Shear Forces on Dams: Struggling Amateur Needs Help

[Eivind Johansen]

Im struggeling with understanding this task. Yeah I'm an amateur.. My English is not that good as well. My main problem is understanding where the share forces act on this dam, if its through the centre of pressure, or if its at the bottom of the dam. Now I have calculated the share forces acting on the bottom of the dam, as I have assumed this is the only place it is supported. Can anyone help me with this, or does anyone have some point of view.

 

[SteamKing]

Im struggeling with understanding this task. Yeah I'm an amateur.. My English is not that good as well. My main problem is understanding where the share forces act on this dam, if its through the centre of pressure, or if its at the bottom of the dam. Now I have calculated the share forces acting on the bottom of the dam, as I have assumed this is the only place it is supported. Can anyone help me with this, or does anyone have some point of view.

This problem is asking you to assume that the dam structure can be modeled as a beam which is fixed at one end and free to move at the other.

The hydrostatic pressure load on the submerged portion of the dam is modeled as a distributed load on the simple beam which is zero at the surface of the water, increasing in a linear fashion with increasing water depth.

Since this is a beam problem, you'll have to analyze it as such, by working out the reactions at the fixed end, and then drawing the shear force and bending moment diagrams along the length of the beam.

If you've worked beam problems before, then this should be fairly straightforward. If you haven't, then you'll have some further study to do.