Calculating Shear Force and Bending Moment

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating shear force and bending moment for a beam using Octave, with specific attention to handling various types of loads and the requirement to compute values at very small increments along the beam's length. Participants are exploring coding strategies and methodologies for these calculations.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks assistance in calculating shear force and bending moment at increments of 0.0005m, given a matrix of forces and distances.
  • Another participant questions whether the original poster is familiar with hand calculations for shear force and bending moment diagrams for simple loading cases.
  • A participant emphasizes the need for a flexible coding approach that accommodates any number of point loads and distributed loads.
  • One suggestion is to create a flow chart to outline the calculation and decision-making processes before coding.
  • Another participant raises a concern about the practicality of using a 0.0005m increment for calculations on a beam that is several meters long, suggesting a possible error in the problem statement.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the appropriateness of the specified increment for calculations, and there is no consensus on the best approach to coding the solution. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the coding strategy and the validity of the problem parameters.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations regarding the assumptions made about the loads and the beam's characteristics, as well as the potential impact of the chosen increment on the accuracy of the calculations. The discussion does not resolve these issues.

zaakir
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hi all

Basically I need to find the shear force and bending moment of a beam using octave. The length of the beam as well as forces and their distances are given. However the SF and BM must be calculated at every o.ooo5m. The forces can be Point Loads or Uniform Distributed Loads and there can be many forces of each type.

The data is given in a matrix eg:[ 2000N 5m] or [2000N/m 5m 10m].

This is what I have so far but it does not seem to be working out:

Positions = 0:0.0005:BeamLength

%Shear force from support reaction
ReactionShearForce = -ReactionForce

%shear force from PointLoads
for y = 1:1:length(Positions)
x = Position(1,y)
if x > PointLoads(:,2)
PointLoadsSection = PointLoads(PointLoads(:,2)>x,1)
end
end
 
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Do you know how to do shear force and bending moment diagrams for simple loading cases and by hand calculation ?
 
Nidum said:
Do you know how to do shear force and bending moment diagrams for simple loading cases and by hand calculation ?
Yes I do but the problem I am facing is that the code has to be written where there can be any number of Point Loads and/or Distributed Loads and I am not sure how to translate it into code.
 
Forget the actual coding pro tem .

Start by preparing a flow chart for the calculation and decision making processes involved .

If you don't know about flow charts have a quick look here http://www.farshadoo.com/ic/tutorials/flowchart-diagrams.php .
 
Is this a homework problem ?

The 0,0005 metre length increment as given in problem statement is ridiculously small to use for calculations on a beam several metres long . Has there been a typing error somewhere ?

Please come back if you need help with the flow chart .
 

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