Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
P
P
P
(a)
P
F
IGURE
3.1
Axially loaded
members
P
(b)
(c)
W
L
(a)
w
F
IGURE
3.2
Shear
loads applied to
beams
(b)
shorten amember places themember in
compression
and is known as a
compressive
load
(Fig. 3.1(b)). Members such as those shown in Fig. 3.1(a) and (b) are commonly found
in pin-jointed frameworks where a member in tension is called a
tie
and one in com-
pression a
strut
or
column
. More frequently, however, the name 'column' is associated
with a vertical member carrying a compressive load, as illustrated in Fig. 3.1(c).
SHEAR LOAD
Shear loads act perpendicularly to the axis of a structural member and have one of
the forms shown in Fig. 3.2; in this case the members are
beams
. Figure 3.2(a) shows a
concentrated
shear load,
W
, applied to a cantilever beam. The shear load in Fig. 3.2(b)
is
distributed
over a length of the beam and is of
intensity w
(force units) per unit length
(see Section 1.7).
