CHAPTER THREE

SHEAR FORCEs AND

BENDING MOMENT
of Beams
 MECHANICS OF MATERIALS

Edition
Fourth
Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Pure Bending

Pure Bending: Prismatic members

subjected to equal and opposite couples
acting in the same longitudinal plane

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 4-2

 MECHANICS OF MATERIALS

Edition
Fourth
Beer • Johnston • DeWolf

Loading Types

• Eccentric Loading: Axial loading

which does not pass through section
centroid produces internal forces
equivalent to an axial force and a couple

• Transverse Loading: Concentrated

or distributed transverse load
produces internal forces equivalent
to a shear force and a couple

• Principle of Superposition: The

normal stress due to pure bending may
be combined with the normal stress
due to axial loading and shear stress
due to shear loading to find the
complete state of stress.
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 4-3
 Introduction
The term beam refers to a slender bar that carries transverse
loading; that is, the applied force are perpendicular to the bar.
In a beam, the internal force system consist of a shear force and a
bending moment acting on the cross section of the bar.
The shear force and the bending moment usually vary
continuously along the length of the beam.
The internal forces give rise to two kinds of stresses on a
transverse section of a beam: (1) normal stress that is caused by
bending moment and (2) shear stress due to the shear force.
Knowing the distribution of the shear force and the bending
moment in a beam is essential for the computation of stresses and
deformations.
TYPES OF BEAMS
.

The following are the important types of beams:

1. Cantilever beam, 2. Simply supported beams
3. Overhanging beam, 4. Fixed beams, and
5. Continuous beam.
A.A cantilever beam is built into a rigid support at one end,
with the other end being free, as shown in Fig.1The built-in
support prevents displacements as well as rotations of the
end of the beam .
B. Simply Supported Beam. A beam supported or resting freely on the
supports at its both ends, is known as simply supported beam. Such beam
is shown in Fig.2.
C. Overhanging Beam. If the end portion of a beam is extended beyond
the support, such beam is known as overhanging beam. Overhanging beam is
shown in Fig. 3.
 Other classification of beam

A. Statically determinate beam

A beam structure has Less unknown reaction forces than available equations of
statically equilibrium, so it is said to be statically determinate
 B. Statically indeterminate beam

 A beam structure has more unknown reaction forces than available

equations of statically equilibrium, so it is said to be statically
indeterminate
 Type of supports

a. Pin support: The pin support prevents translation at the end of a beam but
does not prevent rotation.
 Thus, end A of the beam of Fig. a cannot move horizontally or vertically but
the axis of the beam can rotate in the plane of the figure.
Consequently, 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
b. Roller support: the roller support prevents translation in the vertical
direction but not in the horizontal direction. Also allows the beam rotation

c. Fixed support(clamped support) :the beam can neither translate nor rotate,
Fixed Beams. A beam whose both ends are fixed or built-hi walls, is known
as fixed beam. Such beam is shown in Fig. 4. A fixed beam is also known as a
built-in or encastred beam.
Continuous beam: A beam which is provided more than two supports as
shown in Fig.5, is known as continuous beam.
 TYPES OF LOAD
A beam is normally horizontal and the loads acting on the beams are
generally vertical. The following are the important types of load acting
on a beam:
1. Concentrated or point load
2. Uniformly distributed load and
3. Uniformly varying load.
A. Concentrated or Point Load. A concentrated load is one which is
considered to act at a point as shown In Fig. a shows the point load.
A. Uniformly Distributed Load. A uniformly distributed load is one which is spread
over a beam in such a manner that rate of loading w is uniform along the length
(i.e., each unit length is loaded to the same rate) as shown in Fig. b
For solving the numerical problems, the total uniformly distributed load is converted
into a point load, acting at the center of uniformly distributed load.
C. Uniformly Varying Load. A uniformly varying load is one which is spread over a
beam in such a manner that rate of loading varies from point to point along the beam
as shown in Fig. c in which load is zero at one end and increases uniformly to the other
end. Such load is known as triangular load. Fig. c
Shear force
The algebraic sum of the vertical forces at any section of a beam to the right or left of the section is known
as shear force.
Bending moment
The algebraic sum of the moments of all the forces acting to the right or left of the section is known as
beading moment.
Shear force and bending moment diagrams
A shear force diagram is one which shows the variation of the shear force along the length of the, beam.
And a bending moment diagram is one which shows the variation of the bending moment along the
length of the beam

Point of Contra flexure [Inflection point]:

 It is the point on the bending moment diagram where bending moment changes the sign
from positive to negative or vice versa.
It is also called ‘Inflection point’. At the point of inflection point or contra flexure the bending
moment is zero.
 Notation and sign convention
1. Shear force (V)
A shearing force having a downward direction to the right hand side of a
section or upwards to the left hand of the section will be taken as ‘positive’.

A shearing force having an upward direction to the right hand side of a section
or downwards to the left hand of the section will be taken as ‘negative’.
 2.Bending moment(M)
If the bending moment of the left hand of the section is clockwise and if bending moment
of the right hand of the section is anti-clockwise then it is a positive bending moment
A bending moment causing concavity upwards will be taken as ‘positive’ and called as
sagging bending moment
If the bending moment of the left hand of the section is anti-clockwise and if the bending
moment of the right hand of the section is clockwise then it is a negative bending moment.
A bending moment causing convexity upwards will be taken as ‘negative’ and called as
hogging bending moment

Convexity
Example 1
Example 2
Example
Draw the shear and moment diagrams for the beam
shown in Fig. below
Example 3
Draw the shear and moment diagrams for the beam
shown in Fig. below

5kN 10kN
2kN/m

5KN5KN
C A D B E

2m 3m 3m 2m
 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LOADS, SHEAR
FORCES, AND BENDING MOMENTS

In this section a simpler method for constructing the shear and moment
diagrams is discussed—a method based on two differential relations, one
that exists between the distributed load and shear, and the other
between the shear and moment
These relationships enable us to plot the shear force diagram directly
from the load diagram, and then construct the bending moment diagram
from the shear force diagram. This technique, allows us to draw the shear
force and bending moment diagrams without having to derive the
equations for V and M.
First consider beam subjected to distributed loading and then discuss
concentrated forces and couple
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. a, b, and c, respectively.

The sign conventions for these loads are as follows:

 Distributed loads and concentrated loads are positive when
they act downward on the beam and negative when they act
upward. A couple acting as a load on a beam is positive
when it is counterclockwise and negative when it is
clockwise
 Regions of Distributed Load
For purposes of generality, consider the beam shown in Fig. a, which is subjected to an
arbitrary loading.
 A free-body diagram for a very
small segment ∆x of the beam is
shown in Fig. b.
Dividing by ∆x and taking the limit as ∆x so, the above two equations become

 From above equation the magnitude of the slope at any point is equal to the
load per unit length at that point.
 And at any point the slope of the moment diagram is equal to the shear.
 The distributed loading is negative and increases
from zero to .
 It must be a curve that has a negative slope,
increasing from zero to -.
 Specific slopes = 0, , -, and -are shown in Fig. b
From previous equation 1, and 2, may also be rewritten in the form dV = w dxand dM =
Vdx.
Since wdx and Vdx represent differential areas under the distributed loading and the
shear diagram, we can then integrate these areas between any two points C and D on the
beam, Fig. d.
Note that:
If there is no distributed load on a segment of the beam (that
is, if w=0), then and the shear force is constant in that part
of the beam.
Also, if the distributed load is uniform along part of the beam
(w = constant), then is also constant and the shear force
varies linearly in that part of the beam
The area of the loading diagram may be positive (if w acts
downward) or negative (if w acts upward)
The above equation is not valid at a point where a
concentrated load is applied; the shear curve is
discontinuous at such a point
And should be applied only between successive
Note that:
If the shear force is zero in a region of the beam, then the bending
moment is constant in that same region
applies only in regions where distributed loads (or no loads) act on
the beam. At a point where a concentrated load acts, a sudden change
(of discontinuity) in the shear force occurs and the derivative is
undefined at that point.
The area under the shear curve is positive where the shear is positive
and negative where the shear is negative.
 Equations are valid even when concentrated loads are applied
between C and D, as long as the shear curve has been drawn correctly.
The equations are not valid if a couple is applied at a point between C
and D
 (B) Concentrated Loads
Now let us consider a concentrated load P
acting on the beam element .From
equilibrium of forces in the vertical
direction, we get

 This result means that an abrupt change in the shear force

occurs at any point where a concentrated load acts.
 As we pass from left to right through the point of load
application, the shear force decreases by an amount
equal to the magnitude of the downward load P.
From equilibrium of moments about the left-hand face of the element we get

 Since the length dx of the element is infinitesimally small,

we see from this equation that the increment in the bending
moment is also infinitesimally small.
 Thus, the bending moment does not change as we
pass through the point of application of a
concentrated load.

At the point of application of a concentrated load P, the rate of change
of the bending moment decreases abruptly by an amount equal to P
(C) Loads in the Form of Couples

From equilibrium of the element in the

vertical direction we obtain , which shows
that the shear force does not change a
the point of application of a couple
 Equilibrium of moments about the right-
hand side of the element gives

Disregarding terms that contain differentials we

obtain
If
If is applied clockwise jumps upward.
 Thus, the bending moment changes abruptly at the
point of application of a couple.
 Variation of Shear force and bending moments
Variation of Shear force and bending moments for various standard loads are as
shown in the following Table
Table: Variation of Shear force and bending moments
Type of load Between point Uniformly Uniformly varying
loads OR for no distributed load load
SFD/BMD load region

Shear Force Horizontal line Inclined line Two-degree curve

Diagram (Parabola)
Bending Moment Inclined line Two-degree curve Three-degree curve
Diagram (Parabola) (Cubic-parabola)