This page provides pictures of structures or parts of structures which include places where there is no bending moment. The structures taper more or less towards these places.

There are many instances in structures where no tapering is seen, even though there is no bending moment. For example, in short concrete beams, the shuttering for a parallel beam may be a lot cheaper to make than the shuttering for a tapered one. This is a common situation at the cheap and small end of the range. For example, elliptical wings are considered most efficient for aircraft, but few have ever had them, because of the expense. Most wings are simply tapered, though a few have double taper: many small ones are simply parallel. 

In a pre-stressed beam, the tendons are arranged rather like a very shallow suspension bridge or cable-stayed bridge; this requires depth at the ends, so narrow ends are ruled out.

The examples shown here include the following – end of arch, end of beam, end of cantilever, central pin of arch, end of jib. Can you find any other situations among the pictures?

The next picture, of a windmill in Australia, is a part of a photograph which was kindly supplied by Stewart Beveridge. The trussed structure looks like a tower, but in terms of resisting the wind, acts as a beam.