Basic Cantilever Mechanics

Joe Bailey
Contents
1 Mechanics of Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Stress and Strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Energy due to stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Bending Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Potential Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3 Deection of the beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 Mechanics of Beams
Here we derive the governing equation of a tenisle beam.
1.1 Stress and Strain
If we have a beam which is subjected to a tangential force at either end pulling the
two ends apart we have a stress () equal given by:
=
F
A
(1)
This stress results in a deformation of the beam.
l l + l
b b b
h h h
The relative deformation l/l is known as the strain ().
= E
l
l
= E (2)
Where E is the Youngs modulus of the material. The contraction in the directions
normal to the force is described by the Poisson ration :
b
b
=
h
h
=
l
l
=
1
2 Bending Energy 2
Fig. 1: A beam subjected to a tensile force
1.2 Energy due to stretch
The energy associated with the strain is given by:
U
stretch
=
_
Fdx =
_
AEdx =
l
2
AE
2
(3)
subsituting F for A E and dx for dl = l/2 as can be seen in eqt:2.
2 Bending Energy
We have a beam of length l
o
that is bent with a radius of curvature R
o
. Their
exists a centre line for which the length is unchanged, above this line the lines are
stretched, below this line they are compressed (in the case of a downward bend).
The relative change of length, the strain follows geomterically:
z
l
o
=
z
l
o
(4)
We may use the fact that:
=
l
o
R
o
to get the z-dependance of the strain in the beam:
=
l
l
o
=
z
R
(5)
3 Deection of the beam 3
2.1 Potential Energy
Using eqts 3 we know the potential energy for a thin slice of beam with cross-
section dA:
dU =
l
o
2
E
2
dA
we can nd the enregy of the whole cross section by integrating over dA=bdZ,
using eq: 5 to subistute in the value for the strain in terms of z:
dU =
Ebl
o
2R
2
z
2
dz
U =
Ebl
o
2R
2
_ h
2
h
2
z
2
dz
U =
1
2
Ebh
3
l
o
12
1
R
2
(6)
This formula is correct for narrow beams, for wide beams it must be corrected by
the factor 1/(1
2
).
To nd the PE of a beam undergoing an arbitary deection R=R(x), we must
integrate U/l
o
(U

), the bending enery per unti length over the length of the beam.
3 Deection of the beam
We must now nd the relation between the radius of curvature and the deection
of the beam. We start with:
d
dl
=
1
R
(7)
If we have a function w(x) that describes the deection of the beam for a point
x we can say:
= arctan
dw
dx
which by differentiation gives:
d
dx
=
1
1 +
_
dw
dx
_
2
d
2
w
dx
2
(8)
By using pythagoras theorem we can also say:
dl =
_
dx
2
+ dw
2
3 Deection of the beam 4
which in turn leads us to:
dl
dx
=

dx
2
+ dw
2
dx
=

1 +
_
dw
dx
_
2
(9)
We can also say:
d
dl
=
d
dx
dx
dl
=
d
dx
/
dl
dx
(10)
Finally if we combine equations 7,8 ,9 and 10 we get:
1
R
=

2
w
x
2
1
_
1 +
_
w
x
_
2
_3
2

=

2
w
x
2
(11)