FIGURE 3.46 Shears, moments, and deformations FIGURE 3.

47 Diagrams for triangular load on a

for uniformly loaded fixed-end beam. fixed-end beam.

FIGURE 3.48 Shears, moments, and deformations FIGURE 3.49 Diagrams for concentrated load on a
for load at midspan of a fixed-end beam. fixed-end beam.
3.44
 GENERAL STRUCTURAL THEORY 3.45

FIGURE 3.50 Bending moment and shear at quarter point of a uniformly loaded simple
beam.

• The shear at a section is the algebraic sum of all forces on either side of the section.
• The bending moment at a section is the algebraic sum of the moments about the section
of all forces and applied moments on either side of the section.
• A maximum bending moment occurs where the shear or slope of the bending-moment
diagram is zero.
• Bending moment is zero where the slope of the elastic curve is at maximum or minimum.
• Where there is no distributed load along a span, the shear diagram is a horizontal line.
(Shear is a constant, which may be zero.)
• The shear diagram changes sharply at the point of application of a concentrated load.
• The differences between the bending moments at two sections of a beam equals the area
under the shear diagram between the two sections.
• The difference between the shears at two sections of a beam equals the area under the
distributed load diagram between those sections.

3.19 SHEAR DEFLECTIONS IN BEAMS

Shear deformations in a beam add to the deflections due to bending discussed in Art. 3.18.
Deflections due to shear are generally small, but in some cases they should be taken into
account.
When a cantilever is subjected to load P
(Fig. 3.51a), a portion dx of the span under-
goes a shear deformation (Fig. 3.51b). For
an elastic material, the angle ␥ equals the
ratio of the shear stress v to the shear mod-
ulus of elasticity G. Assuming that the shear
on the element is distributed uniformly,
which is an approximation, the deflection of
the beam d␦s caused by the deformation of
the element is
v V
d␦s ⫽ ␥ dx ⫽ dx ⬇ dx (3.83)
G AG
FIGURE 3.51 (a) Cantilever with a concentrated Figure 3.52c shows the corresponding shear
load. (b) Shear deformation of a small portion of the
beam. (c) Shear deflection of the cantilever.
deformation. The total shear deformation at
the free end of a cantilever is
3.46 SECTION THREE

␦s ⬇ 冕
L

0
V
AG
dx ⫽
PL
AG
(3.84)

The shear deflection given by Eq. (3.84) is usually small compared with the flexural
deflection for different materials and cross-sectional shapes. For example, the flexural de-
flection at the free end of a cantilever is ␦f ⫽ PL3 / 3EI. For a rectangular section made of
steel with G ⬇ 0.4E, the ratio of shear deflection to flexural deflection is
␦s
⫽
PL / AG
⫽
5 h
␦ƒ PL3 / 3EI 8 L 冉冊 2

(3.85)

where h ⫽ depth of the beam. Thus, for a beam of rectangular section when h / L ⫽ 0.1, the
shear deflection is less than 1% of the flexural deflection.
Shear deflections can be approximated for other types of beams in a similar way. For
example, the midspan shear deflection for a simply supported beam loaded with a concen-
trated load at the center is PL / 4AG.

3.20 MEMBERS SUBJECTED TO COMBINED FORCES

Most of the relationships presented in Arts. 3.16 to 3.19 hold only for symmetrical cross
sections, e.g., rectangles, circles, and wide-flange beams, and only when the plane of the
loads lies in one of the axes of symmetry. There are several instances where this is not the
case, e.g., members subjected to axial load and bending and members subjected to torsional
loads and bending.

Combined Axial Load and Bending. For short, stocky members subjected to both axial
load and bending, stresses may be obtained by superposition if (1) the deflection due to
bending is small and (2) all stresses remain in the elastic range. For these cases, the total
stress normal to the section at a point equals the algebraic sum of the stress due to axial
load and the stress due to bending about each axis:
P M My
ƒ⫽

x
(3.86)
A Sx Sy
where P ⫽ axial load
A ⫽ cross-sectional area
Mx ⫽ bending moment about the centroidal x axis
Sx ⫽ elastic section modulus about the centoidal x axis
My ⫽ bending moment about the centroidal y axis
Sy ⫽ elastic section modulus about the centroidal y axis
If bending is only about one axis, the maximum stress occurs at the point of maximum
moment. The two signs for the axial and bending stresses in Eq. (3.86) indicate that when
the stresses due to the axial load and bending are all in tension or all in compression, the
terms should be added. Otherwise, the signs should be obeyed when performing the arith-
metic. For convenience, compressive stresses can be taken as negative and tensile stresses
as positive.
Bending and axial stress are often caused by eccentrically applied axial loads. Figure
3.52 shows a column carrying a load P with eccentricity ex and ey. The stress in this case
may be found by incorporating the resulting moments Mx ⫽ Pex and My ⫽ Pey into Eq.
(3.86).
 GENERAL STRUCTURAL THEORY 3.47

FIGURE 3.52 Eccentrically loaded column.

3.48 SECTION THREE

If the deflection due to bending is large, Mx and My should include the additional moment
produced by second-order effects. Methods for incorporating these effects are presented in
Arts. 3.46 to 3.48.

3.21 UNSYMMETRICAL BENDING

When the plane of loads acting transversely on a beam does not contain any of the beam’s
axes of symmetry, the loads may tend to produce twisting as well as bending. Figure 3.53
shows a horizontal channel twisting even
though the vertical load H acts through the
centroid of the section.
The bending axis of a beam is the lon-
gitudinal line through which transverse loads
should pass to preclude twisting as the beam
bends. The shear center for any section of
the beam is the point in the section through
which the bending axis passes.
For sections having two axes of symme-
try, the shear center is also the centroid of
the section. If a section has an axis of sym-
metry, the shear center is located on that axis
but may not be at the centroid of the section.
FIGURE 3.53 Twisting of a channel. Figure 3.54 shows a channel section in
which the horizontal axis is the axis of sym-

FIGURE 3.54 Relative position of shear center O

and centroid C of a channel.