II

Mechanics of Materials
4 Reactions Thalia Anagnos Types of Supports Actual versus Idealized Support Conditions Static Determinacy and Indeterminacy Computation of Reactions Bending Stresses in Beams James M. Gere Longitudinal Strains in Beams Normal Stresses in Beams (Linearly Elastic Materials) Shear Stresses in Beams James M. Gere Shear Stresses in Rectangular Beams Shear Stresses in Circular Beams Shear Stresses in the Webs of Beams with Flanges Shear and Moment Diagrams George R. Buchanan Sign Convention Shear and Moment Diagrams Shear and Moment Equations Columns Loren W. Zachary and John B. Ligon Fundamentals Examples Other Forms of Instability Pressure Vessels Som Chattopadhyay, Earl Livingston, and Rudolph H. Scavuzzo Design Criteria Design Formulas Opening Reinforcement Axial Loads and Torsion Nelson R. Bauld, Jr. Axially Loaded Bars Torsion Fracture Mechanics Ted L. Anderson Introduction Fundamental Concepts Concluding Remarks 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

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4
Reactions
Thalia Anagnos
San Jose State University

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

Types of Supports Actual versus Idealized Support Conditions Static Determinacy and Indeterminacy Computation of Reactions

For purposes of analysis, forces and moments acting on a structure or structural element can be grouped into two categories: loads and reactions. The loads acting on a structure include gravitational forces, inertial forces, friction, wind, lift, drag, hydrostatic pressure, soil pressure, and impacts. Supports are used to prevent a body from moving when subjected to these loads. Reactions are those moments and forces that act on the body as a consequence of the restraint provided by the supports. The magnitudes of reactions are controlled by the magnitudes of the applied loads. It should be understood that a reaction does not necessarily occur as a consequence of attaching a structure to the ground. Each structural element can have reactions due to its being connected to or supported by another structure or structural element. The type of reaction depends on the physical characteristics of the support. In order for a structure or structural element to be stable, there must be a sufcient number of supports to prevent it from undergoing unrestrained displacements.

4.1 Types of Supports

A variety of supports are available for restraining a structure. The type of support selected by the designer often depends on the type of structure, the material being used, the conguration of the structure, and the anticipated loads. A reaction occurs when the structure or structural element is prevented by a support from moving in a particular direction. For example, consider the xed support shown in Table 4.1. This support prevents vertical and horizontal translation as well as rotation about an axis perpendicular to the page; thus the reactions are a vertical force, a horizontal force, and a moment. A body at rest or moving at constant velocity is said to be in equilibrium. In accord with Newtons second law, equilibrium will exist if all of the forces and moments acting on the body sum to zero. To analyze the equilibrium of a structure or structural element, a free-body diagram must be drawn, on which all loads are shown and all supports have been replaced by the reactions they produce. For purposes of analysis and design many structures (but not all) subjected to two-dimensional systems of loads can be accurately modeled as planar structures. For these planar structures, models of support conditions can be greatly simplied. The idealized models of structural supports for planar structures are presented in Table 4.1. Table 4.2 summarizes supports and their accompanying reaction components for space structures. Space structures are those structures for which the members and/or the load systems are three-dimensional.

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TABLE 4.1 Supports for Planar Structures

Support Cable Symbol Reaction Components Description of Support and Reactions A cable can prevent translation only along its axis and can only exert tension. The unknown reaction is a tension force that acts away from the body in the direction of the cable. A link can prevent translation only along its axis. A link can exert tension or compression. The unknown reaction is a force that acts along the axis of the link either toward or away from the body. A rocker is capable only of applying a compressive force perpendicular to the surface on which it sits, and thus motion is only restrained perpendicular to that surface. The unknown reaction is a force that acts perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. A roller is capable only of applying force (tension or compression) perpendicular to the surface on which it sits, and thus motion is only restrained perpendicular to the support surface. The body can translate parallel to the surface and can rotate. The unknown reaction is a force that acts perpendicular to the surface (in either direction) at the point of contact. A smooth (frictionless) contacting surface is capable only of applying a compressive force and cannot provide any restraint parallel to the surface. The unknown reaction is a force that acts perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. A rough contacting surface provides a frictional force (Ff ) parallel to the surface. The two unknown reactions are a frictional force parallel to the surface and a compressive force that acts on the body perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. A frictionless pinned support allows a member to rotate freely but does not permit translation. The two unknown reactions are two perpendicular components of force. A xed support does not permit translation or rotation. The three unknown reactions are two perpendicular force components and a moment.

Link

Rocker

Roller or

Smooth contacting surface

Rough contacting surface Ff

Frictionless pin or hinge

or

Fixed support

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TABLE 4.2 Supports for Space Structures

Support Cable Symbol Reaction Components Description of Support and Reactions A cable can prevent translation only along its axis and can only exert tension. The unknown reaction is a tension force that acts away from the body in the direction of the cable. A smooth (frictionless) contacting surface cannot provide any restraint parallel to the surface. The unknown reaction is a compressive force that acts perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. A roller is capable only of applying force (tension or compression) perpendicular to the surface on which it sits, and thus motion is only restrained perpendicular to the support surface. The body can translate parallel to the surface and can rotate. The unknown reaction is a force that acts perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. A frictionless ball-and-socket joint allows a member to rotate freely but does not permit translation. The unknown reactions are three mutually perpendicular force components. A rough contacting surface provides a frictional force parallel to the surface. The three unknown reactions are two perpendicular frictional forces parallel to the surface and a compressive force that acts perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. M1 F1 F2 M2 Thrust bearing F3 F2 M2 Frictionless pin M1 F1 F3 F2 M2 Fixed support M1 F1 F3 M3 F2 M2 A xed support does not permit translation or rotation. The six unknown reactions are three mutually perpendicular forces and moments about three mutually perpendicular axes. A frictionless pin permits rotation only about the axis of the pin. The ve unknown reactions are three mutually perpendicular forces and two moments about axes perpendicular to the pin. M1 F1 A thrust bearing allows the shaft to spin freely but does not permit any other translation or rotation. The ve unknown reactions are three mutually perpendicular forces and two moments about axes perpendicular to the shaft. A journal bearing allows the shaft to spin freely and to translate parallel to itself. The four unknown reactions are two force components that act perpendicular to the shaft and two moments about axes perpendicular to the shaft.

Smooth contacting surface

Roller

Ball-and-socket joint

Rough contacting surface

Journal bearing

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(a)

(b)

FIGURE 4.1 Connection between column and beam that is modeled as a pin support for the beam. (a) Actual connection; (b) idealized support for the beam.

4.2 Actual versus Idealized Support Conditions

The idealized models of supports presented in Table 4.1 and Table 4.2 are based on a variety of assumptions. For example, in the cases of pinned, hinged, and ball-and-socket supports, it is assumed that no friction occurs. If friction were present, rotation would be hampered and moments would result. Similarly, as shown in Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2, a so-called pin support may not actually consist of two bodies connected by a frictionless pin. It is even possible that the connection in Figure 4.1 would be better represented by a torsional spring to account for the stiffness of the connection against rotation. Another idealization is that hinged and roller supports are modeled by reaction forces acting at a point (see Figure 4.2). However, actual structures consist of members with nite depth or width. Thus, if a beam is resting on a wall, the actual reaction consists of a distributed force or pressure acting over the area of contact. However, if the width of the supporting wall is small compared with the length of the member, the assumption of a knife-edge support may be sufciently accurate. In the example shown in Figure 4.2, for modeling purposes, the engineer may want to place the roller support at the center of the bearing plate. When selecting from the idealized models in Table 4.1 and Table 4.2 to represent actual supports, the engineer must be aware of what the assumptions are, how well these assumptions correspond to the actual situation, and how the idealization of the supports affects the accuracy of the analysis.

4.3 Static Determinacy and Indeterminacy

The rst step in analyzing the reactions acting on any structure or structural element is to isolate the object of interest and construct a free-body diagram. Equilibrium of a body requires that the sum of the forces in any direction and the sum of the moments about any axis be zero. For a three-dimensional body, these equilibrium conditions can be expressed by the following set of equations: Fx = 0 M x axis = 0 Fy = 0 M y axis = 0 Fz = 0 M z axis = 0

(4.1)

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Column

B
Wall

Bearing plate

L /2
(a)

L /2

P A
Pin Roller

L /2
(b)

L /2

FIGURE 4.2 (a) Actual beam; (b) idealized beam.

If the body and all of the loads are in one plane (for example, the xy plane) the equilibrium equations reduce to Fx = 0 Fy = 0 M z axis = 0 (4.2)

From Equations (4.1) and Equations (4.2), it can be seen that for a three-dimensional free body a maximum of six unknowns can be determined using equations of equilibrium, and for a planar free body a maximum of three unknowns. Thus, looking at an entire structure as a free body, it can be classied depending on the number and arrangement of unknown reactions. A structure for which equilibrium equations are sufcient to determine all of the unknown forces and moments is classied as statically determinate. If the number of unknowns exceeds the number of available equilibrium equations it is statically indeterminate. The number of excess unknowns denes the degree of static indeterminacy. Examples of statically determinate planar structures are shown in Figure 4.3. The simply supported and cantilevered beams in Figure 4.3(a) and Figure 4.3(b) each have three unknown reactions. These reactions can be determined by summing forces in the vertical and horizontal directions and summing moments about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the structure [see Equations (4.2)]. The same is true for the frame shown in Figure 4.3(c). However, in this case the reaction R3 would likely be resolved into vertical and horizontal components to simplify writing of the equilibrium equations. A compound structure such as the one shown in Figure 4.3(d) may be made up of several rigid elements connected by pins. The procedure for analyzing a compound structure is to break it apart at the pins and draw a free-body diagram of each element. Each pin can then be replaced by the forces it applies to the element. Since no rotation can be transferred from one member to the other by a frictionless pin, the moment at a pin connection is zero. This condition provides an additional equation at each pin that can be used to solve for unknowns. Thus, while the structure in Figure 4.3(d) may at rst appear to be statically indeterminate because there are four unknown reactions, it is not. The equation of condition at the pin can be combined with the three equilibrium equations to solve for all four reactions. Similarly,
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P R1 R2
(a)

R3

R3

R1 R2
(b)

R1 R2
(c)

R3 sin R3

R3 cos R3

R1 R2
(d) Pin Pin

R4

R1 R2
(e)

R3 R4

FIGURE 4.3 Statically determinate structures.

2005 by CRC Press LLC

the four reactive forces on the three-hinged arch in Figure 4.3(e) can be determined by breaking the structure apart at the hinge (where the moment is zero) and applying equilibrium equations to each of the resulting free bodies. Figure 4.4(a) and Figure 4.4(b) give examples of rst-degree statically indeterminate structures. For each of these planar structures, only three equilibrium equations are available and only three reactions can be determined. The additional unknown that cannot be determined using equilibrium equations is called the redundant. The frame in Figure 4.4(c) has six unknown reactions and is third-degree statically indeterminate. It has three redundant reactions. The frame in Figure 4.4(d) appears to be third-degree statically indeterminate, but due to the two equations of condition provided by the two pins, it is only rst-degree statically indeterminate. A planar structure such as the one shown in Figure 4.5(a) with fewer than three reactions is statically unstable because there are fewer reactions than equilibrium equations. Statically unstable structures are incapable of preventing rigid body movement. It is possible, however, that while a structure has an adequate number of supports to potentially satisfy equilibrium, they can be arranged in such a way that the structure is still capable of moving. For example, in Figure 4.5(b) the beam has three reactions, but they are all parallel, so the beam can move horizontally. The reactions on the frame in Figure 4.5(c) are concurrent at point C and thus under certain loading conditions the frame will rotate. Structures such as these are classied as geometrically unstable. The reactions for a geometrically unstable structure cannot be completely determined using equations of equilibrium.

4.4 Computation of Reactions

For statically determinate structures, solving for the unknown reactions involves applying the appropriate equilibrium equations. Determination of reactions for statically indeterminate structures requires the use of additional relationships such as compatibility equations and constitutive equations involving the structural and material properties of the members. For example, either the stiffness method or the exibility method can be used. The procedure for determining the reactions on a statically determinate compound structure is illustrated in the following example. This requires only the use of free-body diagrams and equations of equilibrium. Example 1.2, Example 1.3, and Example 1.4 (Chapter 1) provide additional illustrations of how to determine reactions for statically determinate planar structures. Example The compound frame shown in Figure 4.6(a) consists of two members connected by a frictionless pin at B. Using the loads and dimensions shown in the gure, determine the reactions for this frame. Solution The unknown reactions for this frame are shown in Figure 4.6(b). The equilibrium equations [Equations (4.2)] can be combined with the equation of condition at the pin to solve for all four reactions. The frame must be separated into its two members in order to solve for the reactions. The corresponding free-body diagrams are shown in Figure 4.6(c). Starting with member AB because it has only three unknowns, apply Equations (4.2) with respect to the coordinate system shown. Fx = 0 MA = 0 Fy = 0 Bx = 0 -(20 k 5 ft) + (By 10 ft) = 0 RAy + By - 20 k = 0 By = 10 k RAy = 10 k

Having determined the unknown forces for member AB, apply Equations (4.2) to member CBD.

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R3

R1 R2
(a) 1st degree statically indeterminate

R4

R3

R1
Link

R2

P R4
(b) 1st degree statically indeterminate

R1
(a)

R2

R1 R2

R3

R4 R5

R1 R6

R2
(b)

R3

(c) 3rd degree statically indeterminate Pin Pin

P B C R3 R2

R1 R2
(d) 1st

R3

R4 R5

A R6 R1
(c)

degree statically indeterminate

FIGURE 4.4 Statically indeterminate structures.

FIGURE 4.5 Examples of unstable structures: (a) statically unstable; (b) geometrically unstable; (c) geometrically unstable.

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D A
20 k

3 ft

2 k/ft 12 ft

C
5 ft 5 ft (a)

D
20 k 3 ft

20 k

A RAy

A RAy

B Bx Bx By By

D B

2 k/ft 12 ft

2 k/ft

C RCx
5 ft 5 ft (b) (c)

MC RCy

C RCx MC RCy

FIGURE 4.6 Calculation of reactions for a statically determinate structure.

Fx = 0 Fy = 0 MC = 0

RCx - (2 k / ft 15 ft) - Bx = 0 RCy - By = 0 (2 k / ft 15 ft 7.5 ft) + (Bx 12ft) + M C = 0 M C = -225 k-ft - 12Bx

RCx = 30 k RCy = 10 k M C = -225 k-ft

Since the value of the reaction moment at C, MC, is negative, it is in the opposite direction to that assumed in Figure 4.6(b).

Dening Terms
Geometrically unstable A structure is geometrically unstable if, even though it has sufcient restraints (reactions) to potentially satisfy equilibrium, it can undergo rigid-body movements due to the arrangement of the reactions.
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Planar structure A structure for which all members and loads are in one plane. Reactions Those moments and forces that are induced by the supports as they restrain a body from moving. Space structure A structure for which members and/or loads are three-dimensional. Stable structure A stable structure has sufcient reactions and members in the proper conguration to prevent rigid-body motion. Statically determinate A structure is statically determinate if all of the unknown forces and moments can be determined using equations of equilibrium. Statically indeterminate A structure is statically indeterminate if there are more unknown forces and moments than equations of equilibrium. Statically unstable A structure is statically unstable if it has fewer reactions than equilibrium equations.

References
Cook, R. D., Witt, R. J., Malkus, D. S., and Plesha, M. E., Concepts and Applications of Finite Element Analysis, 4th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2001. McGuire, W., Gallagher R. H. and Ziemian, R. D., Matrix Structural Analysis, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999. Hibbeler, R. C., Structural Analysis, 4th ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1999. Nelson J. K. and McCormac, J. C., Structural Analysis: Using Classical and Matrix Methods, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2002. Salmon, C. G., Introductory Structural Analysis, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1996. Weaver, W., Jr. and Gere, J. M., Matrix Analysis of Framed Structures, 3rd ed., Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1990. West, H. H. and Geschwindner, L. F., Fundamentals of Analysis of Structures, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2002.

Further Information
Extensive discussions and examples of how to determine reactions for statically determinate structures can be found in textbooks on statics and structural analysis. These textbooks also provide illustrations and photographs of actual supports and discuss how these supports vary from the idealized models. Textbooks on structural analysis, such as those listed in the References, usually cover analysis techniques for both statically determinate and statically indeterminate structures. More in-depth discussions of the analysis of statically indeterminate structures using techniques such as the exibility and stiffness methods can be found in textbooks on matrix analysis of structures and nite-element analysis.

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