Three Moment

Equation
Theory of Structure - I

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan
Lecture Outlines

 Introduction

 Proof of Three Moment Equation

 Example

Department of 2
Introduction
 Developed by French Engineer Clapeyron in
1857.
 This equation relates the internal moments in
a continuous beam at three points of support
to the loads acting between the supports.
 By successive application of this equation to
each span of the beam, one obtains a set of
equations that may be solved simultaneously
for the unknown internal moments at the
support.
Department of 3
Proof: Real Beam
A general form of three moment equation can
be developed by considering the span of a
continuous beam.
P1 P2 P3 P4

WL WR

ML MC MC MR
L C R

LL LR

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Conjugate Beam (applied
loads)
 The formulation will be based on the
conjugate-beam method.
 Since the “real beam” is continuous over the
supports, the conjugate-beam has hinges at
L, C and R.
AL /EIL AR /EIR

L’ LL CL 1 CR 1 LR R’

XL XR
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Conjugate Beam (internal
moments)
 Using the principle of superposition, the M /
EI diagram for the internal moments is
shown.

MC /EIL
MR /EIR
ML /EIL MC /EIR

L’ LL CL2 CR2 LR R’

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 In particular AL/EIL and AR/EIR represent the
total area under their representative M / EI
diagrams; and xL and xR locate their centroids.
 Since the slope of real beam is continuous
over the center support, we require the shear
forces for the conjugate beam.

C L1  C L2  (C R1  C R2 )

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 Summing moments about point L’ for left
span, we have
1 AL 1  1  ML   1  1  MC   2  
C L1  C L2  ( xL )      LL   LL      LL   LL  
LL EI L LL  2  EI L   3  2  EI L   3  
A x M L M L
 L L  L L  C L
EI L 6 EI L 3EI L
 Summing moments about point R’ for the
right span yields
1 AR 1  1  MR   1  1  MC   2  
C R1  C R2  ( xR )      LR   LR      LR   LR  
LR EI R LR  2  EI R   3  2  EI R   3  
A x M L M L
 R R  R R  C R
EI R 6 EI R 3EI R

Department of 8
General Equation
 Equating

C L1  C L2  (C R1  C R2 )

 and simplifying yields

M L LL  LL LR  M R LR 6 AL xL 6 AR xR
 2M C       
IL  IL IR  IR I L LL I R LR
(1)

Department of 9
Eq. Modification for point load
and uniformly distributed load
 Summation signs have been added to the
terms on the right so that M/EI diagrams for
each type of applied load can be treated
separately.

 In practice the most common types of

loadings encountered are concentrated and
uniform distributed loads.

Department of 10
 PL PR
w

L KLLL C C KRLR R C R

LL
 If the areas and centroidal distances for their
M/EI diagrams are substituted in to 3-Moment
equation,
 LL LR  M R LR
   
2 2 3 3
M L LL PL PL wL wL
 2M C       L L k L  k L   R R k R  k R  L L  R R
3 3

IL  IL IR  IR IL IR 4I L 4I R

(2)
Department of 11
 Special Case:
 If the moment of inertia is constant for the
entire span, IL = IR.

   
3 3
wL LL wR LR
M L LL  2M C  LL  LR   M R LR   PL LL k L  k L   PR LR k R  k R
2 3 2 3
 
4 4

(3)

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Example:
 Determine the reactions at the supports for
the beam shown. The moment of inertia of
span AB is one half that of span BC.
3 k/ft
15k

A C
0.5 I B I

25 ft 15 ft 5 ft

Department of 13
Data
 ML =0  MC = MB  MR =0
 LL = 25ft  LR = 20ft
 IL = 0.5I  IR =I
 PL =0  PR = 15k
 wL = 3k/ft  wR =0
 kL = 0  kR = 0.25

Department of 14
 Substituting the values in equation 2,

15 * 20 2
 
3
 25 20  3 * 25
0  2M B    0  0 0.25  0.253  0
 0.5I I  I 4 * 0.5I
M B  177.5k . ft

Department of 15
 For span AB:

 F  0; A
x x 0
75 k
 M  0;B

 Ay (25)  177.5  75(12.5)  0

VBL
Ay  30.4k
A B
F y  0;
Ay
12.5’ 12.5’ 177.5k.ft
30.4  75  VBL  0
VBL  44.6k

Department of 16
 For span BC:

M B  0;
15 k
C y (20)  177.5  15(15)  0
C y  2.38k VBR

F y  0; B
15 ft 5 ft
C

177.5k.ft
2.38  15  VBR  0 Cy

VBR  12.6k

Department of 17
A free body diagram of the differential
segment of the beam that passes over roller
at B is shown in figure.

F y 0 177.5k.ft 177.5k.ft
B y  44.6  12.6  0
B y  57.2k 44.6 k 12.6 k
By

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Practice Problems:
 Chapter 9

 Example 9-11 to 9-13 and Exercise

 Structural Analysis by R C Hibbeler

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Department of 20