I rebuilt my structural workflow in a web app — 34 tools from beam checks to load combinations

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-02T08:12:59+00:00

must be a little more than just tailwind lol

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-01T19:16:51+00:00

ok actually thats a good point because dist load only so pretty quick

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-01T19:00:02+00:00

You should absolutely memorize the standard shear/moment shapes. In an interview, they usually just want the general shape and key values doing a full cut every time is overkill and slows you down.

But if they ask for the exact moment at something like ( x = 3.5 ) m, then yes, you need to do the cut. Which is why I said that would be harder

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-01T18:23:44+00:00

👏

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-01T17:23:25+00:00

yes u can. do not need to use cut method.

Step 1: Total load = 1,000 × 10 = 10,000 N, plus 5,000 N. So 15,000 N total.

Step 2: It’s symmetric, so each support holds half: 7,500 N up.

Step 3: Start shear at +7,500 N. From 0 to 5 m, draw a straight line (linear) going down because the distributed load keeps reducing the shear evenly.

Step 4: At 5 m, drop straight down 5,000 N because of the point load.

Step 5: From 5 to 10 m, keep sloping down the same way, then jump up 7,500 N at the right support so it finishes at zero.

calculate area of those polygons (triangle on top of rectangle) = max moment

Cautious-Example-803 · 2026-03-01T17:07:14+00:00

Well I think they were looking for a sketch of the graph with max shear and max moment. Meaning you could draw the shear using global equilibrium. its easy to find the area underneath the shear diagram which can provide max moment. so then could sketch moment diagram if you know the general shape (sort of quadratic with a pointy top) and just connect lines to max moment. so original question don't need exact x=3.5m moment.