SHEARS ON CONTINUOUS BEAMS 15

Shears on Continuous Beams. In the same way the shears on a

continuous beam can be determined as the sum of those which would
exist if the beam were simply supported and the shears due to terminal
moments. See Fig. 10. Terminal moments will be resisted by a couple
produced by equal and opposite end shears, having values equal to
the arithmetical difference of the terminal moments divided by the span

-200" S0k -300" -400k' .S0h +S00k'

?0k
~5

-20'- -20'-

Curve of Moment-s

-ZOO* -300 k'

so" Shears :-
On Simple Beam
25 kf \25k
,*'
-200 -300k, , -400'
Due to
100 End Moments
2.5" 2.5"
40 i

-200k' \so* -300* -400'

Total
22£k
k
27.5

Normal Case Loads both Up and Down

(b)
Fig. 10. Statics of Continuous Beams.

length. we use the usual conventions of signs for bending moment —

If
positive moments sag the beam and negative moments hump the beam —
it is easy to see, without bothering about mathematical conventions,
that if the beam is humped at both ends by the terminal moments they
are opposing each other, and also that the normal shear — positive at
the left end and negative at the right end — will be increased at that
end of the beam at which the negative moment is the greater.
This deals with the ordinary case of gravity loading. In other cases
it is a simple matter to sketch the beam and see at once the relations of
signs involved. In Fig. 10 two simple examples of this kind are shown.