Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Concept

Load path

2 essays name this object, across 2 fields. What follows is each of them, and the objects they name alongside it.
resultant 24.0at x = 5.33, the centroid of the areamomentspread: 24.6replaced: 42.7reactions agree exactly (8.00 and 8.00); the peak moment does not

The load that is spread out, and the force that replaces it

A distributed load can be swapped for a single force at its centroid. The reactions come out identical and the bending moment does not, and knowing which side of the cut the swap is legitimate on is most of the skill.

equilibrium · distributed load 2012.57.5shear 7.5moment 22.5the cut, at x = 5nothing was applied here — the internal forces are what the left-hand piece needs

What a cut reveals, and why it was there all along

Cut a beam anywhere and two quantities appear on the face — a shear force and a bending moment. Nothing was applied there. They are what the material was already doing.

internal-forces · internal forces

Named alongside it

The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.

Free body diagramBending momentCentroidDistributed loadIdealisationResultantSaint-Venant's principleSelf weightShear forceSign conventionStress resultantTorsion

All concepts