Chapter 2

Shearing force and Bending moment diagrams

 Introduction

Types of beams

Shear force

Bending moment

Shear force and bending moment equation

Shear force and bending moment diagram

 2.1 INTRODUCTION
• Structural members are usually classified according to the types of loads that
they support. For instance, an axially loaded bar supports forces having their
vectors directed along the axis of the bar and a bar in torsion supports torques
having their moment vectors directed along the axis.
• This chapter deals on beams, which are structural members subjected to lateral
loads, that is, forces or moments having their vectors perpendicular to the axis
of the bar.
• In this chapter we discuss shear forces and bending moments in beams, and
we will show how these quantities are related to each other and to the loads.
Finding the shear forces and bending moments is an essential step in the
design of any beam.
2.2 Types of beams, loads and reactions
Fig a, represent a beam with a pin support at one end and a roller support at the other is called a simply
supported beam or a simple beam.
• Pin support is that it prevents translation at the end of a beam but does not prevent rotation. Thus, end A
of the beam of cannot move horizontally or vertically but the axis of the beam can rotate in the plane of
the figure.
• A pin support is capable of developing a force reaction with both horizontal and vertical components
(HA and RA), but it cannot develop a moment reaction.
• At end B of the beam the roller support prevents translation in the vertical direction but not in the
horizontal direction; hence this support can resist a vertical force (RB) but not a horizontal force. Of
course, the axis of the beam is free to rotate at B just as it is at A
The beam shown in Fig. b, which is fixed at one end and free at the other, is called a cantilever beam.
At the fixed support (or clamped support) the beam can neither translate nor rotate, whereas at the free
end it may do both. Consequently, both force and moment reactions may exist at the fixed support.
The beam shown in Fig. c is a beam With an overhang. This beam is simply supported at points A and
B. but it also projects beyond the support at B. The overhanging segment BC is similar to a cantilever
beam except that the beam axis may rotate at point B
Types of loads
When a load is applied over a very small area, it may be idealized as a
concentrated load, which is a single force. Fig a and b
When a load is spread along the axis of abeam it is represented as a distributed
load. Distributed load are measured by their intensity, which is expressed in units
of force per unit distance.

• Uniformly distributed load: fig a

• Linearly varying load(has an intensity that varies linearly from q1 to q2): fig b

Another kind of load is couple illustrated by the couple of moment M1 acting on

the overhanging beam.
Reactions
• Finding the reactions is usually the first step in the analysis of a beam.
Once the reactions are known, the shear forces and bending moments can be
found.
• If a beam is supported in a Statically determinate manner, all reactions can be
found from free-body diagrams and equations of equilibrium.
• Example
,,
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, must have to find the internal forces and internal couples that
act on cross sections of the beam.

 As an illustration of how these internal quantities are found, consider a cantilever beam AB loaded by a force P
at Its free end a.
 We cut through the beam at a cross section mn located at distance x from the free end and isolate the left-hand
part of the beam as a free body b.
 The free body is held in equilibrium by the force P and by the stresses that act over the cut cross section.
 These stresses represent the action of the right-hand part of the beam on the left-hand part.
 From statics, we know that the resultant of the stresses acting on the cross section can be reduced to a shear
force V and a bending moment M. Because the load P is transverse to the axis of the beam, no axial force
exists at the cross section.
 Both the shear force and the bending moment act in the plane of the beam, that is. the vector for the shear
force lies in the plane of the figure and the vector for the moment is perpendicular to the plane of the figure.
 Shear forces and bending moments, like axial forces in bars and internal torques in shafts, are the resultants
of stresses distributed over the cross section. Therefore, these quantities are known collectively as stress
resultants.
 The stress resultants in statically determinate beams can be calculated from equations of equilibrium.
 In the case of the cantilever beam of Fig.a, we use the free-body diagram of Fig. b. Summing forces in the
vertical direction and also taking moments about the cut section, we get

 where x is the distance from the free end of the beam to the cross section and V and M are being determined. Thus,
through the use of a free body diagram and two equations of equilibrium, we can calculate the shear force and
bending moment without difficulty.
Sign Conventions
we must recognize that the algebraic sign of a stress resultant is determined by how it deforms
the material on which it acts, rather than by its direction in space.
 In the case of a beam, a positive shear force acts clockwise against the material (Figs. b and c)
and a negative shear force acts counterclockwise against the material.
Also, a positive bending moment compresses the upper part of the beam (Fig.b and c) and a
negative bending moment compresses the lower part.

 Sign conventions for stress resultants are called deformation sign conventions because they are based upon how
the material is deformed.
 when writing equations of equilibrium we use static sign conventions, in which forces are positive or negative
according to their directions along the coordinate axes.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LOADS, SHEAR FORCES, AND BENDING MOMENTS
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
let us consider an element of a beam cut out between two cross sections that are distance dx
apart(Fig. 4-10). The load acting on the top surface of the element may be a distributed load, a
concentrated load, or a couple, as shown in Figs.4- 10a, b, and c, respectively.
Distributed Loads
 The first type of loading is a distributed load of intensity q, as shown in Fig.a. 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.
 For instance, if there is no distributed load on a segment of the beam (that is, if q = 0), then dV/dx =0
and the shear force is constant in that part of the beam. Also, if the distributed load is uniform along part
of the beam (q = constant), then dV/dx is also constant and the shear force changes linearly in that part
of the beam.
 To obtain this relationship, shear forces at two different cross sections we multiply both sides of Eq. by
dx and then integrate between any two points A and B on the axis of the beam; thus.
Let us now consider the moment equilibrium of the beam element shown in Fig. 4- 10a.
Summing moments about an axis at the left-hand

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.
• Integrating Eq. (4-6) between two points A and B on the beam axis gives
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 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.