shear (redirected from shearers)

shear: see strength of materials.

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shear

1. a form of deformation or fracture in which parallel planes in a body or assembly slide over one another

2. Physics the deformation of a body, part, etc., expressed as the lateral displacement between two points in parallel planes divided by the distance between the planes

3. a machine that cuts sheet material by passing a knife blade through it

4. a device for lifting heavy loads consisting of a tackle supported by a framework held steady by guy ropes

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Shear

A straining action wherein applied forces produce a sliding or skewing type of deformation. A shearing force acts parallel to a plane as distinguished from tensile or compressive forces, which act normal to a plane. Examples of force systems producing shearing action are forces transmitted from one plate to another by a rivet that tend to shear the rivet, forces in a beam that tend to displace adjacent segments by transverse shear, and forces acting on the cross section of a bar that tend to twist it by torsional shear (see illustration). Shear forces are usually accompanied by normal forces produced by tension, thrust, or bending. Shearing stress is the intensity of distributed force expressed as force per unit area. See Stress and strain