Name – Shubhankar Dutta

Department – Civil Engineering

Roll No. – 27901321012
Subject – Structural Dynamics
Subject Code - CE(PE)704A
 TOPIC

Differential Equations of Civil Enginering

1. Introduction
2. Application of Differential Equations of Civil Engineering
3. Differential Equation in Beam Deflection
4. Analysis of Bar of Uniform Strength
 1. Introduction

A differential equation is an equation which contains one or more terms and the derivatives of one variable
(i.e., dependent variable) with respect to the other variable. Differential Equations are extremely helpful to
solve complex mathematical problems in almost every domain of Engineering, Science and Mathematics. If
you are an Engineer, you will be integrating and differentiating hundreds of equations throughout you career,
because these equations have a hidden answer to a really complex problem. Mathematicians and
Researchers like Laplace, Fourier, Hilbert etc., have developed such equations to make our life easier. These
differential equations have huge practical use.. Want to understand structural properties of a bridge or
building? The Partial Differential Equation corresponding to Linear elasticity is probably a good first model to
apply. Want to see how fluid causes some pollutant or solvent to advect and diffuse within some soil? You
may use a simple advection-diffusion model, Navier-Stokes, or some more specialized differential equation
model in the literature.
2. Application of Differential Equations of Civil Engineering

There are various applications of differential equations:

• Population Dynamics • Continuity Equation in Three Dimension

• Radioactive Decay • Analysis of Bar of Uniform Strength
• Newton's Law of Cooling • Differential equation for torsion of elastic bars
• Mixtures • Differential equation for seepage flow in 2D
• Falling Bodies of Air Resistance • Differential equation for irrotational fluid flow 2D
• Vibration of Spring • Slope and Deflection of beam
• Strain energy method

In this presentation we’ll focus on Beam deflection and Analysis of bar of uniform Strength
 3. Differential Equation in Beam Deflection

As a load is applied on a beam, it deflects. The deflection can be observed and measured directly
whereas other parameters such as shear force, bending moment and stresses can only be
calculated. Though it is important that the cross-section of a beam is strong enough to withstand
the bending stresses and shear stresses, i.e., it is based on strength criterion, the deflections
must also be restricted. Excessive deflections can cause visible or invisible cracks in beams. The
basic method involves integrating the differential equation whereas in other methods the
integral is obtained indirectly. The relation obtained provides the elastic curve, i.e., the curve into
which the axis of the beam is trans- formed under the loading.
As mentioned above, the deflection profile of a beam is known as its elastic curve. If a beam is subjected to
pure bending, it is bent into a circular arc and the radius of bending or the radius of curvature is given by
M/I = E/R = f/y
However, the radius of curvature may not be constant at all the points as the beam maynot be subjected to
pure bending, which is generally the case.Consider a segment PQ of infinitesimal length ds of the elastic
curve of a beam as shown in Fig. 7 Let R be the radius of curvature and do the included angle of the
segment distance. Then, the length ds = Rdθ
As ds is an infinitesimal length, it can be assumed to be the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle DEF as
shown in the figure.The slope of the curve at the point P with coordinates (x, y) is given by tan θ
= dy/dx where dx and dy represent the projected lengths of the segment ds along X- and Y-
axes respectively.
 Usually, R is very large as compared to
beam span and tan @ or dy/dx, the
slope of the tangent to the curve at any
point is extremely small (of the order
0.001), the square will be still smaller as
compared to 1 and thus can be
neglected.

The above equation is the governing

Differentiating (i) with respect to x differential equation of the beam and takes
2 2 3
sec 𝜃 𝑑 𝑦 𝑑𝑠2
𝑑𝜃 𝑑 𝑦 𝑑𝑠 1 𝑑 𝑦
sec 2 𝜃 ⋅ = 2 or sec 2 𝜃 ⋅ ⋅ = 2 or = 2… ∵ = 𝑠𝑒 𝑐 𝜃 into account the effect of bending moment
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑅 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑅 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
only. The effect of shear on the deflection is
𝑑2 𝑦 1 𝑀 extremely small and usually neglected.
= = 𝑑𝑦
𝑑𝑥 2 𝑅 𝐸𝐼 𝐸𝐼 = ∫ 𝑀 ⋅ 𝑑𝑥 + 𝐶1
𝑑𝑥
𝑑2 𝑦
𝐸𝐼 2 = 𝑀 𝐸𝐼 ⋅ 𝑦 = ∬ (𝑀 ⋅ 𝑑𝑥) + 𝐶1 𝑥 + 𝐶2
𝑑𝑥
 4. Analysis of Bar of Uniform Strength

Let a bar of varying cross-sectional area be acted

upon by a load P as shown in Fig. It is desired to know
the cross- section of the bar so that it has a constant
uniform compressive stress σ throughout when the
weight of the bar is also taken into account. Consider
a small length dx at a distance x from the top. Let, A
area at distance x ,A+ dA area at distance x +dx,W =
weight per unit volume of the barConsidering the
balance of forces acting on the smalllength,σ (A + dA)
= σA+ weight of the small length dx of the bar
σ (A + dA) = σ A+ wAdx,or σ.dA = w.A.dx