SLOPE AND DEFLECTION OF A CANTILEVER BEAM WITH POINT LOAD AT FREE END

In our previous topics, we have seen some important concepts such as deflection and slope of a simply supported beam with point load, deflection and slope of a simply supported beam carrying uniformly distributed load in our previous post.

Now we will start here, in this post, another important topic i.e. deflection and slope of a cantilever beam with point load at free end with the help of this post.

We have already seen terminologies and various terms used in deflection of beam with the help of recent posts and now we will be interested here to calculate the deflection and slope of a cantilever beam with point load at free end with the help of this post.

Cantilever beam is basically defined as a beam where one end of beam will be fixed and other end of beam will be free.

Basic concepts

There are basically three important methods by which we can easily determine the deflection and slope at any section of a loaded beam.

Double integration method

Moment area method

Macaulay’s method

Double integration method and Moment area method are basically used to determine deflection and slope at any section of a loaded beam when beam will be loaded with a single load. 

While Macaulay’s method is basically used to determine deflection and slope at any section of a loaded beam when beam will be loaded with multiple loads.

We will use double integration method here to determine the deflection and slope of a cantilever beam which is loaded with point load at free end.

Differential equation for elastic curve of a beam will be used in double integration method to determine the deflection and slope of the loaded beam and hence we must have to recall here the differential equation for elastic curve of a beam.

Differential equation for elastic curve of a beam

After first integration of differential equation, we will have value of slope i.e. dy/dx. Similarly after second integration of differential equation, we will have value of deflection i.e. y.

Let us come to the main subject i.e. determination of deflection and slope of a cantilever beam which is loaded with point load at free end.

Let us consider a cantilever beam AB of length L which is fixed at the support A and free at point B and loaded with a point load at its free end as displayed in following figure.

We have following information from above figure,

AB = Position of the cantilever beam before loading

AB’ = Position of the cantilever beam after loading

θ_A = Slope at support A

θ_B = Slope at support B

Boundary condition

We must be aware with the boundary conditions applicable in such a problem where beam will be a cantilever beam with point load at free end. We have following boundary condition as mentioned here.

At point A, Deflection will be zero

At point A, Slope will be zero

At point B, Deflection will be maximum

At point B, Slope will also be maximum

Let us consider one section XX at a distance x from end support A, let us calculate the bending moment about this section.

We have taken the concept of sign convention to provide the suitable sign for above calculated bending moment about section XX. For more detailed information about the sign convention used for bending moment, we request you to please find the post “Sign conventions for bending moment and shear force”.

Let us recall the differential equation of elastic curve of a beam and we can write the expression for bending moment at any section of beam as mentioned here in following figure.

Let us consider the bending moment determined earlier about the section XX and bending moment expression at any section of beam. We will have following equation as displayed here in following figure.

We will now integrate this equation and also we will apply the boundary conditions in order to secure the expressions for slope as well as deflection at a section of the beam and we can write the equations for slope and deflection for loaded beam as displayed here.

Where, C₁ and C₂ are the constant of integration and we can secure the value of these constant C₁ and C₂ by considering and applying the boundary condition.

Let us use the boundary condition as we have seen above.

At point A i.e. x = 0, Slope will be zero i.e. dy/dx =0

At point A i.e. x = 0, deflection will be zero i.e. y = 0

After applying the boundary conditions in above equatiosn of slope and deflection of beam, we will have following values of constant C₁ and C₂ as mentioned here.

C₁ = 0

C₂ = 0

Let us insert the values of C₁ and C₂ in slope equation and in deflection equation too and we will have the final equation of slope and also equation of deflection at any section of the loaded beam. We can see the slope equation and deflection equation in following figure.

Slope at the free end

At x = L, θ_B = Slope at end B

Let us use the slope equation and insert the value of x = L, we will have value of slope at support B i.e. θ_B 

θ_B = -W.L²/2EI

Negative sign represents that tangent at end B makes an angle with beam axis AB in anti-clockwise direction.

Maximum deflection

At point B i.e. x = L, Deflection will be maximum

Let us use the deflection equation and insert the value of x = L in deflection equation, we will have value of deflection at point B.

y_B = - WL³/3EI

Negative sign represents here that deflection in the loaded beam will be in downward direction.

We will see another topic in our next post.

Please comment your feedback and suggestions in comment box provided at the end of this post.

Reference:

Strength of material, By R. K. Bansal

Image Courtesy: Google

Also read

Deflection of beams and its various terms
Basic concept of shear force and bending moment 

Concepts of direct and bending stresses

Shear stress distribution diagram