See MTE 321 Lecture 2.

Sign Conventions

+ Shear Force causes CW rotation of a beam (left part goes up, right part goes down)

+ Bending Moments cause compression at the top of a segment

Internal Shear and Bending Moments

When you split a distributed load you get two components with a shear force, and bending moment that make each member bend inwards.

*Downwards shear and CCW bending moments are +!

Example SFD and BMD

Tips for SFD and BMD

  • Make your internal cut to minimize the amount of unknowns on a section
  • For the beam shown above, you need to make 2 cuts for enough equations to solve for V and M due to the presence of P
  • Brute Force: basically, you need a section for each “segment” capped by a transverse load, that way you can solve for V and M and use that solved value for V and M to carry over to the next segment
  • When V is 0, M is at at a critical point
  • Diagrams should start and end at 0
  • Graph the results by connecting the dots
  • This way is tedious and disconcerting but provides built in error checking
  • We want a better way to do this to save time…

Better way via relationships

  • Start at whatever your left-most reaction force is, and then the SFD reacts to transverse loads as you go along the beam (pushes your diagram up, or pulls it down).
  • Use the AREA under the SFD to find the maximum value of M at the next point of interest (next transverse load)
  • When V is + M slopes up, when V is - M slopes down. M is also one degree higher than that of V.
  • Connect the dots

Load and Shear (Shortcuts)

The relationship between load, shear and bending is as follows and yields a nice way to model shear and bending forces

|

This ultimately yields:
and

Diagram Considerations

  • Between concentration load application points, shear variation is constant
  • Between concentrated load application points, the bending moment is linear

Uses in Beams and Loading:

  • Determining shear forces and bending moments produced by applied loads
  • Selecting cross-sections best suited to resist shear and bending forces