As an Civil Engineer, can you imagine when a vehicle or a train moves over a bridge, what about reactions developed at its supports? will be varying or remains same? So when a bridge is subjected to moving load; how the reactions at supports will vary? what about shear forces or bending moments in a structure? This course helps you to understand how reactions at supports, shear forces and bending moments vary, when a structure subjected to moving loads. After this course you will be able to draw influence line diagrams for simply supported beams, overhanging beams and cantilever beams. Also you can find maximum reactions at supports, shear forces and bending moments at sections when a beam or girders are subjected to moving loads. It helps you to design structures which are subjected to moving loads or rolling loads for e.g. gantry girders, bridges, conveyors etc.

Basically influence lines are the diagrammatic representations of variations in reactions at supports, shear forces and bending moments at a specific point for any beam or for trusses it shows variations in support reactions and axial forces members of trusses when a unit load moves over it either from left to right or from right to left. Using these diagrams positions of loads can be defined to get maximum reactions, shear forces and bending moments