Effect of axial restraints on the deflection of strain hardening beams (Q1261690)

Centrally loaded, rigid-linear strain hardening rectangular beams with variable axial restraints are investigated. Load-deflection solutions are presented for beams with four common types of end conditions. It is found that the effect of strain hardening cannot be neglected, especially for beams of larger depth to length ratios. By considering strain hardening, the influence of such beam depth to length ratio on the load-deflection curve can be quantified and the length of the plastic zone estimated.