For example, a closet rod sagging under the weight of clothes on clothes hangers is an example of a beam experiencing bending. When the length is considerably longer than the width and the thickness, the element is called a beam.
The structural element is assumed to be such that at least one of its dimensions is a small fraction, typically 1/10 or less, of the other two.
In applied mechanics, bending (also known as flexure) characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element.
