NAME

ADETAYO OLUWAKAYODE
MATRIC
060403009
DEPARTMENT
ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS
COURSE
CEG 202
GROUP NO
4

TITLE OF EXPERIMENT:
REACTIONS OF SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAMS

DATE PERFORMED:
13TH OF AUGUST 2008.
AIM:
(I)

TO DETERMINE THE REACTIONS RA AND

RB FOR A BEAM SIMPLY SUPPORTED AT
ITS ENDS

(II) TO DETERMINE THE VALUES OF RA AND

RB AS A GIVEN LOAD MOVES FROM ONE
END OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAM TO
THE OTHER

APPARATUS:
Two spring balances.
A steel beam of hollow section.

 Load hanger.
Load / weights ranging from 2kg to
10kg.
Meter rule.
Inextensible cord.

THEORY
A beam with a constant height and width
is said to be prismatic.

When a beams

width or height (more common) varies, the

member is said to be non-prismatic.
Horizontal applications of beams are
typically
at resists the rotation.

TYPES OF LOADS AND BEAMS

Beams can be catalogued into types based
on how they are loaded and how they are
supported. Loads that are applied to a
small section of the beam are simplified
by considering the load to be single
force placed at a specific point on the
beam. These loads are referred to as
concentrated loads. Distributed loads (w,
usually in units of force per lineal
length of the beam) occur over a
measurable distance of a beam. For the
sake of determining reactions, a

distributed load can be simplified in to

an equivalent concentrated load by
applying the area of the distributed load
at the centroid of the distributed load.
The weight of the beam can be described
as uniform load. A moment is a couple as
a result of two equal and opposite forces
applied at certain section of the beam. A
moment induced on any point can be
mathematically described as a force
multiplied by at one end and simply
supported at the other (see figure 2d). A
continuous beam has more than two simple
supports, and a built-in beam (see figure
2f) is fixed at both ends.

The remainder of this report deals only

with simple and over-hanging beams loaded
with concentrated and uniformly
distributed loads.
STATICS-RIGID BODY MECHANICS
were accelerating in some direction the
sum of the forces would equal the mass
multiplied by the acceleration.
Beams are described as either statically
determinate or statically indeterminate.
A beam is considered to be statically
determinate when the support reactions
can be solved for with only statics
equations. The condition that the
deflections due to loads are small enough
that the geometry of the initially
unloaded beam remains essentially
unchanged is implied by the expression
statically indeterminate. Three
equilibrium equations exist for
determining the support

statically determinate, only two reaction

components can exist. The two remaining
equilibrium equations become
FY = 0 MZA = 0
Simply supported, overhanging, and
cantilever beams are statically
determinate. The other types
of beams described above are statically
indeterminate. Statically indeterminate
beams also require load deformation
properties to determine support
reactions. When a structure is statically
indeterminate at least one member or
support is said to be redundant, because
after removing all redundancies the
structure will become statically
determinate.
Forces and moments are the internal
forces transferred by a transverse cross
section (section a, figure 3c) necessary
to resist the external forces and remain
in equilibrium. Stresses, strains,

slopes, and deflections are a result of

and a function of the internal forces.
The simply supported single span beam in
figure 3a is introduced to a uniform load
(w) and two concentrated loads (P1) and
(P2). Using the equilibrium equations and
a free body diagram the support reactions
for the beam in figure 3a will be
determined. This example will also show
how internal forces (shear and moment)
can be found at any point along the beam.
This same method is applicable to any
statically determinate beam.

Finding the support reactions requires a

free body diagram that notes all external
forces that act on the beam and all
possible reactions that can occur

PROCEDURE
The steel beam was hung on the hooks at
the bottom end of the spring balances. A
load hanger was placed at the mid-point
of the beam of given span, and the spring
balances read. The 2kg weight was placed
on the hanger and the deflection in the
spring balances read. The load was
increased in steps of 2kg up to 16kg and
the balances read in each case (i.e. at

each incremental loading. All weights

were then removed.
Next, the load hanger weight was placed
directly under the spring balance A and
the two spring balances read. A 8kg
weight was put on the load hanger and
the spring balances read. It was then
(i.e. the load) was then put
(transferred) to the next 100mm.

TABLE OF RESULTS
WEIGHT
(KG)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12

(N)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120

REACTION A
RA
(KG)
(N)
0
0
1
10
2
20
3
30
4
40
5
50
6
60

REACTION B
RB
(KG)
(N)
0
0
1
10
2
20
3
30
4
40
5
50
6
60

LOAD
(KG)
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8

POSITI
ON OF
LOAD
(CM)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70

REACTION A
RA
(KG)
8
7
7
6
5
4
3
2

(N)
80
70
70
60
50
40
30
20

REACTION B
RB
(KG)
0
1
1
2
3
4
5
6

(N)
0
10
10
20
30
40
50
60

REPORT
The experiment was carried out using
steel beam of span 1000mm with a midpoint
if 500mm. The load used for the first
part was 2kg, 4kg and at intervals of 2kg
up to 16kg. For the second part of the
experiment, a constant load of 8kg was
used.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

From the results, for the first part of
it the experiment, a relation between RA
and RB is observed. As both reactions are
at equidistance from the load applied,
they both share the weight of the load.
Thus the magnitude of the reactions are
half that of the loading and are equal to
each other i.e.
RA = RB = (Weight of Load)

For the second part of the experiment,

the position of the load on the beam
varies therefore the two reactions vary
as well, as the load is borne as a
function of the distance of it, from that
reaction.
When the load is at A, RA = weight of the
load while the reaction RB = 0. As the
load is at this point, the reaction RA is
maximum (equal to load). As the load is
shifted away from RA, the reaction RA
reduces while RB increases, until the load
is at point B, in which case RB has the
maximum reaction equal to the load, and RA
is null or zero. Here an inversely
proportional relation is observed.
Comparing the experimental values and
those of the theoretical for this part of
the experiment, a deviation is seen to
occur in values. Nevertheless, this can
be as a result (for the experimental
part) of zero error on the metre rule of

the spring balance as some approximations

were made.

PRECAUTIONS
Zero error of the metre rule in measuring
the length of the beam was avoided.
It was made sure that the beam was
perfectly horizontal
It is thus proven that for every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction

REFERENCES
1)

Strength of Materials by G.H. Ryder

2)

Strength of Material by Beer &

Johnson