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Euler-Bernoulli Beams
The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory was established around 1750 with contributions from Leonard Euler and Daniel Bernoulli. The work built on earlier developments by Jacob Bernoulli. However, the beam problem had been addressed even earlier. Galileo attempted one formulation but misplaced the neutral axis. Leonardo da Vinci also seems to have addressed the problem of beam bending. The two key assumptions in the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory are that the material is linear elastic according to Hookes law and that plane sections remain plane and perpendicular to the neutral axis during bending. The latter is sometimes referred to as Naviers hypothesis. In contrast, Timoshenko beam theory, which is covered in another document, relaxes the assumption that the sections remain perpendicular to the neutral axis, thus including shear deformation. In the following, the governing equations are established, followed by the formulation and solution of the differential equation. Thereafter, the computation of stresses and cross-section constants is described. A number of sign conventions are adopted in the following: The z-axis is increases upward Displacement w is positive in the direction of the z-axis
Terje Haukaas
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Distributed load qz is positive when it acts in the downward direction Clockwise shear force is positive Bending moment that imposes tension at the bottom of a horizontal beam element is positive Counter-clockwise rotation is positive so that it can be interpreted as the slope of the deformed beam element Tensile stresses and strains are positive, compression is negative
Equilibrium
The equilibrium equations are obtained by considering equilibrium in the x- direction for the infinitesimal beam element in Figure 1. Notice that the distributed load, q, acts in the downward direction, while the z-axis is in the upward direction. The notation qz is employed in other documents to identify the case where positive load acts in the positive z-direction.
V+dV
M+dM
dx
Vertical equilibrium yields: Moment equilibrium about the rightmost edge yields:
q=!
dV dx
(1)
V=
dM dx
(2)
In Eq. (2) it is noted that second-order terms are neglected. This essentially means that terms with dx2 (the multiplication of an exceedingly small value by itself) are considered approximately equal to zero.
Section
Integration
M = $ !" # z d A
A
(3)
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where the minus sign appears because it is compressive (negative) stresses in the positive z-axis domain that gives a positive bending moment, i.e., bending moment with tension at the bottom. Figure 2 is intended to explain this further.
M x
Minus sign is cross-section integral is necessary to get positive bending moment
Figure
2:
The
reason
for
the
minus
sign
in
Eq.
(3).
Material
Law
! = E " #
(4)
In the context of two-dimensional theory of elasticity, the use of Eq. (4) implies a plane stress material law. It implies that there is zero stress, i.e., air on the sides of the beam. The alternative plane strain version of the two-dimensional Hookes law is more appropriate in cases where the beam is only a strip of a long rectangular plate that is supported along the two long edges. In that case the strain is restrained in the y-direction:
& " yy = $ % " xx E Which, substituted into the material law in the x-direction yields:
! yy =
" yy
#$ %
" xx =0 E
(5)
" yy " xx ($ % " xx ) = " xx (1 # $ 2 ) & " = E % !
(6)
" xx #$ = #$ xx xx E E E E E 1# $2 All
the
derivations
and
results
in
the
following
are
based
on
the
material
law
xx=E.xx
from
Eq.
(4).
However,
the
plain
strain
version
is
easily
introduced
by
replacing
the
Youngs
modulus,
E,
in
any
equation
by
E/(1-2).
! xx =
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Kinematics
The relationship between the axial strain and the transversal displacement of a beam element is sought. It is first recognized that bending deformation essentially implies shortening and lengthening of fibres in the cross-section. Fibres on the tension side elongate, while fibres on the compression side shorten. The starting point for the considerations is to link the axial strain to the change of length of the imaginative fibres that the cross-section is made up of. The same consideration as in kinematics of truss members, namely that strain is elongation divided by original length yields:
du (7) dx Next, the axial displacement u is related to the rotation of the cross-section. In particular, consider the infinitesimal rotation d of the infinitesimally short beam element in Figure 3. In passing, it is noted that d is equal to the curvature, . Under the assumption that plane sections remain plane and perpendicular to the neutral axis during deformation, each fibre in the cross-section change length proportional to its distance from the neutral axis.
!=
z, w
d!
z x, u
Figure
3:
Naviers
hypothesis
for
beam
bending.
The
amount
of
shortening
or
elongation
depends
upon
the
rotation
of
the
cross- section.
A
geometrical
consideration
of
to
Figure
3
shows
that
the
shortening
and
lengthening,
i.e.,
axial
displacement,
of
each
infinitesimally
short
fibre
is
du = ! d" # z
(8)
Finally,
the
rotation
is
related
to
the
transversal
displacement.
For
this
purpose,
consider
two
points
on
a
beam
that
is
dx
apart,
as
shown
in
Figure
4.
The
relative
displacement
is
dw,
which
is
measure
positive
upwards.
Consequently,
a
geometrical
consideration
of
Figure
4
shows
that:
(9)
where
the
equation
is
simplified
by
assuming
that
the
deformations
are
sufficiently
small
so
that
tan().
Euler-Bernoulli Beams Page 4
tan(! ) =
dw " ! dx
Terje Haukaas
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!
dw
dx
d 2w ! = " 2 # z dx
(10)
This expression implies an approximation of the exact curvature of the beam. Mathematically, curvature is defined as
!"
1 R
(11)
where R is the radius of curvature of the beam. In the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory that is presented here, the curvature is approximated by
!"
d# d 2 w " dx dx 2
(12)
Notice that there are two approximation signs. The first alludes to the fact that differentiation is carried out with respect to the x-axis. Unless the deformations are negligible this is inaccurate; differentiation should be carried out with respect to the s-axis that follows the curving beam axis. The second approximation is due to Eq. (9). From that equation it is observed that the accurate expression for is:
(13)
If this expression was utilized in the derivations above then the differentiation of the inverse tan-function yields
!"
$ d 2w ' & % dx 2 ) (
(14)
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which reduces to the expression in Eq. (12) when the slope dw/dx is small. However, the curvature expression in Eq. (14) is still approximate because the differentiation is carried out with respect to the x-axis and not the beam axis. From mathematics, the exact curvature expression is:
!=
(15)
Differential Equation
The governing differential equation for beam members is obtained by combining the equations for equilibrium, section integration, material law, and kinematics:
q=!
dV d2M d2 = ! 2 = 2 $ " # z dA dx dx dx A
(16)
d2 d2 d 2w 2 = 2 $ E # % # z d A = ! 2 $ E # 2 # z d A dx A dx A dx = ! EI d 4w dx 4
where the modulus of elasticity is assumed constant over the cross-section and the moment of inertia is defined:
I = ! z 2 d A
A
(17)
General Solution
Although solving the differential equation is not part of typical structural analysis it is instructive to study its solution for simple reference cases. In particular, the solution of the differential equation is the starting point for the selection of shape functions in the finite element method. Those shape functions are often approximate, while the solution of the differential equation reveals the exact shape when the member deforms. The general solution of the differential equation reveals whether the finite element shape functions are exact or not. For beam members, the general solution of the differential equation is obtained by integrating four times:
w( x ) =
1 qz 4 ! ! x + C1 ! x 3 + C2 ! x 2 + C3 ! x + C4 24 EI
(18)
Given
a
uniform
distributed
load
qz,
the
displaced
shape
is
a
fourth
order
polynomial.
Without
any
distributed
load,
the
displacement
shape
of
a
beam
member
is
a
third-order
polynomial.
To
obtain
the
solution
for
a
specific
beam
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problem, boundary conditions are specified. To prescribe a rotation, shear force, or bending moment, the following equations are useful, obtained by combining the governing equations that are established earlier:
!=
dw
dx
d 2w
dx 2 d 3w
dx 3
M = EI V = EI
As an illustration of the solution to the differential equation for beam bending, Figure 5 shows plots of w(x), (x), M(x), and V(x) for a simply supported beam with uniformly distributed load. The illustration is made with qz=L=EI=1.
Figure
5:
Example
of
response
functions
for
beam
element.
With reference to Figure 5, notice that the displacement w(x) is negative, i.e., downwards and that (x) correctly shows that the slope is negative left of the mid- span. Furthermore, notice that the plots of M(x) and V(x) are identical to the respective section force diagrams, with one exception: plotting M(x) yields a diagram drawn on the compression side, while in these notes the bending moment diagrams are consistently drawn on the tension side.
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Cross-section Parameters
The
only
cross-section
constant
in
fundamental
2D
beam
theory
is
the
cross- sectional
moment
of
inertia,
I,
defined
in
Eq.
(17).
In
the
formula,
z
is
the
distance
from
the
neutral
axis
of
the
cross-section.
For
simple
cross-sections,
most
prominently
the
rectangular
one
with
width
b
and
height
h,
the
integral
is
evaluated
analytically:
h /2
I = b!
" h /2
z2 dz =
b ! h3 12
(22)
For more complicated cross-sections the following procedure may be helpful: 1. Determine the location of the neutral axis. For homogeneous cross-sections, the neutral axis passes through the centroid of the cross-section. In other words, when the coordinate z has its origin at the centroid then the static moment z dA is zero. In practice, first select a reference axis in the cross- section that is parallel to the neutral axias and let zo denote its distance to the true neutral axis. Furthermore, let zi denote the distance from the arbitrarily selected axis to the centroid of each sub-area, Ai that the cross-section consists of. The distance to the true neutral axis is determined from:
Azo =
Ai zi
"
zo =
! A z
i
(23)
2. Determine the local moment of inertia, Ii, of each sub-area of the cross- section about the local centroid axis of that part. 3. Add contributions to the global moment of inertia from each cross-section part according to Steiners formula:
I=
I i + zi2 Ai
(24)
where zi is the distance from the neutral axis of the entire cross-section to the centroid of the part.
Principal Axes
This document describes bending about one axis, i.e., bending of 2D beams. With the most common cross-sections it is straightforward to understand which cross- section axis the beam will bend around. For example, a double-symmetric cross- section bends around the two symmetry-axes. However, additional analysis is necessary for general asymmetric cross-sections to determine the principal axes, i.e., the bending axes of the cross-section. As a starting point, suppose two axes directions y and z are arbitrary selected; they originate in the centroid but they generally do not coincide with the principal axes. The total axial strain at a location of the cross-section is expressed in the following extended version of Eq. (10):
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d 2v d 2w ! = ! o " 2 # y " 2 # z dx dx
(25)
From this strain, the material law in Eq. (4) provides the stress, and the stress is integrated by Eq. (3) to obtain the following expression for the bending moment about the y-axis:
(26)
The first integral vanishes because z originates at the centroid, while the last term is the ordinary bending moment from Eq. (20). As a result, Eq. (26) is rewritten as:
M = EI yz !
d 2v d 2w + EI ! dx 2 dx 2
(27)
I yz = " y ! z d A
A
(28)
It is relatively straightforward to establish formulas for Iyz and compute stresses in term of Iyz, etc. However, it is also always possible to rotate the axis system so that Iyz is zero; then the axis system is referred to as the principal axes. This is advantageous because the elementary formulas for beam bending remain valid. (Material to be added here.)
Stresses
Although the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is formulated in terms of axial stress, , beam bending involves both axial and shear stresses. The axial stress is directly related to the bending moment, while the shear stress is directly related to the shear force as described shortly. One way of obtaining an expression for axial stress in terms of the bending moment is to combine material law and kinematics equations, which yields:
! = "E #
d 2w # z dx 2
(29)
Then substitute the differential equation without equilibrium equations, i.e., Eq. (20), to obtain:
! ="
M # z I
(30)
It
is
noted
that
a
positive
bending
moment,
i.e.,
tension
at
the
bottom,
correctly
yields
negative
stresses
at
the
top,
i.e.,
compression,
where
z
is
positive.
This
is
the
reason
for
the
minus
sign
in
Eq.
(30),
which
also
correctly
gives
positive
tension
stresses
at
the
bottom
when
a
positive
moment
acts
on
the
cross-section.
In
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summary, the beam theory presented in this document consists of the governing equations shown in Figure 6.
q
dV dx dM V= dx q=!
q = ! EI
d 4w dx 4
M = EI
d 2w dx 2
M
M = $ !" # z d A
A
M ! = " #z I
!="
d 2w #z dx 2
"
! = E "#
When approaching shear stresses from bending, an anomaly in Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is first noted. The theory is based on the assumption that plane sections remain plane and perpendicular to the neutral axis. In other words, the only strain that takes place is the axial shortening or elongation of the fibres in the cross-section. Effectively, this prevents shear strain. With no shear strain there is no shear stress, which adds up to zero shear force. In other words, the shear force is not part of the theory. This is an anomaly, because shear force will develop even in simple beams that are subjected to transversal load. The anomaly is customarily addressed by recovering the shear force by equilibrium once the bending moment is computed. In fact, according to Eq. (2) the shear force is equal to the derivative of the bending moment; this is the equation that recovers the shear force. Another document on Timoshenko beam theory describes an approach to further extend the beam theory to include deformation due to shear forces. To obtain expressions for the shear stress, , in terms of the shear force, V, consider the infinitesimally short beam element in Figure 7. Furthermore, consider a cut in the cross-section and let qs denote the shear flow at that location.
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Axial stresses
V+dV M+dM dx
Shear stresses (shear flow)
The shear flow is the force per unit length of the beam that ensures equilibrium with the axial stresses, which are greater on one side than the other due to dM:
qs ! dx = # d " dA =
As
dM ! z dA I As
(31)
where As is the cross-sectional area outside the cut. Given that V=dM/dx, this yields where
qs =
V !S I
(32)
S=
As
! z dA
V "S
I "t
(33)
The shear stress is calculated by distributing the shear flow over the thickness, t, of the cross-section at the particular location:
!=
(34)
For example, for a rectangular cross-section the maximum shear stress is at the neutral axis, with value equal to
3 V
(35)
" 2 A The
shear
centre
of
a
cross-section,
sometimes
called
the
centre
of
twist,
is
the
point
where
the
resultant
of
the
shear
force
must
act
to
avoid
rotation
of
the
cross-section.
The
coordinates
of
the
shear
centre
are
denoted
by
ysc
and
zsc,
and
there
are
several
techniques
to
determine
them.
The
simplest
case
is
double-symmetric
cross- sections;
for
these
cross-sections
the
shear
centre
coincide
with
the
centroid.
In
fact,
if
a
cross-section
has
an
axis
of
symmetry
then
the
shear
centre
is
located
on
this
!=
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axis. For general cross-sections, one approach to determine ysc and zsc is described in the document on warping torsion, where the omega diagram is utilized. However, a somewhat simpler approach, when the consideration of warping torsion is off the table, is offered here. The principle is simple; by definition, the moment of the shear flow about the shear centre must be zero. This leads to the following procedure to determine the coordinates of the shear centre, provided y and z are the principal axes through the centroid of the cross-section: 1. Select an arbitrary point as trial shear centre, and let ysc and zsc denote the coordinates of the shear centre relative to the centroid; in other words, let ysc and zsc denote the distances from the centroid to the shear centre 2. In accordance with Eq. (32), determine the shear flow in the cross-section due to a shear force in the z-direction 3. Write the equation that expresses the moment of the shear flow in Item 2 about the trial shear centre; in general, both ysc and zsc will appear in this expression 4. Similar to Item 2, determine the shear flow in the cross-section due to a shear force in the y-direction 5. Similar to Item 3, write the equation that expresses the moment of the shear flow in Item 4 about the trial shear centre 6. Set the equations from Items 3 and 5 both equal to zero and solve these two equations for the two unknowns ysc and zsc Only one moment equation is needed for single-symmetric cross-sections; in that cases the procedure simplifies to: 1. Select an arbitrary point along the symmetry axis as trial shear centre, and let e denote the distance from the centroid to that point 2. In accordance with Eq. (32), determine the shear flow in the cross-section due to a shear force in the direction perpendicular to the axis of symmetry 3. Write the equation that expresses the moment of the shear flow in Item 2 about the trial shear centre; e will appear in this expression 4. Set the equation from Items 3 equal to zero and solve for e
The determination of shear stress and shear centre for closed cross-sections, i.e., cross-sections with cell, can be approached in two ways. In the first approach, the shear centre coordinates are first determined, using the omega diagram as described in the document on warping torsion. Next, a cut in the cross-section is made to yield an open cross-section; the new coordinate s, which traces the cross- section around the cell, originates at the cut. The unknown shear flow at the cut is denoted qo, and the shear flow at all other locations are determined relative to this value in accordance with Eq. (32):
q = qo +
V ! S I
(36)
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Once q is determined at all locations of the cross-section, the moment of the shear flow about the shear centre is computed:
V ! S ! h ds I
(37)
where
the
integrals
are
made
around
the
cell,
and
h(s)
is
the
distance
from
the
shear
centre
to
the
tangent
line
of
the
cross-section
at
s.
By
definition
the
moment,
T,
about
the
shear
centre
must
be
zero,
and
solving
for
qo
yields:
qo = ! V ! # S " h ds = ! V " S " h ds
" # I ! 2 " Am " I ! # h ds
(38)
where the last equality expresses that the integral of h around the cross-section is twice the cell area, Am. Having the value of qo, the shear flow is determined at other locations by Eq. (36). The second approach to determine the shear flow and shear centre in closed cross-sections entails determining the shear centre at the end. Also this approach introduces a cut in the cross-section, but now compatibility is considered instead of moment equilibrium. To this end, consider Figure 8.
ds du
!1
!2
dx
d!
h
Figure
8:
Two
contributions
to
shear
strain.
Figure 8 illustrates the two following contributions to shear strain in an infinitesimal element of the cross-section:
! = !1 +! 2 =
du d" + # h ds dx
(39)
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! =
" q = G G #t
(40)
du =
q d# ! ds " ! h ! ds G !t dx q d$ ds # ! ! h ds " G !t dx
(41)
Integration around the cell yields the total gap opening due to the cut:
u=! "
(42)
To ensure compatibility, this gap opening must be zero: u=0. From that equation it is of interest to solve for d /dx because the cross-section should not rotate due to shear force:
d! = dx
! # G " t ds ! # G " t ds = = 0
2A ! # h ds
m
(43)
Eq. (36) provides the expression for the shear flow, q, which yields: Solving for qo yields:
! " G ! t ds + ! " I ! G ! t ds = 0
S # G " t ds V ! qo = ! "
1 I ! # G " t ds
qo
V !S
(44)
(45)
qo = !
V " I
! # t ds
1 ! # t ds
(46)
Having the value of qo, the shear flow is determined at other locations by Eq. (36).
Euler-Bernoulli Beams
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