ABSTRACT
This chapter is very important for the design of beams which carry loads acting transversely to them. These structures are of importance in the design of buildings, bridges, cranes, ships, aircraft, and automobiles and so on. The chapter deals with defining the moment of a force, and using equilibrium considerations, demonstrates the principle of moments. It describes skills which are fundamental and extremely important in many branches of engineering. The main reason though for understanding simply supported beams is that such structures appear in the design of buildings, automobiles, aircraft, etc. A simply supported beam is said to be one that rests on two knife-edge supports and is free to move horizontally. When using a spanner to tighten a nut, a force tends to turn the nut in a clockwise direction.
