Faculty of Engineering.

MECHANICS OF MATERIALS (MOM 610S)

Chapter 1: Shear Forces and Bending Moments
Prepared By: Mr. Benjamin Nghidinwa
Position: Lecturer 6th February 2024
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OVERVIEW
This chapter begins with a review of two-dimensional beam and frame analysis which
you learned in your Statics course. First, various types of beams, loadings, and support
conditions are defined for typical structures, such as cantilever and simple beams.

Applied loads may be concentrated (either a force or moment) or distributed. Support

conditions include clamped, roller, pinned, and sliding supports. The number and
arrangement of supports must produce a stable structure model that is either statically
determinate or statically indeterminate. We will study statically determinate beam
structures in this chapter.

The focus in this chapter are the internal stress resultants (axial N, shear V, and
moment M) at any point in the structure. Graphical displays or diagrams showing the
variation of N, V, and M over the entire structure are very useful in beam and frame
design, because these diagrams quickly identify locations and values of maximum axial
force, shear, and moment needed for design.
RECOMMENDED LITRATURE
It is highly recommended that you consult the literature listed
below to further your understanding of the concepts presented in
this chapter. The literature can found in the Prescribed and
Recommend Books folder on elearning:

• Mechanics of Materials 7th Edition (James Gere): Pages (306 – 337)

• Mechanics of Materials 5th Edition (Beer_Johnston): Pages (308 – 327)

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CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Types of Beams, Loads and Reactions
3. Shear Force and Bending Moments
4. Relationship Between q, V and M
5. V and M Diagrams
 Presentation Title Calibri bold 14pnts

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INTRODUCTION
• Structural members are classified according to the
types of loads they support.
For instance: axially loaded bar – forces with vectors directed along the
axis of the bar, a bar in torsion – torques (or couples) with moment
vectors directed along the axis.

• In this chapter, we begin our study of beams which

are structural members subjected to lateral loads,
that is, forces or moments having their vectors
perpendicular to the axis of the bar.
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• We will focus our discussion on shear forces and

bending moments in beams, and how they relate
to each other.
• Finding the shear forces and bending moments is
an essential step in the design of any beam.
• We need to know not only the maximum values of
these quantities, but also the manner in which they
vary along the axis.
• Once known, we can find the stresses, strains, and
deflections
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Types of Beams, Loads and Reactions

Simply Supported Beam

Cantilever Beam

Over Hanging Beam

Continuous Beam
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Point/Concentrated Load

Distributed Load

Couples
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Roller Support

Pin (Hinge) Support

Fixed Support
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SHEAR FORCE AND BENDING MOMENT

• When a beam is loaded by
forces or couples, stresses and
strains are created throughout
the interior of the beam.
• To determine these stresses
and strains, we must first find
the internal forces and internal
couples that act on cross
sections of the beam.
Sign conventions (deformation sign conventions)

1. Shear force that tends to rotate the

material clockwise is defined as
positive

2. Bending moment that tends to

compress the upper part of the beam
and elongate the lower part is
defined as positive
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOAD, SHEAR FORCE AND BENDING MOMENT

• We will now obtain some important relationships between loads, shear

forces, and bending moments in beams.

• These relationships are quite useful when investigating the shear forces
and bending moments throughout the entire length of a beam, and they
are especially helpful when constructing shear-force and bending-
moment diagrams.
As a means of obtaining the relationships, let us consider an element of a beam cut
out between two cross sections that are distance dx apart. The shear forces and
bending moments acting on the sides of the element are shown in their positive
directions. In general, the shear forces and bending moments vary along the axis of
the beam. Therefore, their values on the right-hand face of the element may be
different from their values on the left-hand face.

For each type of loading we can write two equations of equilibrium for the element,
one equation for equilibrium of forces in the vertical direction and one for
equilibrium of moments. The first of these equations gives the relationship between
the load and the shear force, and the second gives the relationship between the shear
force and the bending moment.
We will consider the element with a distributed load to determine the relationship
between the loads, shear forces and bending moment.

Shear Force. Equilibrium of forces in the

vertical direction (upward forces are positive)
gives:

From this equation we see that the rate of change of the shear force at any point on
the axis of the beam is equal to the negative of the intensity of the distributed load at
that same point.
 Bending Moment. Let us now consider the
moment equilibrium of the beam element.
Summing moments about an axis at the left-hand
side of the element and taking counter clockwise
moments as positive, we obtain

Discarding products of differentials (because they are negligible compared to the other terms), we obtain the
following relationship:

This equation shows that the rate of change of the bending moment at any point on the
axis of a beam is equal to the shear force at that same point. For instance, if the shear
force is zero in a region of the beam, then the bending moment is constant in that same
region.
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SHEAR FORCE AND BENDING MOMENT DIAGRAMS

• When designing a beam, we usually need to know how the shear forces and
bending moments vary throughout the length of the beam.
• Of special importance are the maximum and minimum values of these quantities.
Information of this kind is usually provided by graphs in which the shear force
and bending moment are plotted as ordinates and the distance x along the axis of
the beam is plotted as the abscissa.
• Such graphs are called shear-force and bending-moment diagrams.
• To provide a clear understanding of these diagrams, we will explain in detail how
they are constructed and interpreted for three basic loading conditions: a single
concentrated load, a uniform load, and several concentrated loads.
Concentrated Load
Let us begin with a simple beam AB supporting a concentrated load P. The load P acts
at distance a from the left-hand support and distance b from the right-hand support.
Considering the entire beam as a free body, we can readily determine the reactions of
the beam from equilibrium; the results are

We now cut through the beam at a cross section to the left of the load P and at
distance x from the support at A. Then we draw a free-body diagram of the left-hand
part of the beam

These expressions are valid only for the part of

the beam to the left of the load P.
Next, we cut through the beam to the right of the load P (that is, in the region a < x <
L) and again draw a free-body diagram of the left-hand part of the beam

Note that these equations are valid only for the right-hand part of the beam.

Shear Force and Bending Moment Diagrams

Uniform Load
This simple beam with a uniformly distributed load of constant intensity q and its
loading are symmetric, we see immediately that each of the reactions is equal to qL/ 2.
Therefore, the shear force and bending moment at distance x from the left-hand end
are

At each cross section the slope of the bending-moment diagram is equal to the shear
force

The maximum value of the bending moment occurs at the midpoint of the beam
where both dM/dx and the shear force V are equal to zero. Therefore, we substitute
x L/ 2 into the expression for M and obtain
Several Concentrated Loads
If several concentrated loads act on a simple beam, expressions for the shear forces
and bending moments may be determined for each segment of the beam between the
points of load application. Again using free-body diagrams of the left-hand part of the
beam and measuring the distance x from end A, we obtain the following equations for
the first segment of the beam:
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SHEAR FORCE AND BENDING MOMENT DIAGRAMS

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NB: STATIC ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

1. Determine if structure is statically determinant (If Necessary).
2. Assign a coordinate system and draw the free body diagram
(F.B.D)
3. Apply Newton's Law of Motion and determine the reactions.
4. Section the beam at an undefined distance (x) from support
A. ( It is easier when taking distances from the left support).
5. Determine the shear force and bending moment.
6. Plot the shear force and bending moment diagrams with the
aid of the F.B.D and V-M equations obtained from step
number 5.
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Thank You.