Sign Convention for Shear Force and Bending Moment

In a Nut Shell: Use shear force and bending moment to calculate the shear stress and axial
(bending) stress at all sections along the axis, x, of the beam.

The figure below shows the sign convention for positive values for shear force, V,

bending moment, M, and distributed loading, w(x).

Click here to return to example on shear stress.

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