Beams & Trusses

The beam and the truss are the two foundational structural elements. Nearly every structure you can see is built from variations of these two ideas.

Beams: load-carrying through bending

A beam carries transverse loads through bending and shear. The two key results engineers need are the maximum deflection (serviceability — does it feel safe?) and the bending moment diagram (strength — where is material most stressed?).

🔧 Beam Deflection Calculator

Support condition

Load type

Span L (m)

Load P / w (kN or kN/m)

Material

Section width b (mm)

Section height h (mm)

Trusses: efficiency through triangulation

A truss carries loads through axial forces only — pure tension and compression, no bending. This makes trusses extremely material-efficient over long spans. The trade-off: every member matters, and the geometry must be triangulated to be stable.

🔧 Truss Analyzer

Topology

Point load at mid-span (kN)

Red = tension | Blue = compression | Line thickness ∝ force magnitude | Numbers in kN

📓 Beam deflection notebook → Truss analysis notebook →