This lecture focuses on formulating shear and moment equations in beams.
Figure 4.57: A simply supported beam subjected to a uniformly distributed load.
Consider the beam shown in Figure 4.57. To determine the shear force and bending mo- ment at point C, we follow these steps: 1. Calculate the beam’s support reactions (Figure 4.58a). 2. Cut the beam at point C and draw the free-body diagram of the beam’s left segment (Figure 4.58b). 3. Write and solve the static equilibrium equations for the beam’s internal forces (Figure 4.58c).
(a)
(b)
Fy 6 2 3 V 0 V 0 (c) 3 M z 3V M 2 3 0 M 9kN.m 2 Figure 4.58: Free-body diagrams and equilibrium equations for the beam subjected to a uniformly dis- tributed load. Generally, the shear force and bending moment in a beam vary along its length; they are not constant. Therefore, we must represent these internal forces mathematically or graph- ically so that their maximum and minimum values can be readily determined. This lecture Lecture 4.3 2 Structural Analysis I Lecture Notes
focuses on the mathematical representation of the shear force and bending moment in beams.
Figure 4.59: A steel and glass building used as an art center.
Consider the building shown in Figure 4.59. We aim to derive the shear and moment equa- tions for three specific beams in the structure's skeleton. The target beams are labeled in Figure 4.60.
Figure 4.60: The skeleton of the steel and glass building.
Consider the building shown in Figure 4.59. We aim to derive the shear and moment equa- tions for three specific beams in the structure's skeleton. The target beams are labeled in Figure 4.60.
The target roof beam on the second floor is subjected to two concentrated loads. The short beam at the front of the building on the first floor is subjected to a uniformly distributed load. The side beam on the first floor is subjected to both a distributed load and a concen- trated load. We assume all three beams are simply supported.
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Figure 4.61: A roof panel supported by two transverse beams.
Let us start with the long beam on the second floor. As shown in Figure 4.61, the concrete roof panel is supported by two transverse beams, meaning the weight of the roof panel is directly borne by these beams.
24kN / m 0.229m 5m 27.48kN / m
3 [4.32]
Assuming the specific weight of concrete is 24 kN/m3, the thickness of the roof panel is 229 mm, the length of the roof panel is 10 m, and each transverse beam is 3.5 m long, the magnitude of the distributed load on each transverse beam can be determined as shown in Equation [4.32].
Figure 4.62: Two short beams subjected to uniformly distributed loads in the building frame. Lecture 4.3 4 Structural Analysis I Lecture Notes
Note: The calculated distributed load magnitude equals the product of the specific weight of concrete, the thickness of the roof panel, and half the length of the panel. The distribut- ed load applied to each beam is shown in Figure 4.62.
When we multiply the magnitude of the distributed load on each transverse beam by the length of the beam, we get the total load applied to the beam by the concrete slab. This total load is (27.48 kN/m)×(3.5 m) = 96 kN. Half of this load is exerted on the long beam. Thus, each transverse load transfers half of its total load (96/2 = 48 kN) to the long beam, as de- picted in Figure 4.63.
Figure 4.63: Long beam subjected to two concentrated loads due to the weight of the floor panel. The line diagram for the long, simply supported beam is shown in Figure 4.64.
Figure 4.64: A simply supported beam subjected to two concentrated loads.
To write the shear and moment equations for the beam, we first need to calculate its sup- port reactions. The free-body diagram of the beam is shown in Figure 4.65.
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Figure 4.65: Free-body diagram of a beam subjected to two concentrated loads.
The static equilibrium equations and the resulting support reactions are as follows.
Fx Ax 0 [4.33]
Fy Ay By 48 48 0 Ay 48 kN [4.34]
M z 2.5 48 7.5 48 10By 0 By 48kN [4.35]
As shown in Figure 4.66, the two applied loads divide the beam into three segments. Thus, we must write three shear and three moment equations for the beam—one pair for each segment.
Figure 4.66: A simply supported beam consisting of three segments defined by two applied loads. Position the left end of the beam at the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system. As seen in Figure 4.66, the x-axis runs along the length of the beam. This scheme allows us to write the shear and moment equations as a function of x.
For each beam segment, cut the beam at some arbitrary point in the segment and draw its free-body diagram showing the internal forces at the cut point. For the left segment of the beam where 0< x <2.5, cut the beam at some distance between 0 and 2.5 and draw the free- body diagram (see Figure 4.67).
Figure 4.67: Free-body diagram of the left segment of the beam subjected to two concentrated loads. Lecture 4.3 6 Structural Analysis I Lecture Notes
Figure 4.67 shows the internal shear force (V) and bending moment (M) at the cut point in their positive directions. According to the beam sign convention, a positive shear force tends to rotate the segment clockwise, and a positive moment bends the beam concave up, as shown in Figure 4.68.
Figure 4.68: The beam sign convention showing the direction of positive shear and moment forces. We can use the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.67 to write the equilibrium equations for the left segment of the beam. These equations are as follows.
Fy 48 V 0 [4.36] Mz x V M 0 [4.37] By solving equations [4.36] and [4.37] for V and M, we get V = 48 kN and M = 48x kN.m. These expressions indicate that the shear force remains constant while the bending mo- ment varies linearly in the segment.
We can obtain the shear and moment equations for the middle segment of the beam, where 2.5< x <7.5, by cutting the beam at an arbitrary point, as shown in Figure 4.69.
Figure 4.69: Free-body diagram of the middle segment of the beam subjected to two concentrated loads.
In the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.69, x is the distance from point A to the cut point. The shear force and bending moment at the cut point are drawn in the positive direc- tion.
The equilibrium equations for the free-body diagram of the beam segment shown in Figure 4.69 can be written as follows.
Fy 48 48 V 0 [4.38]
M z 2.5 48 x V M 0 [4.39]
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By solving Equations [4.38] and [4.39] for the unknown shear force and bending moment, we get V = 0 and M = 120 kN.m. In the middle segment of the beam, neither the shear force nor the bending moment are functions of x. Both forces remain constant within this seg- ment of the beam.
To write the shear and moment equations for the right segment of the beam, cut the beam as shown in Figure 4.70.
Figure 4.70: Free-body diagram of the right segment of a beam subjected to two concentrated loads loads.
In the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.70, x is the distance from point A to the cut point. The resulting equilibrium equations are as follows.
Fy 48 48 48 V 0 [4.40]
M z 2.5 48 7.5 48 x V M 0 [4.41]
Equations [4.40] and [4.41] yield V = -48 kN and M = 480-48x kN.m.
In summary, the shear equation for the beam can be written as shown in Equation [4.42].
48 kN 0 x 2.5
V x 0 2.5 x 7.5 [4.42] 48 kN 7.5 x 10
Note that shear force is undefined at the boundaries of the intervals specified in Equation [4.42]. Specifically, no shear force exists at the force application point. A shear force can only exist immediately to the left or right of a force application point, but not at the point itself. Therefore, the shear forces at x = 0, x = 2.5, x = 7.5, and x = 10 are undefined.
The moment equation for the beam can be summarized as follows.
48x kN.m 0 x 2.5
M x 120 kN.m 2.5 x 7.5 [4.43] 480 48x kN.m 7.5 x 10
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Note that Equation [4.43] is piecewise continuous; unlike the shear force, the bending mo- ment for the beam is well-defined at the boundary points of the intervals.
The short beam at the front of the building is shown in Figure 4.71. The beam supports a concrete slab measuring 6 meters long and 3 meters wide with a thickness of 350 mm.
Figure 4.71: A beam in the skeleton of a building subjected to a uniformly distributed load. The weight of the concrete slab transfers to the beam as a uniformly distributed load. The magnitude of this load equals the specific weight of concrete times the thickness of the slab times half its width: (24 kN/m3)×(0.35 m)×(3 m)=12.6 kN/m.
Assuming the beam is simply supported, its free-body diagram can be drawn as shown in Figure 4.72.
Figure 4.72: Free-body diagram of the beam subjected to two concentrated loads. The static equilibrium equations for the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.72 are as follows.
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Fx Ax 0 [4.44]
Fy Ay By 6 12.6 0 [4.45]
M z 6 3 12.6 6By 0 [4.46]
By solving Equations [4.44] through [4.46] for the unknown forces, we get Ax = 0, Ay = 37.8 kN, and By = 37.8 kN.
We are now ready to write the shear and moment equations for the beam. Since there is no point of load discontinuity between the ends of the beam, the distributed load remains continuous along its length. Therefore, the shear force and bending moment can each be described using one equation; there is no need to write multiple equations for each internal force. To write the shear and moment equations, cut the beam at some arbitrary distance x from point A, as shown in Figure 4.73.
Figure 4.73: Free-body diagram of a beam segment subjected to a uniformly distributed load. The static equilibrium equations for the left segment of the beam can be written as follows.
Fy 37.8 12.6x V 0 [4.47]
M z x x / 2 12.6 x V M 0 [4.48]
By solving Equations [4.47] and [4.48] for V and M, we get the following equations.
V x 37.8 12.6 x kN [4.49]
M x 37.8 x 2 kN.m x 6.3 [4.50]
Equation [4.49] represents the shear force in the beam for 0< x <6. For the bending mo- ment, Equation [4.50] is valid over 0≤ x ≤6.
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The side beam in the building is labled in Figure 4.74.
Figure 4.74: A beam partially supporting a floor slab and a staircase.
The beam is subjected to a uniformly distributed load from the weight of the floor it supports and a concentrated load from the weight of the staircase. The magnitude of the distributed load is 8.4 kN/m and the concentrated load has a magnitude of 5 kN, as shown in Figure 4.75.
Figure 4.75: A beam in a building subjected to a uniformly distributed load and a concentrated load. The free-body diagram of the beam is shown in Figure 4.76.
Figure 4.76: Free-body diagram of a beam subjected to a distributed load and a concentrated load. Dr. Structure 11 Structural Analysis I Lecture Notes
We can use the following equilibrium equations to calculate the beam's support reactions.
Fx Ax 0 [4.51]
Fy Ay By 8.4 5 0 [4.52]
M z 4 2 8.4 4 5 8By 0 [4.53]
By solving Equations [4.51] through [4.53] for the unknown forces, we get: Ax = 0, Ay = 27.7 kN, and By = 10.9 kN.
Note that the loads divide the beam into two segments. The left segment is subjected to a uniformly distributed load, while the right segment is load-free. Therefore, we need to write two sets of shear and moment equations—one set for each segment.
To write the shear and moment equations for the left segment, can cut the beam as shown in Figure 4.77.
Figure 4.77: Free-body diagram of the left segment of a beam subjected to a distributed load and a concen- trated load.
The equilibrium equations for the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.77 are as follows. Fy 27.7 8.4x V 0 [4.54]
M z x x / 2 8.4 x V M 0 [4.55]
By solving Equations [4.54] and [4.55] for V and M, we get the following shear and moment equations. V x 27.7 8.4x kN 0<x <4 [4.56]
M x 27.7x 4.2x 2 kN.m 0≤x ≤4 [4.57]
The free-body diagram for the right segment of the beam can be drawn as shown in Figure [4.78].
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Figure 4.78: Free-body diagram of the right segment of a beam subjected to a distributed load and a concentrated load. The equilibrium equations for the free-body diagram shown in Figure 4.78 are as follows.
Fy 27.7 4 8.4 5 V 0 [4.58]
4 M z 4 8.4 5 4 x V M 0 [4.59] 2 By solving Equations [4.58] and [4.59] for V and M, we get the following shear and moment equations. V x 27.7 8.4x kN 0<x <4 [4.60]
M x x 4.2x 2 kN.m 0≤x ≤4 [4.61]
In summary, the shear and moment equations for the beam can be expressed in compact form as follows. 27.7 8.4x kN 0 x 4 V x [4.62] 10.9 kN 4x 8
27.7x 4.2x 2 kN.m 0 x 4
M x [4.63] 87.2 10.9x kN 4x 8
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Exercise Problems: Write the shear and moment equations for the following beams.
