1855.[4][5]

Semi-monocoque shear
Shear stresses within a semi-monocoque structure may be calculated by idealizing the cross-
section of the structure into a set of stringers (carrying only axial loads) and webs (carrying only
shear flows). Dividing the shear flow by the thickness of a given portion of the semi-monocoque
structure yields the shear stress. Thus, the maximum shear stress will occur either in the web of
maximum shear flow or minimum thickness.

Constructions in soil can also fail due to shear; e.g., the weight of an earth-filled dam or dike
may cause the subsoil to collapse, like a small landslide.

Impact shear

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The maximum shear stress created in a solid round bar subject to impact is given by the
equation[6]

where

U is the change in kinetic energy,

G is the shear modulus, and
V is the volume of the rod.
Furthermore,

U = Urotating + Uapplied,

where

1
Urotating = 2 Iω2,
Uapplied = Tθdisplaced,
I is the mass moment of inertia, and
ω is the angular speed.

Shear stress in fluids

Any real fluids (liquids and gases included) moving along a solid boundary will incur a shear
stress at that boundary. The no-slip condition[7] dictates that the speed of the fluid at the
boundary (relative to the boundary) is zero; although at some height from the boundary, the
flow speed must equal that of the fluid. The region between these two points is named the
boundary layer. For all Newtonian fluids in laminar flow, the shear stress is proportional to the
strain rate in the fluid, where the viscosity is the constant of proportionality. For non-
Newtonian fluids, the viscosity is not constant. The shear stress is imparted onto the boundary
as a result of this loss of velocity.

For a Newtonian fluid, the shear stress at a surface element parallel to a flat plate at the point y
is given by

where

µ is the dynamic viscosity of the flow,

u is the flow velocity along the boundary, and
y is the height above the boundary.
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Specifically, the wall shear stress is defined as

Newton's constitutive law, for any general geometry (including the flat plate above mentioned),
states that shear tensor (a second-order tensor) is proportional to the flow velocity gradient (the
velocity is a vector, so its gradient is a second-order tensor):

The constant of proportionality is named dynamic viscosity. For an isotropic Newtonian flow, it
is a scalar, while for anisotropic Newtonian flows, it can be a second-order tensor. The
fundamental aspect is that for a Newtonian fluid, the dynamic viscosity is independent of flow
velocity (i.e., the shear stress constitutive law is linear), while for non-Newtonian flows this is
not true, and one should allow for the modification

This no longer Newton's law but a generic tensorial identity: one can always find an expression
of the viscosity as function of the flow velocity given any expression of the shear stress as
function of the flow velocity. On the other hand, given a shear stress as function of the flow
velocity, it represents a Newtonian flow only if it can be expressed as a constant for the gradient
of the flow velocity. The constant one finds in this case is the dynamic viscosity of the flow.

Example
Considering a 2D space in Cartesian coordinates (x,y) (the flow velocity components are
respectively (u,v)), the shear stress matrix given by

represents a Newtonian flow; in fact it can be expressed as

i.e., an anisotropic flow with the viscosity tensor

which is nonuniform (depends on space coordinates) and transient, but is independent of the
flow velocity:

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This flow is therefore Newtonian. On the other hand, a flow in which the viscosity was

is non-Newtonian since the viscosity depends on flow velocity. This non-Newtonian flow is
isotropic (the matrix is proportional to the identity matrix), so the viscosity is simply a scalar:

Measurement with sensors

Diverging fringe shear stress sensor

This relationship can be exploited to measure the wall shear stress. If a sensor could directly
measure the gradient of the velocity profile at the wall, then multiplying by the dynamic
viscosity would yield the shear stress. Such a sensor was demonstrated by A. A. Naqwi and W. C.
Reynolds.[8] The interference pattern generated by sending a beam of light through two parallel
slits forms a network of linearly diverging fringes that seem to originate from the plane of the
two slits (see double-slit experiment). As a particle in a fluid passes through the fringes, a
receiver detects the reflection of the fringe pattern. The signal can be processed, and from the
fringe angle, the height and velocity of the particle can be extrapolated. The measured value of
the wall velocity gradient is independent of the fluid properties, and as a result does not require
calibration. Recent advancements in the micro-optic fabrication technologies have made it
possible to use integrated diffractive optical elements to fabricate diverging fringe shear stress
sensors usable both in air and liquid.[9]

Micro-pillar shear-stress sensor

A further measurement technique is that of slender wall-mounted micro-pillars made of the
flexible polymer polydimethylsiloxane, which bend in reaction to the applying drag forces in the
vicinity of the wall. The sensor thereby belongs to the indirect measurement principles relying
on the relationship between near-wall velocity gradients and the local wall-shear stress.[10][11]

Electro-diffusional method
The electro-diffusional method measures the wall shear rate in the liquid phase from
microelectrodes under limiting diffusion current conditions. A potential difference between an
anode of a broad surface (usually located far from the measuring area) and the small working

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electrode acting as a cathode leads to a fast redox reaction. The ion disappearance occurs only
on the microprobe active surface, causing the development of the diffusion boundary layer, in
which the fast electro-diffusion reaction rate is controlled only by diffusion. The resolution of
the convective-diffusive equation in the near-wall region of the microelectrode lead to analytical
solutions relying the characteristics length of the microprobes, the diffusional properties of the
electrochemical solution, and the wall shear rate.[12]

See also
Critical resolved shear stress
Direct shear test
Friction
Shear and moment diagrams
Shear rate
Shear strain
Shear strength
Tensile stress
Triaxial shear test

References
1. Hibbeler, R.C. (2004). Mechanics of Materials. New Jersey USA: Pearson Education. p. 32.
ISBN 0-13-191345-X.
2. Katritsis, Demosthenes (2007). "Wall Shear Stress: Theoretical Considerations and
Methods of Measurement". Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 49 (5): 307–329.
doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2006.11.001 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.pcad.2006.11.001).
PMID 17329179 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17329179).
3. "Strength of Materials" (http://www.eformulae.com/engineering/strength_materials.php#pure
shear). Eformulae.com. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
4. Лекция Формула Журавского (http://sopromato.ru/pryamoy-izgib/formula-zhuravskogo.ht
ml) [Zhuravskii's Formula]. Сопромат Лекции (in Russian). Retrieved 2014-02-26.
5. "Flexure of Beams" (http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/civil/mechanicslectur-e/4flexurebeams1.p
df) (PDF). Mechanical Engineering Lectures. McMaster University.
6. LLC., Engineers Edge. "Shear Stress Equations and Applications" (https://engineersedge.co
m/material_science/shear-stress.htm). engineersedge.com. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
7. Day, Michael A. (2004), "The no-slip condition of fluid dynamics" (https://doi.org/10.1007%2
FBF00717588), Erkenntnis, 33 (3), Springer Netherlands: 285–296,
doi:10.1007/BF00717588 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00717588), ISSN 0165-0106 (https
://search.worldcat.org/issn/0165-0106), S2CID 55186899 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/C
orpusID:55186899).
8. Naqwi, A. A.; Reynolds, W. C. (Jan 1987), "Dual cylindrical wave laser-Doppler method for
measurement of skin friction in fluid flow", NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N, 87
9. {microS Shear Stress Sensor, MSE}
10. Große, S.; Schröder, W. (2009), "Two-Dimensional Visualization of Turbulent Wall Shear
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10. Große, S.; Schröder, W. (2009), "Two-Dimensional Visualization of Turbulent Wall Shear
Stress Using Micropillars", AIAA Journal, 47 (2): 314–321, Bibcode:2009AIAAJ..47..314G (h
ttps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AIAAJ..47..314G), doi:10.2514/1.36892 (https://doi.or
g/10.2514%2F1.36892)
11. Große, S.; Schröder, W. (2008), "Dynamic Wall-Shear Stress Measurements in Turbulent
Pipe Flow using the Micro-Pillar Sensor MPS3", International Journal of Heat and Fluid
Flow, 29 (3): 830–840, Bibcode:2008IJHFF..29..830G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/20
08IJHFF..29..830G), doi:10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2008.01.008 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ij
heatfluidflow.2008.01.008)
12. Havlica, J.; Kramolis, D.; Huchet, F. (2021), "A revisit of the electro-diffusional theory for the
wall shear stress measurement" (https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03201637/file/doc0003
2676.pdf) (PDF), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 165: 120610,
Bibcode:2021IJHMT.16520610H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021IJHMT.16520610H
), doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.120610 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ijheatmasstran
sfer.2020.120610), S2CID 228876357 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:228876357
)

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