| has gloss | eng: In engineering mechanics, deflection is a term that is used to describe the degree to which a structural element is displaced under a load. The deflection of a member under a load is directly related to the slope of the deflected shape of the member under that load and can be calculated by integrating the function that mathematically describes the slope of the member under that load. Deflection can be calculated by standard formulae (will only give the deflection of common beam configurations and load cases at discrete locations), or by methods such as "virtual work", "direct integration", "Castiglianos method", "Macaulays method" or the "direct stiffness method" amongst others. (See structural analysis textbooks for procedure.) |
