Once the distributed loads have been reduced to their equivalent concentrated loads, the external reaction acting on the beam may be found by a straight forward static analysis. This is illustrated with the help of an example.

Suppose we have to determine the reactions at left and right support for the beam subjected to the uniform load distribution.

Since there are no horizontal forces, the horizontal reaction at left support is zero. Let vertical recation be R₁. Let reaction at the right support be R₂. The resultant of the distributed force is