Bending stress is the stress developed in a beam due to bending moments. It is calculated based on the bending moment and the moment of inertia of the beam’s cross-sectional area. The formula for bending stress in a cantilever beam is given by:
where:
- = Bending stress (in pascals, Pa or N/m²)
- = Bending moment at the point of interest (in newton-meters, N·m)
- = Distance from the neutral axis to the outermost fiber (in meters, m)
- = Moment of inertia of the cross-sectional area (in meters to the fourth power, m⁴)