OBTAINING STRESS DISTRIBUTIONS IN BENDING THROUGH VIRTUAL LABORATORIES

According to Deformable Solid Mechanics, the application of a set of external actions to a body results in the modification of its state variables. As such, stress characterizes the intensity of the internal forces at a point of the medium, and it is necessary to know the stress distribution for quantifying the resistant capacity of the solid. The calculation of stresses applies to both the supporting elements of a structure and the mechanical components of a machine, which are respectively studied by disciplines as the Strength of Materials or Mechanical Engineering.

In this work it is presented, within the context of the Strength of Materials, the calculation of stress distributions in the most commonly used structural sections subjected to bending, by means of two virtual laboratories implemented for this purpose. The interest of these laboratories lies in the support they provide to the teaching and learning of the subject, as far as they allow calculate and display the distribution of normal and shear stresses according to the formulation explained during the lectures.