Curved Beams

Abstract

The classical theory of the bending of beams is strictly exact if the axis of the beam is straight, the loads are applied only at the ends and the cross section is uniform along the length, which is much larger than any other linear dimension. However, the resulting equations are so simple that engineers routinely apply them outside this restrictive context and this usage is appropriate as long as we recognize that the resulting approximation may underestimate the bending stresses.