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Moment of Inertia
How Can You Predict How Stiff a Beam or a Column Will Be Based on its Cross Section?
There is a quantity called the moment of inertia that allows you to tell how stiff a structural element is. When you calculate the moment of inertia you actually measure how far the material in a cross-section of an element is from its neutral axis. First, lets look at a rectangular beam. Its cross section will be a rectangle, of course. You know that the area of a rectangle is equal to the length times the width (or the base times the height). So, to find the moment of inertia (I) you: Rectangular Beam:
Base =B

Take the area of the cross section, multiply it by the height squared and divide by twelve (the constant 12 comes from the derivation of the equation using calculus). I = Area x (Height)2/12 = (BH) H2
12

Height =H

I Area = BH

= BH3
12

I-shaped beam:
B A Flanges H Center of flange Center of beam Web C

For an I-shaped beam, there are many more dimensions to consider. The area of the flange is AB. There are two flanges so multiply by 2. Then multiply the result by the square of the distance from the center of the beam to the center of the flange (that is half of H plus half of A). This gives you the moment of inertia of the two flanges. The height of the web is H. Add the moment of inertia of the web (which is like a rectangular beam so the equation is the same) and your done. I = 2 x Area of Flange x (Web height/2 + Flange height/2) 2 + Web width x (Web height) 3 /12

Area = 2AB + CH

I =

2(AB)

H+A 2 2

+ CH3 12

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Name(s)

Moment of Inertia
Draw and label your beams and show your work on graph paper for all problems. Example 1 Imagine a rectangular beam with a base (B) that is 7 cm and a height (H) that is 8 cm. What is its cross-sectional area? What is its moment of inertia? Draw and label the beam. Example 2 Imagine an I-beam with a flange that is 2-cm thick (A) and 10-cm wide (B), and with a web that is 2-cm wide (C) and 8-cm deep (H). Draw a picture of the cross section of this beam and label its parts. Calculate its total area, and then calculate its moment of inertia (I) of the beam. How do its area and moment of inertia compare to those of the beam above? Example 3 Double the size of the base and height in Example 1 and recalculate the area and moment of inertia of the resulting beam. By what factor does each change? Why?

Solve the following problems: 1. Another beam has the same flanges as the I-beam in Example 2, but its web is 10 cm deep instead of 8 cm deep. What is its moment of inertia? How much stiffer is this beam than the one above? 2. Calculate the moment of inertia of a beam with flanges that are 2 cm thick and 20 cm wide, and with a web that is 2 cm wide and 20 cm deep (A = 2, B = 20, C = 2, and H = 20). 3. In the problem above, if you could change one of the 2s to a 3 in either A, B or H, which would you change to make the beam as stiff as possible? Prove it by drawing all three possibilities and calculating the moment of inertia of each. 4. A beams flanges and its web are 2 cm thick (A and C) and its moment of inertia is 299 cm4. The area of its cross-section is 40 cm2. Design a beam with the same cross-sectional area but with a greater moment of inertia. Show your work, indicating the width of the flanges and the depth of the web of your new beam, and make a labeled drawing of the cross-section. Be prepared to discuss your results for problem 4 with the rest of the class!