Lecture notes on calculation of displacements

BME Dept. of Structural Mechanics

Deection of prismatic beams: the elastic curve

Repetition, assumptions
We study the deformation of a prismatic beam. On the top of Fig. 1 you can see a beam cut out from a structure at cross sections A and O. The axis of the beam is straight and coincides with axis z before loading and deformation. A left handed coordinate system is used, the origin O is attached to the right end of the beam. The beam is loaded in the plane z, y and undergoes uniaxial bending, where the axis of bending is x. The normal force N (z ) induces constant normal strain z (z ) on the whole cross section: N (z ) d u( z ) = . (1) dz EA Here u(z ) is the displacement of the centroid of the cross section along the axis of the beam, and EA is the normal stiffness. We have already seen in the beginning of the semester what deformation occurs under a normal force, hence we do not deal with normal force any further. Usually the effect of shearing on the total deformation of the beam along y can be neglected compared to the effect of bending. Hence we neglect shear deformation. We assume the beam is stiff enough and deforms only slightly. Small deection of the axis implies small tangent angle, and that the arc length s of the axis can be replaced by coordinate z . We can well approximate trigonometric functions of small angles by the rst term of their Taylor expansions, i.e., we can use z ( z ) = sin() , if is small. Uniaxial bending causes curvature d x ( z ) M (z ) = . (3) dz EIx Here x (z ) is the angle of tangent of the axis of the beam with respect to axis z . Because of small displacements, we used the approximation x (s) x (z ). Since the shear deformations are neglected, the (rigid, planar) cross sections of the beam remain perpendicular to the axis of the beam. Therefore, x (z ) also equals to the angle of the cross section with respect to axis y , as it is shown in Fig. 1. EIx is the bending stiffness of the cross section (E is the elastic modulus and Ix is the second moment of the cross sections with respect to the axis x of bending). We study the deformed shape of the axis of the beam caused only by the bending moment. Thus the length of the axis does not change, it only bends. The resulting curved axis of the beam is called the elastic curve. We leave subscript x. x (z ) = 1 tan() , cos() 1 (2)

Lecture notes on calculation of displacements

BME Dept. of Structural Mechanics

q(z)

MA z TA A cut from a prismatic beam under transverse loading zA zAzC zC C

M0

T0 y

O M0

M(z) The bending moment diagram and its centroid

z (z)

O v0 (z)

elastic curve

tangen

t cross n sectio

v(z) The axis of the beam after deformation

Figure 1: A cut of a prismatic beam under transverse loading.

Lecture notes on calculation of displacements

BME Dept. of Structural Mechanics

Computation of the slope of the axis

The tangent of the elastic curve at some point is called the slope at that point. Due to small displacements, the slope equals to the angle of the tangent with respect to the horizontal axis z . We can integrate (3) to obtain the slope at point A:
zA

A = 0 +
0

(z ) dz,

(4)

where 0 is the slope at O, i.e. at z = 0. The integral is the area of the curvature diagram between O and A. It equals to the area of the bending moment diagram M over the bending stiffness EI if EI is constant along the examined part of the beam. Let us denote this area by
zA

0A = A 0 =
0

(z ) dz.

(5)

As we can see, the above expression is the relative rotation between the cross sections at A and O. Relative means that the rotation of A with respect to O is the opposite to the rotation of O with respect to A. Thus the slope of the elastic curve at A equals to the slope at O plus the relative rotation of A with respect to O A = 0 + 0A (6)

If we do not x the left end of the cut at z = zA , but let z run as a free variable, then we can write ( z ) = 0 + 0 ( z ) ,
z

(7) (8)

0 ( z ) =
0

( ) d.

Computation of the deection of the axis

The slope (z ) of the elastic curve v (z ) equals to the rst derivative of v (z ) with respect to d v (z ) = ( z ) . (9) dz The negative sign indicates that a positive tangent represents counter-clockwise rotation, as indicated in Fig. 1. Now we integrate (9) to obtain v (z ) at point A:
zA

z:

v A = v 0 0 z A
0

0 ( z ) d z

(10)

Lecture notes on calculation of displacements

BME Dept. of Structural Mechanics

In order to express the last term in the above expression, we have to apply the rule of partial integration: (f (z )g (z )) = f (z )g (z ) + f (z )g (z )
zA zA

f (z )g (z ) dz. (11)

f (z )g (z ) d z =
0

A [f (z )g (z )]z 0

Using (10) and (11) we can write

zA
A v A = v 0 0 z A [ 0 ( z ) z ] z 0 +

zA

(z )z dz = v0 0 zA 0A zA +
0 0

(z )z d z

(12)

Now only one more step is needed. For this, we have to recall what is the mathematical denition of the centroid of an area enclosed by a curve and a coordinate axis. If we apply it to curve (z ) and axis z we get
zA

(z )z d z , (z ) d z (13)

zC =

0 zA 0

which can be used in (12):

zA

vA = v0 0 zA 0A zA + zC
0

(z ) dz.

(14)

If we substitute (5) in the above formula, then we obtain the formula for the calculation of the deection of the axis of the beam at point A: vA = v0 0 zA 0A (zA zC ) . (15)

Thus the translation of point A equals to the translation of point O minus the slope at O times the distance from O to A minus the relative rotation of A to O times the distance from the centroid C of the curvature diagram to A along z . If the bending stiffness EI is constant between O and A, then the centroid of the curvature diagram can be replaced by the centroid of the bending moment diagram M . The mechanical interpretation of the above formula is given though some simple examples.