Types of Beams – Civil Engineering

Beams are horizontal members that essentially carry lateral loads and have bending stresses. In building structures, the beam supports the load coming from slabs. Types of beams are important to study for a structure designer. In short, Beams are flexural members and should be designed for both, Bending Moments and Shear Force.

Types of Beams as per Support Condition

1. Simply Supported Beams
   A beam with pin supports at both ends and no intermediate supports is defined as a simply supported beam.
   Simply Supported Beams are statically determinate structures.
2. Overhanging Beams
   If a beam has some span after supports at both sides, then it is called an overhanging beam.
3. Continuous Beams
   A continuous beam has one or more intermediate supports.
   This type of beam is statically indeterminate.
4. Fixed Beams
   These types of beams are fixed at both ends. No support is allowed to have deflection. Fixed beams are statically indeterminate structures.
   In reality, all the beams in RCC structures are fixed beams.
5. Cantilever Beams
   These types of beams are free at one end and fixed at the second one. These types of beams are statically determinate types.
   The beams of the balcony are a good example of cantilever beams.

Types of Beams as per Material Used

1. Prestressed Concrete Beams
   Precast concrete beams are commonly made up of prestressed concrete. Prestressed Concrete Beams are crack-free beams, as there is no tensile stress in prestressed concrete beams.
2. RCC Beams
   These types of beams are commonly used in framed RCC structures. RCC beams in structures should be designed as per IS 456 – 2000
3. Steel Beams
   Steel Beams are composed of an I section or a T section and made from structural steel. IS 800-2007 gives design criteria for steel beams.

Types of RCC Beams as per Reinforcement

1. Singly Reinforced Beams
   These types of beams have no compression reinforcement. Singly reinforced beams, though, have temperature reinforcement as anchor bars.
2. Doubly Reinforced Beams
   In the case of doubly reinforced beams, we also provide compression reinforcement. Doubly reinforced beams have higher resistance to bending.

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