Use this bolt plate shear calculator to estimate the shear stress in a plate near a bolted connection. The calculator uses applied force, shear width or edge distance, plate thickness, allowable shear stress and safety factor to estimate utilisation and pass/fail result.
This calculator estimates the average plate shear stress for a bolted joint where the connected plate may fail by shear-out near the bolt hole or plate edge.
The calculator provides:
This is useful when checking whether a plate, bracket, clevis, lug or tab has sufficient edge distance and thickness around a bolted connection.
Plate shear area:
Plate shear stress:
Design allowable plate shear stress:
Utilisation:
| Symbol | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| F | Applied force | N |
| c | Shear width or edge distance | mm |
| t | Plate thickness | mm |
| As | Plate shear area | mm² |
| τplate | Plate shear stress | N/mm² |
| τallow | Allowable plate shear stress | N/mm² |
| SF | Safety factor | - |
Enter the bolted joint details, then click calculate.
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Plate shear area | The effective area of plate material resisting shear-out around the bolted connection. |
| Plate shear stress | The average shear stress in the plate material near the bolt hole or edge. |
| Design allowable stress | The allowable plate shear stress divided by the selected safety factor. |
| Utilisation | The calculated plate shear stress divided by the design allowable stress. A value below 100% passes this simplified check. |
This calculator checks a simplified plate shear-out condition around a bolted joint. It does not check every possible bolted joint failure mode.
| This Calculator Includes | This Calculator Does Not Include |
|---|---|
| Plate shear area | Bolt shear stress |
| Average plate shear stress | Bolt bearing stress |
| Utilisation against selected allowable shear stress | Bolt tensile stress |
| Safety factor adjustment | Net section tension failure |
| Simple edge shear-out check | Fatigue, preload, joint slip or thread stripping |
For bolt shear stress, use the Bolt Shear Stress Calculator.
For bearing stress between the bolt and plate, use the Bolt Bearing Stress Calculator.
Plate shear stress is calculated using the effective shear area of the plate material resisting shear-out. For a simple two-plane shear-out check, this area is taken as twice the shear width multiplied by the plate thickness.
This calculation is useful when checking plates, brackets, lugs or tabs where a bolt is close to an edge. If the edge distance is too small, the plate may shear out before the bolt itself fails.
A complete bolted joint check may also need to consider bolt shear, bolt bearing, net section tension, bolt tension, preload, fatigue, hole clearance and material grade.
For further bolted joint theory, see the RoyMech reference page: Bolted Joint Design and Calculations.
For the full calculator section, see: Bolted Joint Calculators.
Plate shear stress around a bolt can be estimated by dividing the applied force by the effective shear area:
where F is the applied force, c is the shear width or edge distance and t is the plate thickness.
Plate shear-out is a failure mode where the material between the bolt hole and the plate edge shears away under load.
If the bolt is too close to the plate edge, there may not be enough material to resist shear-out. Increasing the edge distance increases the available shear area.
No. This calculator checks plate shear stress only. Bolt shear stress should be checked separately.
No. Bearing stress between the bolt and plate should be checked separately.
This calculator is intended for preliminary engineering calculations and educational use. Final bolted joint design should be checked against the relevant design standard, material grade, edge distance, fatigue requirements and safety factors.