How do you draw a conjugate beam?
Table of Contents
How to draw conjugate beam:
- Step 1: Draw the bending moment diagram for the real beam.
- Step 2: Divide the magnitudes of bending moments by flexural rigidity and draw the M/EI diagram.
- Step 3: Draw the conjugate beam having the same length as a real beam.
- Step 4: Plot the loading same as the M/EI diagram in step-2.
Why conjugate beam method is used in structural analysis?

The conjugate beam method takes advantage of the similarity of the relationship among load, shear force, and bending moment, as well as among curvature, slope, and deflection derived in previous chapters and presented in Table 7.2.
What are the characteristics of conjugate beam?
Properties of conjugate beam method: The length of a conjugate beam is always equal to the length of the actual beam. The load on the conjugate beam is the M/EI diagram of the loads on the actual beam. Simple support for the real beam remains simple support for the conjugate beam.
What is the difference between conjugate beam and real beam?
Conjugate beam method: A Conjugate beam is defined as an imaginary beam with the same dimension as that of the original beam but load at any point on the conjugate beam is equal to bending moment at that point divided by EI (Flexural Rigidity)….Detailed Solution.

Real beam | Conjugate beam |
---|---|
Hinge support | Roller support |
What is difference between real beam and conjugate beam?
What is difference between conjugate beam and actual beam?
What is M EI diagram?
Procedure for Analysis If there are mixed with distributed loads and concentrated, the moment diagram (M/EI) will results parabolic curves, cubic, etc. Then, assume and draw the deflection shape of the structure by looking at M/EI diagram.
What is EI diagram?
Explanation: Moment – Area Method: It is also known as Mohr’s method. This method establishes a procedure that utilizes the area of the moment diagrams (actually, M/EI diagram) to evaluate the slope or deflection at selected points along the axis of a beam.
What are the advantages of conjugate beam method over other methods?
Conjugate beam method has the advantage over the other analytical methods for slope and deflection calculation as it can be easily applied for structures with neutral equilibrium also.
What are the points to be worth for conjugate beam method?
Conjugate beam is defined as the imaginary beam with the same dimensions (length) as that of the original beam but load at any point on the conjugate beam is equal to the bending moment at that point divided by EI. The conjugate-beam method is an engineering method to derive the slope and displacement of a beam.
What is the conjugate beam method?
T he Conjugate Beam Method is another way of solving the deflection for beams. This post shows an example on how to apply it. We shall use the same beam example in the area moment method to see the differences between the two methods.
What are the shears and moments of a conjugate beam?
In this new conjugate beam, the ‘shears’ would actually be the slopes of the real beam and the ‘moments’ would actually be the deflections of the real beam (using the relationships shown in Figure 5.9 ).
What happens when a pin is placed under a conjugate beam?
For a pin under a beam, it allows rotation, but no deflection, and the slope of the beam is continuous (there is no ‘kink’ in the beam shape). This means that in the conjugate beam at the same location, there should be a shear in the beam but no moment and the shear should be continuous (it should not step).
What are the characteristics of conjugate support?
It also allows a discontinuous slope at the hinge location, i.e. the beam can have a ‘kink’ and the hinge, meaning that the tangent slope of the beam is different on either side of the hinge. Therefore, the conjugate support must have both shear and moment and must have a discontinuous shear at that location on the beam.