BoundaryConditions

Itisageneralmathematicalprinciplethatthenumberofboundaryconditionsnecessarytodeterminea
solutiontoadifferentialequationmatchestheorderofthedifferentialequation.Thestaticbeamequationis
fourthorder(ithasafourthderivative),soeachmechanismforsupportingthebeamshouldgiverisetofour
boundaryconditions.

CantileveredBeams

Figure5:Acantileveredbeam.

Foracantileveredbeam,theboundaryconditionsareasfollows:

w(0)=0.Thisboundaryconditionsaysthatthebaseofthebeam(atthewall)doesnotexperienceany
deflection.
w'(0)=0.Wealsoassumethatthebeamatthewallishorizontal,sothatthederivativeofthedeflection
functioniszeroatthatpoint.
w''(L)=0.Thisboundaryconditionmodelstheassumptionthatthereisnobendingmomentatthefree
endofthecantilever.
w'''(L)=0.Thisboundaryconditionmodelstheassumptionthatthereisnoshearingforceactingatthe
freeendofthebeam.

Ifaconcentratedforceisappliedtothefreeendofthebeam(forexample,aweightofmassmishungonthe
freeend),thenthisinducesashearontheendofthebeam.Consequently,thethefourthboundarycondition
isnolongervalid,andistypicallyreplacedbythecondition

w'''(L)=mg

wheregistheaccelerationduetogravity(approximately9.8m/s^2).Wenotethatwecouldactuallyusethis
boundaryconditionallthetime,sinceifm=0,itreducestothepreviouscase.

SimplySupportedBeams

Figure6:Asimplysupportedbeam.
Asimplysupportedbeam(orasimplebeam,forshort),hasthefollowingboundaryconditions:

w(0)=0.Becausethebeamispinnedtoitssupport,thebeamcannotexperiencedeflectionattheleft
handsupport.
w(L)=0.Thebeamisalsopinnedattherighthandsupport.
w''(0)=0.Asforthecantileveredbeam,thisboundaryconditionsaysthatthebeamisfreetorotateand
doesnotexperienceanytorque.Inreallife,thereisusuallyasmalltorqueduetofrictionbetweenthe
beamanditspin,butifthepiniswellgreased,thistorquemaybeignored.
w''(L)=0.Inthesameway,thebeamdoesnotexperienceandbendingmomentsonitsrighthand
attachment.

Question7
AsimplysupportedbeamoflengthLisdeflectedbyauniformloadofintensityq.Weassumethatweknow
E,I,Landq.Let'susethisfacttosolveforthedeflectionofthebeamundertheload.

Integratethestaticbeamequationtwice.(Andplease,please,please,remembertheconstantsof
integration!)
Younowhaveanequationforw''thatdependsontwoarbitraryconstants.Usetwooftheboundary
conditionstosolveforthetwoconstantsintermsofpropertiesofthebeamandload.(Crossoffthe
boundaryconditionsthatyouuse.)
Theconstantsarenowexpressedintermsofknownquantities,sosubstitutebackintotheequationfor
w''andintegratetwomoretimestogetanequationforw.
Usetheremainingboundaryconditionstosolvefortheconstantsofintegrationintermsofknown
quantities.
Graphthedeflectionfunction(orwifyouwantyourbeamtosagdown)overtheinterval[0,L]tosee
ifyourequationmakessense.
Forwhatpositiondoesthebeamexperienceitsmaximumdeflection?Wheredoesthebeamexperience
themosttorque(thelargestbendingmoment)?Wheredoesthebeamexperiencethegreatestshearing
force?Interpretyouranswersintermsofthephysicalmeaningsofthesequantities.

OtherBeamSupports
Therearemanyothermechanismsforsupportingbeams.Forexample,bothendsofthebeammaybe
clampedtoawall.Oroneendmaybeboltedandtheotherendisfreetorotate.Orthebeammaybeclamped
atoneendbut"overhang"asupportplacedatsomepointalongitslength.

Figure7:Othermechanismsforsupportingbeams.

Question8
Eachsupportmechanismshasanassociatedsetofboundaryconditions.Inordertogainsomeintuitionfor
boundaryconditions,sketchidealizedbeamswhosesupportmechanismgivesrisetothefollowingboundary
conditions.Thebeamsshouldbeshownina"deflected"position,asshowninthefiguresonthispage.Inall
cases,thebeamissupportedonlyattheends.

w(0)=0,w(L)=0,w'(0)=0,w'(L)=0(Thisiscalledadoublyclampedbeam.Explainwhy.)
w(0)=0,w(L)=0,w'(0)=0.2,w'(L)=0.2
w(0)=0,w(L)=0,w'(L)=0,w''(0)=0
w(0)=0,w'(0)=0,w''(L)=0,w'''(L)=0.5.(Hint:assumeacableisconnectedtotheendofthebeamat
x=L.
Chooseoneoftheaboveboundaryconditionsandfindthedeflectionfunctionforauniformly
distributedloadofintensityq.Analyzethedeflectionfunctiontodeterminethelocationofmaximum
deflectionandmaximumbendingmoment.

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Copyright1996byTheGeometryCenter.Lastmodified:FriApr1215:38:151996