IV.

) Shear and Bending Moment in Beams

A.) Reaction Forces (Statics Review)
1.) Replace Supports with unknown
reaction forces (free body diagram)

a.) Roller - produces a reaction force

perpendicular to the support plane.

RY

b.)Pin (or Hinge) - produces a vertical

and horizontal reaction.

Rx
Ry

c.) Fixed - produces a reaction force in

any direction and Moment.

Rx
M

Ry

2.) Apply laws of equilibrium to find RAX,

RAY, RBY
Fx = 0 Fy = 0

Mz = 0

RAX
RAY

RBY

B.) Internal Shear

1.) Shear - find by cutting a section at
the point of interest and Fy = 0 on the
FBD.
Rx
V
Ry
F.B.D.

B.) Internal Bending Moment

2.) Moment - find by cutting a section
at the point of interest and M = 0 on the
FBD.
M
Rx
Ry
F.B.D.

If you were to find the internal shear and

moment at several locations along the
length of a beam, you could plot a graph
shear vs. length and a graph of moment
vs. length and find where the maximum
shear and moment occur.

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M (k-ft)

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C.) Shear Diagram - Simpler Way to Draw

1.) Sketch the beam with loads and
supports shown (this is the LOAD
DIAGRAM).
2.) Compute the reactions at the supports
and show them on the sketch.

3.) Draw Shear Diagram baseline

(shear = zero) below the load diagram
a horizontal line.
4.) Draw vertical lines down from the load
diagram to the shear diagram at:
a.) supports
b.) point loads
c.) each end of distributed loads

5.) Working from left to right, calculate

the shear on each side of each
support and point load and at each
end of distributed loads:
a.) For portions of a beam that have
no loading, the shear diagram is
a horizontal line.

b.) Point loads (and reactions) cause

a vertical jump in the shear
diagram.
- The magnitude of the
jump is equal to the magnitude of
the load (or reaction).
- Downward loads cause a negative
change in shear.

c.) For portions of a beam under

distributed loading:
i.) the slope of the shear diagram is
equal to the intensity (magnitude) of
the uniformly distributed load (w).
ii.) the change in shear between two
points is equal to the area under
the load diagram between those
two points.

 V = wL (uniformly distributed)
V = (wL)/2 (triangular distribution)
Note: If the distributed load is acting
downward w is negative.
6.) Locate points of zero shear using a
known shear value at a known location
and the slope of the shear diagram(w)

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D.) Moment Diagram - Simpler Method

1.) Moment = 0 at ends of simply
supported beams.
2.) Peak Moments occur where the shear
diagram crosses through zero. There
can be more than one peak moment
on the diagram.

3.) Extend the vertical lines below the

shear diagram and draw the Moment
Diagram baseline (moment = 0), a
horizontal line. Also, extend vertical
lines down from points of zero shear.
4.) Working left to right, calculate the
moment at each point the shear was
calculated and at points of zero shear:

a.) the change in moments between

two points is equal to the area under
the shear diagram between those
points.
b.) determine the slope of the moment
diagrams as follows:

i.) if the shear is positive and constant,

the slope of the moment diagram is
positive and constant.
Positive, constant shear
(+)
V 0
(-)

(+)

Negative, constant
shear
(-)

Positive, constant slope

(+)
M 0
(-)

Negative,
constant
slope

ii.) if the shear is positive and increasing,

the slope of the moment diagram is
positive and increasing.
Positive, decreasing shear
(+)
V
0
(-)

Negative, decreasing
shear

Positive, decreasing slope

(+)
M 0
(-)

Negative,
decreasing
slope

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