Chapter 5

Internal Actions in Beams

 INTRODUCTION
• Beams are usually horizontal members that are
designed to resist loads applied perpendicular to
their axis.
• In general the following internal actions could
exist in a member:
• based on the support conditions beams can be
classified as:
Distributed Loads on Beams:
• Based on the area of load application, we can
classify loads as point load, line load, area load
and volumetric load.
• Since beams are long as compared to their cross
section, we will deal with concentrated and line
loads.
• To analyse support reactions on beams subjected
to distributed loading, conversion of distributed
loads to concentrated loads is necessary.
Example:
• In general the area under the distributed load
gives us the magnitude of the equivalent
concentrated load and the centroid of the area
gives us the location of the concentrated load.
Analysis of internal forces in beams:
• The shear and moment values at any location of the
beam can be obtained by taking a section at the location.
• The sign conventions for shear and moment on a beam
are:

• Shear force and bending moment can be expressed with

a single expression for a segment of the beam where the
loading does not change.(eg)
Relationship between loading, shear and bending moment:
Continued…