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Besides deflection, the beam equation describes forces and moments and can thus be used to describe stresses. For this reason, the Euler–Bernoulli beam equation is widely used in engineering, especially civil and mechanical, to determine the strength (as well as deflection) of beams under bending.
The bending stiffness is the resistance of a member against bending deflection/deformation. It is a function of the Young's modulus E {\displaystyle E} , the second moment of area I {\displaystyle I} of the beam cross-section about the axis of interest, length of the beam and beam boundary condition.
Physically, taking into account the added mechanisms of deformation effectively lowers the stiffness of the beam, while the result is a larger deflection under a static load and lower predicted eigenfrequencies for a given set of boundary conditions. The latter effect is more noticeable for higher frequencies as the wavelength becomes shorter ...
Otherwise methods such as virtual work, direct integration, Castigliano's method, Macaulay's method or the direct stiffness method are used. The deflection of beam elements is usually calculated on the basis of the Euler–Bernoulli beam equation while that of a plate or shell element is calculated using plate or shell theory.
The bending moment at a particular cross section varies linearly with the second derivative of the deflected shape at that location. The beam is composed of an isotropic material. The applied load is orthogonal to the beam's neutral axis and acts in a unique plane. A simplified version of Euler–Bernoulli beam equation is:
where is the flexural modulus (in Pa), is the second moment of area (in m 4), is the transverse displacement of the beam at x, and () is the bending moment at x. The flexural rigidity (stiffness) of the beam is therefore related to both E {\displaystyle E} , a material property, and I {\displaystyle I} , the physical geometry of the beam.
For a 3-point test of a rectangular beam behaving as an isotropic linear material, where w and h are the width and height of the beam, I is the second moment of area of the beam's cross-section, L is the distance between the two outer supports, and d is the deflection due to the load F applied at the middle of the beam, the flexural modulus: [1]
The bending stiffness (EI/L) of a member is represented as the flexural rigidity of the member (product of the modulus of elasticity (E) and the second moment of area (I)) divided by the length (L) of the member. What is needed in the moment distribution method is not the specific values but the ratios of bending stiffnesses between all members.