Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Generator

The curved-plan generator

Rendered here at the parameters it defaults to, with every essay that calls it — which is the same list as the blast radius of changing it.
The plan a straight beam does not haveA beam of radius 12 m turning through 60°, seen from above, with bending drawn outward from the axis in one colour and torsion in the other. The load is vertical and uniform and nothing is applied off the axis. Bending reaches 446 and torsion 155; the two peaks are in different places, which is why the section has to be chosen for a combination rather than for either.bending outward from the axistorsion, on the same scale

The plan a straight beam does not have. A beam of radius 12 m turning through 60°, seen from above, with bending drawn outward from the axis in one colour and torsion in the other. The load is vertical and uniform and nothing is applied off the axis. Bending reaches 446 and torsion 155; the two peaks are in different places, which is why the section has to be chosen for a combination rather than for either.

1 essay calls curved-plan. The drawing above is what it returns with no arguments at all; every call below passes it something, because a placement that passes nothing draws whichever member of the family the generator happens to default to rather than the one its essay argues about.

Where it is called

Changing this generator changes every one of these figures.

bending outward from the axistorsion, on the same scale Internal forces

Bending that arrives as twist

A straight beam under a vertical load carries no torsion unless something applies one. A beam whose axis curves on plan carries torsion everywhere, from the same load, with nothing applied off the axis — and it cannot be simply supported at all.

The library, page 1 of 6 — where curved-plan sits