Advanced Structural Analysis

Moment Area Method

Lesson Objectives:

1) Identify the formulation and sign conventions associated with the Moment Area method.
2) Derive the Moment Area method theorems using mechanics and mathematics.
3) Outline procedure on how to apply the Moment Area method.
4) Compute the structural response using the Moment Area method.

Background Reading:

1) Read ___________________________________________________________________

Moment Area Method Overview:

1) The moment area method consists of _________________________________________.

2) These were developed by ___________________ and ____________________________
and utilize _________________________________________________ to determine the
__________________________________________________________________ due to
____________________________________________.
3) With these _____________ developed theorems, one is able to determine:
a. __________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________

Moment Area Derivation:

1) Let’s consider a beam as illustrated below in Figure 1 in both ______________________

and _________________________________ shape.
2) In this diagram, the deformation is induced only due to ___________________________.
a. Therefore the assumption is made that __________________________________
are negligible.
b. Reasonable for a beam member? _______________________________________

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Advanced Structural Analysis

Figure 1. Undeformed and deformed state diagram of a prismatic beam section.

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Advanced Structural Analysis

3) In the figure above, a few takeaways can be noted:

a. AB is the ______________________________________________of the beam.
b. A’B’ is the __________________ position of AB when ____________________.
c. The angle at the center of the arc (at point _________) is the _________________
_________________________________________.
d. _______ is noted to be a very short length of the beam and therefore can be
measured as ______ along the curve and ________ along the x-axis.
e. ______ is the small angle at the center of the arc, ______________, where this
represents the _____________________________________________________.
f. In the bottom diagram, ________ is the average ___________________________
over the portion _______ (between points _________________).

First Moment Area Theorem:

1) To derive the first theorem, note that the angles are ___________________ and measured
in ____________________. Therefore a geometric expression can be written as:

2) From mechanics, the ______________________________________________________

states that:

3) Therefore a substitution can be made with the original equation expressed as:

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Advanced Structural Analysis

4) Assuming that ___________________________________________________ and small

deflections, then:

5) Where substitution yields:

6) Integrating over the entire length of the beam (from points ________________), the total
_____________________________________ between A and B can be found.
7) This can be interpreted as the _______________________________________ is equal to
the ____________________________________________________________________:

8) The first theorem can be summarized as:

The change in _____________ between any two points on the elastic curve for a member
subjected to ____________________ is equal to the area of the ____________________
________________________ between these two points.

Second Moment Area Theorem:

1) To derive the second theorem, note that the angles again are _________________ and
measured in ____________________. Therefore another geometric expression can be
written as:

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Advanced Structural Analysis

2) With an expression for __________ derived in the first moment area theorem,
substitution yields:

3) Integrating over the entire length of the beam (from points ________________), the total
_____________________________________ between A and B can be found.

4) The second theorem can be summarized as:

The _________________________________________at a point (B) on the elastic curve
with respect to the tangent extended from the another point (A) equals the ____________
__________________ of the area under the ________________ diagram between the
two points (A and B). This moment is computed about __________________, where the
______________________________ is to be computed.
5) Note that the vertical intercept is not ________________________, but is referred to as
the ___________________________________________________.
6) Sketch:

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Advanced Structural Analysis

Summary of Moment Area Method:

1) Two separate theorems were developed:

a. The first quantifies a ________________________________________________.
b. The second quantifies the ____________________________________________.
2) To solve a structure with the Moment Area Method, key steps include:
a. The deflection is only due to __________________________________________.
b. Find the distribution of __________________________________ over the
structure of interest.
c. Its critical to correctly draw the _______________________________________.
3) An alternative detailed summary is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Detailed summary diagrams of the Moment Area Method (from Leet et al., 2011)

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Advanced Structural Analysis

Moment Area Method: Example #1

For a cantilever beam, find the slope and deflection at the beam end. Assume EI is constant
throughout the length of the beam.

1) First, draw the moment curve and then divide the ordinates by EI (constant for this
example member).

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Advanced Structural Analysis

2) Then, draw the deflected (or displaced) shape:

3) Applying the _____________ Moment Area Theorem to find _________:

4) Applying the _____________ Moment Area Theorem to find _________:

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Advanced Structural Analysis

Moment Area Method: Example #2

For the two member frame structure below, find the horizontal deflection at point B. Assume EI
is constant for all members and assume joint B is rigid.

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Advanced Structural Analysis

1) First, draw the moment curve and then divide the ordinates by EI (constant for this
example member).

2) Then, draw the deflected (or displaced) shape:

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Advanced Structural Analysis

3) Solution:

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