ABSTRACT
While acted upon by an external loading system, structures undergo deflection in the same direction as that of the applied loading. In case external loading acts on the structure in different directions, the resultant direction of the external loading system dictates the deflection of the structure in that direction. Deflection of structure is a major part of serviceability requirements related to the design of the structure. Structures that may be safe under the loads may not be safe under the case of deflection. That is why all structures are being designed to satisfy both strength and serviceability requirements simultaneously and independently. Once a structure is found to be safe, satisfying both these conditions, it is regarded as a safe structure, and design analysis can be concluded at that point. In this chapter, we will study the deflection calculation for beams under different types of loading, and we will also learn geometric methods to determine the deflection due to the application of a general class of loads acting on the structures externally. The methods of calculating structural deflection are classified into two parts, energy methods and geometric methods. As the chapter name suggests, we will learn the geometric method of calculating the structural deflection and energy method we will learn in a separate chapter. The deformations we will deal with in this chapter are the linear elastic deformations.
