Introduction to Shear force

Shear force is a very important factor for the structural works. When civil engineers design any
structure, the engineer should consider the shear forces which may come on the structure.

What is shear force?

As the name suggests, shear force is a type of force which acts perpendicular to the
primary/longitudinal axis of any member. There is also another definition of shear force which is-

The summation of all the forces at right or left side of any cross section of any member is called the
shear force

You can understand Shear force in more details in the article Basics of strength of materials

Before you learn how to calculate the shear force, you must know some other things about the
beam structures.

Types of loads:

The loads which will come on a member could be of different types. These different load types are

Point load

Point load is that load which acts only at one point on the member. The total impact of the load
comes only at that specific point.

Uniformly Distributed Load (UDL)

This type of load is distributed throughout a specific length or the full length of the member. The
impact of the load in per unit length is equal throughout the total length of the load.

Uniformly Varying Load (UVL)

This type of load is distributed just like UDL, but the impact for per unit length isn’t equal. The value
of impact gradually increases in a direction and the amount of increase is same for each unit length.

Types of support:

The structural members are supported on something. These supports are not only a single type.
There are different types of supports, which are –

Movable hinge support/Roller support

This type of supports have movable roller at their base and hinge at the top. So, it can move
horizontally

Because of the hinge, rotation of the member is allowed

No moment develops at the point of support

It can resist the vertical forces but cannot resist any horizontal force

Hinge support/Pinned support

This type of supports have hinge at their top and their bases are fixed in position

Because of the hinge, rotation of the member is allowed

No moment develops at the point of support

It can resist both horizontal and vertical forces

Fixed support

This type of supports are totally fixed in the position

No rotation is allowed at the point of support

Moment develops in this support

It can resist both horizontal and vertical forces

Types of beams:

With the different placements of these supports in a beam, the beams are also divided in different
types

Simply supported beam

This beam has two hinged or roller supports at the both ends of it

For the hinges no moment develops at the ends

Fixed beam

This beam has two fixed supports at the both ends of it

For the fixed support moment develops at the ends

Cantilever beam

When a beam is fixed from one end and free at the other end, the beam is known as cantilever beam

The moment only develops at the fixed end and the other end neither develops moment nor any
resistance against forces

Propped cantilever

If a cantilever beam is supported at the end or at anywhere in the middle by a hinged or roller
support, the beam is called the propped cantilever and the hinge/roller support is called the prop

The moment develops only at the fixed end

Overhanging beam
This type of beam has one hinged/roller support at one end and another hinged/roller support
anywhere in the middle and the remaining span after the second support remain hanging

Continuous beam

When there are multiple (more than 2) supports in a beam, the beam is known as continuous beam

Sign convention of shear force

Sign convention is a critical thing for shear force calculation. The forces should be considered
carefully as negative and positive as per direction of the force and then the shear force should be
calculated.

There are two rules of sign convention, which are:

1) LURD rule &

2) Sagging and Hogging rule

LURD rule

The full form of this rule is LEFT UP & RIGHT DOWN rule. As per this rule, all the forces acting
upwards at the left side of the section and all the forces acting downwards at the right side of the
section is considered as positive. If the directions of the forces are in opposite direction, the forces
will be considered as negative.

Sagging and Hogging rule

Here the hogging means a cave like shape and sagging means the inversed cave like shape. So, if we
consider any support point as fixed and then imagine the shape of the beam for the action of the
force, then we can get the sign convention from there.

If the shape is sagging, the sign will be positive and if the shape is hogging, the sign will be negative.

We’ll teach you how you can calculate shear force in our next article

You can test your knowledge on the civil engineering subjects with our Engineering MCQ section or
practice for competitive exams with our Engineering quiz section in the study panel of our website

Calculation of shear force

Now come to the main part, the calculation. As we saw before, that the beams could be of different
types and the supports can also be different. But you shouldn’t learn different methods for each of
them. You just have to only choose between the two rules of sign convention. We’ll suggest you to
choose LURD rule and we will also calculate with that rule. But, if you are more comfortable with the
other one, you can also choose that.

Suppose, here is a simply supported beam, which has a point load (P) at its middle point