Distribution of shearing stresses under three-point flexure in beams made of composite materials

Conclusions 1. When short beams made of composite materials with span-to-height ratios within the 4.0–5.0 range are tested in three-point flexure, the profile of shearing stresses over the height of a beam cross section departs appreciably from a parabolic one over approximately 40% of the span length.2. The zones of a perturbed state of stress, which appear in short beams tested in three-point flexure, render this method unusable for determining the interlayer shear strength of composite materials on "ultrashort" specimens.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 56–62, January–February, 1977.