how to calculate shear force and bending moment

Brian:

Thank you for the correction to my answer. I did mean shear stress instead of force.

Niel

Singularity functions are also helpful when handling bending moment because it allows you to translate loads into stresses and into bending moments and vice-versa. Doesn’t answer the question, but, good to know 😉

Bending moment is a function of the force x the distance. If the force is a point load it is simply the force x the distance [1] If the force is distributed or spread out you must integrate the forces and the distances [2].

Shear force is a function of the total force and the cross sectional area [2].

Niel Leon
Community Developer – Engineering.com

I think you would also be interested in learning more about shear and moment diagrams and how to derive them. Wikipedia offers a good explanation. You can find it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_and_moment_diagram

Whilst the question asks how to calculate the “shear force” I presume that the question is intended to be: – how to calculate the “shear stress” .

Shear stress is the force, F, acting on a given section divided by the cross sectional area, A, of the section, calculated in the direction of the force.

E.G., for a force, F, normal to the surface of a beam having a cross sectional area of A, the shear stress is = F/A.

The first answer, given by Niel Leon, deals with the bending moment

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