Last updated: April 13, 2026

Bending Stress Calculator

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Table of contents

What is bending stress?

The fetched OmniCalculator page defines bending stress as the normal stress a beam develops while bending under load. In a downward-bending beam, the upper fibers go into compression and the lower fibers go into tension.

How to calculate bending stress

Omni expresses the maximum bending stress with the standard flexure formula:

σ = M x c / I

S = I / c

σ = M / S

Here, M is the bending moment, c is the distance from the neutral axis to the outermost fiber, I is the area moment of inertia, and S is the section modulus.

Cross-sections from the Omni workflow

The Omni page discusses typical solid and hollow beam shapes. This rebuild covers the most common symmetrical cases directly in the calculator: rectangle, square, solid circle, hollow circle, and hollow rectangle.

in
in
lb-ft
192
in^3
1,152
in^4
6
in
Rectangular beam
0.63
psi
0.001
ksi

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