194 d 4 Development of Beam Equations

v1
v2

Figure 4–25 (a) Beam subjected to a uniformly distributed loading and (b) the
equivalent nodal forces to be determined

We can then determine the nodal moments and forces m1 ; m2 ; f 1y , and f 2y used to
replace the distributed load by using the concept of work equivalence—that is, by set-
ting Wdistributed ¼ Wdiscrete for arbitrary displacements f1 ; f2 ; v1 , and v2 .

Example of Load Replacement

To illustrate more clearly the concept of work equivalence, we will now consider a
beam subjected to a specified distributed load. Consider the uniformly loaded beam
shown in Figure 4–25(a). The support conditions are not shown because they are not
relevant to the replacement scheme. By letting Wdiscrete ¼ Wdistributed and by assuming
arbitrary f1 ; f2 ; v1 , and v2 , we will find equivalent nodal forces m1 ; m2 ; f 1y , and f 2y .
Figure 4–25(b) shows the nodal forces and moments directions as positive based on
Figure 4–1.
Using Eqs. (4.4.1) and (4.4.2) for Wdistributed ¼ Wdiscrete , we have
ðL
wðxÞvðxÞ dx ¼ m1 f1 þ m2 f2 þ f 1y v1 þ f 2y v2 ð4:4:3Þ
0

where m1 f1 and m2 f2 are the work due to concentrated nodal moments moving
through their respective nodal rotations and f 1y v1 and f 2y v2 are the work due to the
nodal forces moving through nodal displacements. Evaluating the left-hand side of
Eq. (4.4.3) by substituting wðxÞ ¼ w and vðxÞ from Eq. (4.1.4), we obtain the work
due to the distributed load as
ðL
Lw L2w
wðxÞvðxÞ dx ¼  ðv1  v2 Þ  ðf1 þ f2 Þ  Lwðv2  v1 Þ
0 2 4
L2w L2w
þ ð2f1 þ f2 Þ  f1  v1 ðwLÞ ð4:4:4Þ
3 2
Now using Eqs. (4.4.3) and (4.4.4) for arbitrary nodal displacements, we let f1 ¼ 1;
f2 ¼ 0; v1 ¼ 0, and v2 ¼ 0 and then obtain
L2w 2 2 L2 wL 2
m1 ð1Þ ¼   L wþ w ¼ ð4:4:5Þ
4 3 2 12
Similarly, letting f1 ¼ 0; f2 ¼ 1; v1 ¼ 0, and v2 ¼ 0 yields
L2w L2w wL 2
m2 ð1Þ ¼   ¼ ð4:4:6Þ
4 3 12

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