Thursday, March 7, 2019

resource recommendations - Horizontal Beam Bending Due to Gravity



I just thought about this problem recently but am not sure where to find a solution. I am not certain which parameters are important in this problem, so please bear with me.




Assume that a beam of length $L$ with rectangular cross section of width $W$ and height $H$ is pinned on the wall horizontally so that the width of the beam's cross section is parallel to the ground and the height of the beam's cross section is almost parallel to the normal to the ground (almost parallel because the beam bends, causing the height at each point to tilt a little). Suppose that the beam has mass $M$ which is distributed uniformly. Under gravity, the beam bends (see the picture below). What is the shape of this bent beam? (It suffices to determine the shape of the central line that runs the length of the beam.)



I assume that Young's modulus $E$ and the shear modulus $G$ of the beam are needed. Furthermore, the material that makes up the beam is assumed to be isotropic. With the parameters $L$, $W$, $H$, $M$, $E$, $G$, and the gravitational acceleration $g$, is this problem complete? Do you know how to solve it or any reference towards a solution? I would like the exact shape, rather than an approximated one. I have seen an approximation by a circular arc. Thank you very much in advance.


enter image description here




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