Yonatan yakob, Temesgen Leta, henok tefera

Department of mechanical and electrical engineering, university of electronic science and

technology of china, china, E-mail: yonatanyakob52@gmail.com.

Abstract
This report proposes numerical analysis of a simply supported beam problem using MATLAB
application. Three different MATLAB codes are obtained. The first MATLAB code, MATLAB
_code_1.m, has four different loading cases (point load, distributed load, point load and distributed
load, moment load). It takes the magnitude and position of application of the loads as an input to
plot shear force diagram and bending moment diagram of the beam. The code can also calculate
the reaction for at each support. The second MATLAB code, MATLAB_code_2.m, takes a
singularity function of displacement, shear force and bending moment as an input to plot the
diagram of displacement vs distance, shear force and bending moment. the third MATLAB code
takes moment singularity function of any beam problem as an input and gives shear force and
bending moment diagrams as an output. The results were displayed and the programming was
done on the MATLAB.
 Introduction
A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally to the beam's axis. Its
mode of deflection is primarily by bending. The loads applied to the beam result in reaction forces
at the beam's support points. The total effect of all the forces acting on the beam is to produce
shear forces and bending moments within the beam, that in turn induce internal stresses, strains
and deflections of the beam. Beams are characterized by their manner of support, profile (shape of
cross-section), equilibrium conditions, length, and their material.
The problem is the process of solving the bending moment, shear force and deflection of the beam
at a given length of the simply supported beam. The process is costly (too expensive) for students
to calculate and plot bending moment diagram, shear force diagram and displacement vs distance
diagram. So, by using the provided MATLAB code it is easy to calculate the reaction force at the
supports and to solve this problem.
In engineering, beams are of several types:
• Simply supported – a beam supported on the ends which are free to rotate and have no
moment resistance.
• Fixed – a beam supported on both ends and restrained from rotation.
• Over hanging – a simple beam extending beyond its support on one end.
• Double overhanging – a simple beam with both ends extending beyond its supports on
both ends.
• Continuous – a beam extending over more than two supports.
• Cantilever – a projecting beam fixed only at one end.
• Trussed – a beam strengthened by adding a cable or rod to form a truss.
But the purpose of this project simply supported beams are used. A simply supported beam is the
simplest structural element, as the name itself suggests, it is supported at its both ends, at one end
it is pinned and the other is either pinned or rollers are used. It will undergo both bending and
shearing and no translational motion is allowed, only sometimes when the roller end is used, of
course, the bending and shearing will vary according to the type of load such as UDL (uniformly
distributed load), UVL (uniformly varying load), concentrated load etc. Coming to the next part,
if both ends are hinged then it will be a fixed beam which is another class of beams, for which
every type of load is not applicable, and deflection is rather less, but of course, it can be regarded
as a simply supported beam as it supported by two hinges. The ends of a simply supported beam,
unlike a fixed beam, are allowed to rotate freely. Also, one end of the beam is idealized as a
roller which prevents restraint of lateral translation.

Internal forces in simply supported beams

In engineering mechanics there are two types of internal force in a beam. They are bending moment
and shear force. A shearing force occurs when a perpendicular force is applied to a static material.
they are unaligned forces pushing one part of a body in one specific direction, and another part of
the body in the opposite direction. When the forces are aligned into each other, they are called
compression forces. An example is a deck of cards being pushed one way on the top, and the other
at the bottom, causing the cards to slide. Another example is when wind blows at the side of a
peaked roof of a house - the side walls experience a force at their top pushing in the direction of
the wind, and their bottom in the opposite direction, from the ground or foundation. William A.
Nash defines shear force in terms of planes: "If a plane is passed through a body, a force acting
along this plane is called a shear force or shearing force. These forces occur along numerous points
of a beam, and it is important to determine where these shears are at the greatest points as this may
be where a beam fails. A bending moment is the reaction induced in a structural element when an
external force or moment is applied to the element causing the element to bend. The most common
or simplest structural element subjected to bending moments is the beam. The internal reaction
loads in a cross-section of the structural element can be resolved into a resultant force and a
resultant couple. For equilibrium, the moment created by external forces (and external moments)
must be balanced by the couple induced by the internal loads. The resultant internal couple is called
the bending moment while the resultant internal force is called the shear force (if it is transverse
to the plane of element) or the normal force (if it is along the plane of the element). The bending
moment at a section through a structural element may be defined as the sum of the moments about
that section of all external forces acting to one side of that section. The forces and moments on
either side of the section must be equal in order to counteract each other and maintain a state of
equilibrium so the same bending moment will result from summing the moments, regardless of
which side of the section is selected. If clockwise bending moments are taken as negative, then a
negative bending moment within an element will cause "sagging", and a positive moment will
cause "hogging". It is therefore clear that a point of zero bending moment within a beam is a point
of contra flexure, that is the point of transition from hogging to sagging or vice versa.
For simply supported beams we can analytically calculate those internal forces and plot their
diagrams. When it comes to a beam problem, there are many kinds of problems, with different
kinds of loads in a different position co-ordinate. We have a general guide to solve a beam problem:

1. Setup equilibrium equations and find reaction forces;

2. Find control sections and determine the shapes of diagrams;
3. Calculate shear and moment at control sections;
4. Plot the final shear and moment diagram;
As an example, we have used the following figure fig 2.1 in order to emphasize the analytic
method:
For this given problem lets follow the general steps and solve for shear force and bending
moment diagram. Lets first draw the free body diagram with a divided control section.
So, for different types of beam problems we can solve the problem by following these general
steps analytically.
But these kinds of problems can easily be solved by using the MATLAB code we have provided.
This MATLAB program is used to calculate the reaction force on the beam and plot the shear
force and bending moment diagram. It has four cases for different kinds of applied loads on the
beam. The general algorithm for the MATLAB code is:

• Getting the specified input from the user

• Finding the reaction force at the support
• Finding control section and calculating the shear force and bending moment
• Plot the shear force and bending moment

1) the first case is when only point load is acted on the beam, the input is the magnitude of
the force and the position of the force from the left end. By using these two inputs first it
calculates the reaction force by the following formula given,
R1 = W*(L-a)/L
R2 = W*a/L

Where,
R1- is the reaction force on the left pin
R2- is the reaction force on the right pin
L- is the length of the beam
W- is the force applied on the beam
a- is the position of the force from the left
then by dividing the length in to two part, from the left beam to the point where the force
applied and from the point a to the right end, it plots the shear force and bending moment
diagram.
2) the second case is when only distributed load is acted, the input is the magnitude of the
distributed force, the position of distributed force from the left, the distance between left
end support to the center of distributed force and the length of the distributed force, then
the reaction forces are given by the following equations:

R1 = W*b*(b+2*c)/(2*L)
R2 = W*b*(b+2*a)/(2*L)
a = (cg-b/2);
c = L-a-b;
Where,
b- is the length of distributed force
cg- is the length distance between left end support to the center of distributed force
c- is the length between the point where distributed force end to the right end
Then by dividing the length in to three part, from the left end to where the distributed force
applied, the region where the distributed force act and the point where distributed force end to
the right end. It plots the shear force and bending moment diagram.
3) the third case is when both point load and distributed force acting on the beam, the input
is the magnitude of both point force and distributed force, the position of both force from
the left end support and parameter listed in case 2, the reaction forces are given by the
following equations:
R1=W1+W2*b-((a*W1+(c+b/2)*W2*b)/L)
R2=(a*W1+(c+b/2)*W2*b)/L

where
W1- is the point load applied on the beam
W2- is the distributed force applied on the beam
c- the length between the left end to the point where distributed force begins to act
In this case there is to kind of structure where (a < c) and (a > c), in both structure the reaction
force have same magnitude but when plotting the diagram it has slight difference, in both case it
divide the length to four part , from the left beam to the point where the force applied, from the
point load to the distributed force , the region where the distributed force act and the point where
distributed force end to the right end support.
4) the fourth case is when only moment is acted on the beam. There are two types of moment,
clockwise and anticlockwise. So, the inputs are the magnitude of the moment, position of the
moment from the left end support and whether it is clockwise or anticlockwise. Then by the
given formula reaction force can be calculated. the reaction forces are given by the following
equations:
• for clockwise
R1=-M/L
R2=M/L
• for anticlockwise
R1=M/L
R2=-M/L
• c=L-a
Where
M- is the magnitude of moment
a- is the position of the moment from the left support
To plot the shear force diagram the position of the moment is not needed since moment has no
effect on the shear force so there is no division of the length. But to plot the bending moment
diagram the position of moment matters, so it divides the length in to two part, from the left end
support to point a and from the point a to the right end support.
So, in order to illustrate the function of the code we used the beam in fig 1 as an example.
When the MATLAB code run, in the command window a list of commands are displayed. the
first command is to input the length of the beam in meter, so we input 6m

The second command is to input the type of load acting on the beam, we choose Type 3 since in
the example above the beam has both the point load and uniformly distributed load (udl) acted on
it, then the next command is displayed to input whether a<c or a>c, so we typed 1 because a is
less than c (point load comes first from the left end support)

The next two commands are used to input the magnitude of both point load and distributed load
in KN,

After we input the magnitude the next command asks to input the position of the loads from the
left end support, for the distributed force we input cg (the length between the left end to center of
distributed force) and the length of distributed force,

Then the MATLAB code calculate both left and right support reaction and display the output of
reaction forces.

Finally, the MATLAB start to plot the shear force and bending moment diagram, and it given as
follows on Fig 2:
 Fig 2
So, by using MATLAB we can easily solve such problems and we can get approximately perfect
curves and we can analyze the curve and read maximum and minimum values.

Analytical method of calculating beam deflection

As mentioned before it is too expensive to calculate and simulate the deflection of beams
analytically. But there is a general step to solve this kind of beam problem.
• Establishing moment equation
• Finding the governing equation and calculating integration
• Setting boundary conditions for constants
• Writing the curvature function
• Plotting the displacement vs distance diagram
• Calculating maximum deflection and angle
By following these steps, we can find the solution for these kinds of problems.

Singularity function
Singularity functions are a class of discontinuous functions that contain singularities, i.e. they are
discontinuous at their singular points. Singularity functions have been heavily studied in the field
of mathematics under the alternative names of generalized functions and distribution theory. The
functions are notated with brackets, as where n is an integer. The < > are often referred
to as singularity brackets.

Integrating can be done in a convenient way in which the constant of integration is

automatically included so the result will be 0 at x=a.

For any given simply supported beam structure with different kinds of loads, we can drive
singularity function for its Load distribution. So, based on the load distribution function we can
drive singularity function of shear force, bending moment, slope of deflection and deflection.
Singularity function of shear force:

Where w- is load singularity function

Singularity function of bending moment:

Where S- is shear force singularity function

Singularity function of slope of deflection:

Where M- is Bending moment Singularity function

 E- is young’s modulus
I – is moment of inertia of the beam

Singularity function of deflection:

Where u’- is slope of deflection Singularity function

It is also possible if the given function is deflection singularity function, we can get the other
singularity function by simply derivation the deflection.
By using those formulas, we can calculate and plot the curves for the bending moment, shear force
and deflection of the beam. we used those formulas for our MATLAB code. We will use the beam
in fig 1 as an example to illustrate our code.

So, the first step is to drive load singularity function. It is given by:
𝑊(𝑥) = 4.1667 < 𝑥 − 0 >−1 − 2 < 𝑥 − 1 >−1 − 2 < 𝑥 − 2 >0 + 2 < 𝑥 − 5 >0
The second step is to find shear force singularity function, and it is given by:
 𝑆(𝑥) = 4.1667 < 𝑥 − 0 >0 − 2 < 𝑥 − 1 >0 − 2 < 𝑥 − 2 >1 + 2 < 𝑥 − 5 >1
The third step is to find Bending moment Singularity function, and it is given by:

𝑀(𝑥) = 4.1667 < 𝑥 − 0 >1 − 2 < 𝑥 − 1 >1 −< 𝑥 − 2 >2 +< 𝑥 − 5 >2

For the fourth step we are going to find slope of deflection Singularity function, and it is given
by:

given that: EI=4.45 × 105

u’(𝑥) = 1.9 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 0 >2 − 0.9 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 1 >2 − 1.3 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 2 >3
+ 1.3 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 5 >3

And the last step is to find the deflection singularity function. Which is given by:

𝑈(𝑥) = 1.9 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 0 >3 − 0.9 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 1 >3 − 1.3 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 2 >4
+ 1.3 × 10−5 < 𝑥 − 5 >4 + 6.5𝑥

After finding all those functions, we are going to insert it into the provided MATLAB code at the
specified line of the script code. The code and result for this specific question are as follows on
fig 3 and fig 4.
Fig 3
 Fig 4: the result table
The third MATLAB code, MATLAB_code_3, uses moment singularity equation as an input to get
shear force and bending moment diagrams for beams with any case of loading. After getting the
moment singularity function, we are supposed to enter the equation in to the code by the following
steps:
1. enter the length of the beam
2. enter the number of singularity elements
3. enter the coefficient of each singularity element
4. enter the distance from the left support for each singularity element
5.enter the exponent of each singularity element in the moment singularity equation
Finishing the above-mentioned steps, we have completely inserted all the inputs needed to draw
the shear force and bending moment graphs.
The main advantage of this code is it can draw shear force and bending moment diagrams for
any orientation of loadings including concentrated loadings, distributed loadings and/or
moments applied on the beam at different locations as far as the moment singularity equation is
determined.
The code and the output using the above example with the moment singularity equation given
as:

𝑀(𝑥) = 4.1667 < 𝑥 − 0 >1 − 2 < 𝑥 − 1 >1 −< 𝑥 − 2 >2 +< 𝑥 − 5 >2
is as follows in Fig 5and Fig 6:

Fig 5
 Fig 6
Finally, we can find any beam problem’s solution by following the above steps. The main
challenge of this method is finding the singularity function.

Conclusion
In this report we investigated beam problems and tried to solve them using numerical methods.
The report illustrated the most common beam problem that is finding the reaction forces at
supports, plotting shear force, bending moment, and displacement vs distance graphs taking one
particular loading case as an example. The given example contains a concentrated load on the left
and a distributed load on the right in between a pin support and a roller support at each respective
ends of the beam. We used two MATLAB codes to solve the problem. The first code utilizes the
virtual cut and analyze method to find the reaction forces at the supports and plot the shear force
and bending moment graphs of the given problem. In addition to the given case in the particular
example this code can solve beams with other four different loading cases. The cases are beams
with a concentrated force applied in between supports at the end, beams with distributed load
applied in between supports at the end, beams with concentrated load on the right and a distributed
load on the left in between supports at the end and finally beams with a moment applied in between
supports at the end. The second code graphs shear force, bending moment, and displacement
against distance for a given deflection, bending moment and shear force singularity functions.
 Future improvements
The program has some weakness, as we have a lot of cases for different kinds of beams, even for
simply supported beams we have a lot of cases depending on the existence and position of different
types of loads. So, it makes it somehow difficult to draw a general formula for calculating and
plotting those diagrams. By using the MATLAB_code_1 we can solve a limited number of
problems, as this code needs some improvement. But by using the MATLAB_code_2 we can
almost solve all kinds of simply supported beam problems. And for the last code,
MATLAB_code_3, we couldn’t be able to drive the general pattern for the deflection singularity
function, so to include plotting the deflection diagram in the program can be an improvement for
the future.
The first MATLAB code: to find the support reaction, shear force diagram and bending moment
diagram. MATLAB_code_1
The second MATLAB code: to plot the shear, bending moment and deflection diagram
MATLAB_code_2
MATLAB_code_3: to plot the shear and bending moment diagram