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🔀 Shear Strain Calculator

Calculate shear strain and shear angle from lateral displacement and height.

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Engineering Shear Strain

Shear strain measures the angular distortion of a material under a shearing load. It’s defined as the ratio of lateral displacement to the original height perpendicular to that displacement: γ = Δx / h, which for small angles equals tan(θ), where θ is the shear angle.

Shear strain is dimensionless (it’s a ratio, not a length), and is directly related to shear stress through the material’s shear modulus (τ = Gγ). It’s a fundamental quantity in analyzing torsion, punching, and sliding-type deformation.

Last reviewed August 2026