Results Interpretation: Plate Shear Force and Moment Conventions
Description
Positive moments, 
, and transverse shear forces, 
, on the plate element are shown below.
is the moment that produces bending stresses in the x direction (i.e., it produces 
). It is not a moment about the x axis.
Similarly, 
is the moment that produces bending stresses in the y direction. It is not a moment about the y axis.
is the twisting moment. This produces transverse shear stresses 
and 
.
Positive 
and 
cause tensile stress on the positive z-side of the plate element.
Normal forces and in-plane shear forces follow the same conventions as in-plane stresses. See Results Interpretation: Stress Conventions.
Per Width Quantity
Plate element forces and moments are expressed as forces and moments per width. For example, if 
is 25.0 kN.m/m and is constant across a plate width of 0.15 m then the total bending moment produced by 
is 25.0 kN.m × 0.15 m = 3.75 kN.m.
In general cases, plate element forces and moments will not be constant across the entire plate width. As such, integration is required to obtain the total forces and moments.
See Also