What is Shear Factor?

When you apply an exponential factor to the shear matrix, such as shear matrix to the power of 3, you are increasing the "shear factor" by 3.

Ok, thank you, but I am a student and I am really not good at what you are talking about yet.

I am just trying a program on the schools computer ,that I am trying out on my simple beams, and when I put the shear factor very high, the results are allmost the same as what I get, but when the shear factor is 1 the results differ a little.

So is it that when I put the shear factor on my profiles very high, the program neglects shear deformation or something else?

I've found two different views on this. One says it is the beam area divided on the area of the beam that is resisting shear.

Another source sosys it contains the shear modulus(G), EI, and the shear area, not so easy to find the right answer:D. I sould appreciate some input.

I'm not sure that the term "Shear Factor" has a consistent definition in the literature. It probably depends on the software you are using. Here is how p-beam defines it.

You might want to look at some of these links to learn more about shear deformation in beams.

Most practicing engineers ignore shear deformation when calculating deflection of steel beams. It isn't usually a significant part of the deflection, although it can be for deep beams with short spans, but in those cases, deflection is not much of a concern. For materials other than steel, it should be checked.

Thank you Bruce, I've read alot of books now and it has to be a software thing.

Ok, so in real life it is ignored yes. I think that is interesting, becase even thogh I ignored it in the program there was some difference when I had shear factor high and when I didnt, and I used steel with E=210 000 MPa.