Bending moment

Background information

The bending moment is a reaction force generated when the element is bent due to an
external force or moment applied on the structural element. The most common or simple
structural element to withstand bending moments is the beam. The figure 1 shows a beam that
is simply supported at both ends. Simple support means that each end of the beam can be
rotated; therefore, each end support has no bending moment. The end can only react to shear
loads. Both ends of the other beams can be fixed. Therefore, each end support has a bending
moment and a shear reaction force. The beam can also have a fixed end and a single end that
is simply supported. The simplest beam type is the cantilever, with one end of the cantilever
fixed and the other end free (neither simple nor fixed). In fact, the beam support is usually
neither absolutely fixed nor absolutely free to rotate.

Figure 1

The internal reaction load in the cross section of the structural element can be decomposed
into a resultant force and a resultant force. In order to achieve equilibrium, the torque
generated by the external force (and external torque) must be balanced by the coupling
caused by the internal load. The resulting internal coupling is called the bending moment, and
the resulting internal force is called the shear force (if transverse to the unit plane) or the
normal force (if along the plane of the unit).

The bending moment at the section through the structural element can be defined as the sum
of the bending moments of all external forces acting on one side of the section near the
section. The forces and moments on either side of the section must be equal to cancel each
other out and remain in equilibrium, so the sum will produce the same bending moment
regardless of which side of the section is selected. If the clockwise bending moment is
considered to be negative, the negative bending moment within the element will result in
"sagging" and the positive bending moment will cause "undulation". Therefore, it is obvious
that the point at which the bending moment in the beam is zero is the point of reverse
bending, that is, the transition point from bending to sagging, and vice versa.

Torque and torque are measured by force multiplied by distance, so their units are Newton
meters (N·m) or pounds of feet(lbf·ft). The concept of bending moments is very important in
engineering (especially civil and mechanical engineering) and physics.

The tensile and compressive stresses increase in proportion to the bending moment, but also
depend on the second moment of the beam cross section (ie, the shape of the cross section,
such as a circular, square or I-beam) is a common structural shape). Bending failure occurs
when the bending moment is sufficient to cause a tensile stress greater than the yield stress of
the material over the entire cross section. In structural analysis, this bending failure is called a
plastic hinge because the structural element can achieve maximum load carrying capacity
only after the entire cross section exceeds the yield stress. It is possible that damage of the
structural element during shearing occurs before the bending failure, but the failure
mechanism of shearing and bending is different.

The moment is calculated by multiplying the external vector force (load or reaction force) by
the distance of the applied vector. When analysing the entire unit, it is wise to calculate the
moments at the ends of the unit, at the start of any evenly distributed load, at the center and at
the end, and directly below any point load. Of course, any "pin joint" in the structure allows
for free rotation, so zero moments are generated at the zero point because the rotational force
cannot be transmitted from one side to the other.

It is common practice to consider the clockwise bending moment to the left of the point of
consideration as a positive value. This then corresponds to the second derivative of the
function, which represents a "lower center" curvature when it is positive, ie sagging. When
torque and curvature are defined in this way, calculus can be more easily used to find slope
and deflection.

The critical values in the beam are usually label using a bending moment diagram in which
negative moments are drawn to be drawn proportionally above the horizontal line and drawn
proportionally below the positive line. The bending moment changes linearly on the no-load
segment and in a parabolic shape on the uniform load segment.

Engineering descriptions of bending moment calculations can be confusing due to

unexplained symbol conventions and implicit assumptions. The following description uses
vector mechanics to calculate force moments and bending moments in an attempt to explain
why a particular symbol convention is selected from the first principle.
References

Wikipedia, 3 October 2019, Bending Moment, Viewed 2 November 2019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending_moment