Chapter 5 : INTERNAL ACTIONS IN BEAMS

5.1 INTRRODUCTION

• Beams are structural members which offer resistance to bending due to applied loads.
• Most beams are long prismatic bars, and the loads are usually applied normal to the
axes of the bars.
• Beams are undoubtedly the most important of all structural members, so it is
important to understand the basic theory underlying their design
• To analyze the load-carrying capacities of a beam we must first establish the
equilibrium requirements of the beam as a whole and any portion of it considered
separately .
• Second, we must establish the relations between the resulting forces and the
accompanying internal resistance of the beam to support these forces.
• The first part of this analysis requires the application of the principles of statics.
• The second part involves the strength characteristics of the material and is usually
treated in studies of the mechanics of solids or the mechanics of materials.
 Cont’d
• Beams supported so that their external support reactions can be calculated by the
methods of statics alone are called statically determinate beams.
• A beam which has more supports than needed to provide equilibrium is statically
indeterminate. To determine the support reactions for such a beam we must consider
its load-deformation properties in addition to the equations of static equilibrium.

Types of beams
 Cont’d
• Beams may also be identified by the type of external loading they support
• Concentrated, uniformly distributed ,uniformly varying and combination
• Distributed Loads
Loading intensities which are constant or which vary linearly are easily handled. Figure
1 illustrates the three most common cases and the resultants of the distributed loads in
each case.

Figure 1
 Cont’d
• For a more general load distribution, Figure 2, we must start with a differential increment of
force dR =w dx. The total load R is then the sum of the differential forces, or
• As before, the resultant R is located at the centroid of the area under
consideration. The x-coordinate of this centroid is found by the principle of moments R= ,
or

• Once the distributed loads have been reduced to their equivalent

concentrated loads, the external reactions acting on the beam may be
found by a straightforward static analysis as developed in Chapter 3.

Figure 2
 Examples
1. Determine the reactions at the supports of the beam which is loaded as shown

2. A cantilever beam supports the variable load shown. Calculate the supporting force and
moment at A.
 Cont’d

• Determine the equivalent concentrated load(s) and external reactions for the simply
supported beam which is subjected to the distributed load shown.

• Determine the reactions at A and B for the beam subjected to the uniform load distribution

• Determine the force and moment reactions at A for the beam which is subjected to the load
combination shown
 Beams Internal Effects
• We introduce internal beam effects and apply principles of statics to calculate the
internal shear force and bending moment as functions of location along the beam.
• Shear, Bending, and Torsion
• In addition to supporting tension
or compression, a beam can resist
shear, bending, and torsion.
Shear force; - is the internal force created by
an external force acting on a beam
Bending moment; - is the internal moment
caused by the applied force on a beam
Torsion; - is the twist caused by the
applied force on a beam
Diagrammatic representations of internal action in beams

• The force components prevent the relative translation between the two segments,
and the couple moment prevents the relative rotation.
a positive shear force will cause the beam segment on
which it acts to rotate clockwise, and a
positive bending moment will tend to bend the
segment on which it acts in a concave upward
manner. Loadings that are opposite to these are
considered negative.
 Cont’d
• The shear at any given point of a beam is positive when the external forces (loads and
reactions) acting on the beam tend to shear off the beam at that point as indicated in
Figure 3 b.
• The bending moment at any given point of a beam is positive when the external
forces acting on the beam tend to bend the beam at that point as indicated in Figure 3
c.

Figure 3
 Shear force and bending moment in beams
• The variation of shear force V and bending moment M over the length of a beam
provides information necessary for the design analysis of the beam.
• The variations in shear and moment are best shown graphically, and the expressions
for V and M when plotted against distance along the beam give the shear-force and
bending-moment diagrams for the beam.
• The first step in the determination of the shear and moment relations is to establish
the values of all external reactions on the beam by applying the equations of
equilibrium to a free-body diagram of the beam as a whole.
• Next, we isolate a portion of the beam, either to the right or to the left of an arbitrary
transverse section, with a free-body diagram, and apply the equations of equilibrium
to this isolated portion of the beam.
 Cont’d

• The part of the beam which involves the smaller number of forces, either to the
right or to the left of the arbitrary section, usually yields the simpler solution.
• We should avoid using a transverse section which coincides with the location of a
concentrated load or couple.
• These equations will yield expressions for the shear force V and bending moment
M acting at the cut section on the part of the beam isolated.
Relations among load, shear and bending moments
• Figure 4 represents a portion of a loaded beam, where an element dx of the beam
is isolated. The loading w represents the force per unit length of beam.
• At the location x the shear V and moment M acting on the element are drawn in
their positive directions. On the opposite side of the element where the coordinate
is x - dx, these quantities are also shown in their positive directions
 Cont’d

Figure 4

• They must, however, be labeled V + dV and M + dM, since V and M change with x.

• From the above equation the slope of the shear diagram must everywhere be
equal to the negative of the value of the applied loading.
• The Equation holds on either side of a concentrated load but not at the
concentrated load because of the discontinuity produced by the abrupt change in
shear.
 Cont’d

In this expression V0 is the shear force at x0 and V is the shear force at x.

Summing the area under the loading curve is usually a simple way to
construct the shear-force diagram

which expresses the fact that the shear everywhere is

equal to the slope of the moment curve.
 Cont’d
• Equation above holds on either side of a concentrated couple but not at the concentrated
couple because of the discontinuity caused by the abrupt change in moment.

• In this expression M0 is the bending moment at x0 and M is the

bending moment at x. For beams where there is no externally
applied moment M0 at x0 =0, the total moment at any section equals
the area under the shear diagram up to that section.
• Summing the area under the shear diagram is usually the simplest
way to construct the moment diagram.
 Cont’d
• We observe that the degree of V in x is one higher than that of w. Also M is of
one higher degree in x than is V. Consequently, M is two degrees higher in x than
w.
• Thus for a beam loaded by w =kx, which is of the first degree in x, the shear V is
of the second degree in x and the bending moment M is of the third degree in x.
• Thus, if w is a known function of x, the moment M can be obtained by two
integrations, provided that the limits of integration are properly evaluated each
time. This method is usable only if w is a continuous function of x
 .
2 Determine the shear and moment distributions produced in the simple beam by the
4-kN concentrated load.
 Examples

1. Construct the shear and moment diagrams for the beam loaded by the 2-kN force and
the 1.6-kN m couple. State the value of the bending moment at point B.
 cont’d

2. Draw the shear and moment diagrams for the loaded beam and specify the shear V and
moment M at a section 3 m to the left of the support at A.

3. Plot the shear and moment diagrams for the beam loaded with both the distributed and
point loads. What are the values of the shear and moment at Determine the maximum
bending moment .
 Cont’d
4. Draw the shear and moment diagrams for the beam loaded as shown. Specify the
maximum moment.

5. Construct the shear and moment diagrams for the loaded beam. Determine the
maximum values of the shear and moment and their locations on the beam.
 .
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