The Center of Shear Again

Abstract

Abstract There is disagreement in the literature as to the location of the center of shear. Timoshenko, for example, states that the position of this point depends upon Poisson’s ratio, whereas Trefftz says that it does not. Both Timoshenko’s and Trefftz’ solutions are compatible with the usual definition of the center of shear. The disagreement may be attributed to the assumptions of different boundary conditions. In this paper the boundary conditions are examined, and a definition of the center of shear is proposed that leads to a unique point for any cross section.