Internal Forces in Beams

Beam is one of the most common structure member used in structure for supporting
vertical loads which are perpendicular to the axis of the beam. Usually the axial forces
of internal forces along the axis of the beam can be ignored as there is either no
horizontal load acting on the beam or the horizontal loads can be neglected. Therefore,
the internal forces in beam are shear and bending memont only. However, when the
applied forces to the beam is not perpendicularl to the the axis of the beam, the internal
axial forces should also be considered.

Shear and Bending Moment

Consider there is only vertical loading acting on a long straight prismatic bar with
uniform cross-sectional area throughout the beam length, the equilibrium equations are

Since there is no axial force in the beam, the internal forces in a beam is shear and
bending moment.

Consider the member section AC of length LAC, the internal forces at point C are

Conventions of Internal Forces

In general, the length, measured from point A on the left to point C on the right, is
considered as a positive length, the external applied force F A, pointing upward is also
considered as a force in positive sense and the produced moment due to the external
force FA about point C is in negative sense. The direction of internal forces at point C of
beam section AC can then be defined by assuming the beam section AC is fixed at pont
C. Therefore the positive signed shear V of negative sense in downward direction and
the positive signed bending moment M of positive sense in anticlockwise direction are
directed at point C of the beam section AC. And the internal forces at point C of the
beam section CB can then be defined as internal force of equal in magnitude and
opposite in sense using the equilibrium equations at point C of an beam AB in
equilibrium or by direct calculation thruough setting up equilibrium equations of beam
section CB. According to the convention of the internal forces used in the free body
diagrams, the calculated values from the two free body beam sections are the same for
the internal forces, since the senses of the internal forces are represented by the
standard conventions used in the free body diagrams, i.e. a positive calculated values
implies correct sign conventions used in both free body diagrams and a negative
calculated value implies incorrect sign conventions used in both free body diagrams, but
internal forces in both force diagrams are still equal in magnitude but opposite in sense.
Imply

Types of Beam Supports

There are several common types of support used in beam design for engineering
structure design. The beam supports are
Hinged Support

A hinged support is a simple end support at an end of a beam at which there may be
slope, but no displacement is allowed.
Roller Support

A roller support is a simple end support at an end of a beam at which there may be
slope, but no displacement is allowed.
Fixed Support

A fixed support is an fixed end support at an end of a beam at which no slope and no
displacement is allowed.
Free End

A free end does not have any support or constraint at an end of a beam at which both
slope and displacement is allowed.
Interior Support

or
An interior support can be a hinged or roller support located between ends of a beam at
which slope is continuous from one side of the support to the other, but no displacement
is allowed.
Intenal Hinge

An intenal hinge is a hinge linkage located between ends of two separate beams at
which there may be discontinuous slope from one side of the hinge linkage to the other,
and the allowed displacement on both sides of the hinge linkage separating the two
beams is continuous.

Types of Beams
Beam can be named according to how the beam is supported. The distance L between
two supports is the span of the beam for supporting loads. The common types of beams
are
Simply Supported Beam

A simply supported beam is supported by a hinged support at one end of the beam and
a roller support at another end of the beam.
Overhanging Beam

A overhanging beam is supported by a hinged support (or roller support) at one end of
the beam and a roller support (or hinged support) at the another side of the beam which
is located away from the another end of the beam.
Cantilever Beam

A cantilever beam is supported by a single fixed support at one end of the beam only
and the another end of the beam there is a free end without any support or constraint.
Continuous Beam

A continuous beam is supported by more than two supports along the length of a beam.
In general, a continuous beam is supported by a hinged support at one end of the
beam, a roller support at another end of the beam, and one or more roller supports are
used between the two end supports.
Fixed Beam

A fixed beam is supported by two fixed supports at both ends of the beam.
Cantilever with simply supported Beam

A cantilever with simply supported beam is supported by a fixed supports at one end of
the beam and a roller support at another end of the beam.
Hinge Connected Beams
Hinge connected beams is a single continuous structure by connecting two or more
different kinds of supported beams end to end together by hinges.
For example, a hinge connected beam with simply support beams connected by internal
hinge

Or, a hinge connected beam with fixed beam and simply support beam connected by
internal hinge

Loads and Reactions

Loads are applied along the span of a beam. In general, the loads considered in static
are the concentrated load P and distributed load W. Concentrated load is the one which
can be considered as acting at a point although the load is distributed over a small
length of the beam in practice. Distributed load is the one which can not be considered
as acting at a point because the load is spread over a considerable length of the beam.
The distributed load is usually expressed as load w per unit length. The distributed load
is called uniformly distributed load when the load w per unit length is a constant or
uniform from point to point over the lengh of load distributed. And those distributed loads
with varying loading from point to point over the lengh of load distributed are grouped
as varying distributed load, e.g linear varying distributed load.

Supports commonly used for the support and connection of beams are the hinged
support, roller support, fixed support, and the internal hinge connection. If the total
unknown reactions involved in all supports are three unknowns only, the reactions will
be statically determinate. Therefore, simply supported beam, overhanging beam and
cantilever beam are statically determinate beams. If the total unknown reactions
involved in all supports are more than three unknowns, the reactions will be statically
inderterminate. Since only three unknowns can be determined by static methods,
methods of statics is not sufficient to determine the reactions. Therefore, continuous
beam, fixed beam and cantilever with simply supported beam are statically indetermine
beams.
In order to determine the reactions for statically indetermine beams, additional
equations can be taken from the relationships based on the properties of the beam and
the resistance to bending under the applied loads. If there are totally only two unknown
reactions involved in all supports, the beam is not stable for any applied loads and the
beam is partially constrained only. Therefore beam supported by two rollers is partitally
constrained. The beam is stable when the applied loads is vertical and the beam will
move when the horizotal components of the applied loads is not equal to zero.
Therefore in practice, a horizontal restraint is usually used in one support to restrain the
beam from rotating or moving horizontal