AN APPROACH TO THE DETERMINATION OF REACTIONS IN STATICALLY DETERMINATE BEAMS

A. Mohammed

Abstract: The challenge in the teaching of basic engineering fundamentals to students of engineering has become a topical issue and main issue to engineering institutions and the civil engineering industry at large. To this end, three rules are proposed to aid in the determination of reactions for simply supported beams of varying configurations; namely a simple beam carrying a point load, uniformly distributed load and couple and a simple beam with an overhang. The rules derive from the physical geometry of the beam and are therefore quasi-qualitative in nature. Three worked examples are given to illustrate how the rules will be used. It is seen that the rules will greatly aid understanding of structural behaviour by making students and young engineers develop a better appreciation of structural analysis.

Keywords: Structural, beams, analysis, and reactions

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2015.0405036