ABSTRACT
The hinged beam is a statically determinate system assembled by sequentially positioned straight bars connected at the ends by hinges and working in bending. The members of a hinged beam are connected by simple hinges and called simple beams. An interval between two neighboring supports is called a span. Hinged beams are also called Gerber beams in honor of German engineer Heinrich Gerber, who patented the hinged beam in 1866 and employed this constructive solution in bridge building. Hinged beams are applied to subsystems of structures, and they are used as the model of some structures. Unthrusted hinged trusses under vertical loads may be simulated by the hinged beam. Hinged beams are assumed to be horizontally situated and are designed to support vertical loads and force couples. The kinematic method for construction of influence lines in its brief formulation is known as the Muller-Breslau principle.
