Improvement of the Graphical Method for Plotting the Shear and Moment Diagrams for Members Subjected to Linearly Varying Loads

Abstract This study presents an improvement of the graphical method for plotting the shear and moment diagrams for the structural members under linearly varying loads (triangular and trapezoidal loads). Based on the parabolic nature of the shear function, when the loading varies linearly, and on the relations among load, shear, and moment, a mathematical equation is developed to locate the zero-shear point, while a geometric technique is presented to calculate the parabolic shear area. Five comprehensive examples of beams loaded with linearly varying loads are selected to illustrate the steps of the solution for the proposed techniques. The results demonstrated the applicability of the presented method, and gave exact diagrams compared with the basic graphical method. It is concluded that the proposed improved method is generally more convenient, less time-consuming, and has less computational efforts because it does not require sectioning, solving equilibrium equations, and quadratic formulas compared with the basic graphical method.