Force Systems

BMA-110
Engineering Mechanics
Force
• A force is defined as an action which tends to
cause acceleration of a body. A force is a vector
quantity, because its effect depends on the
direction as well as on the magnitude of the
action.
• The effect of this action on the bracket depends
on P, the angle θ, and the location of the point of
application A. Changing any one of these
three specifications will alter the effect on the
bracket, such as the force in one of the bolts
which secure the bracket to the base, or the
internal force and deformation in the material of
the bracket at any point.
Internal and external forces.
• The dotted lines define the system
boundary.
• If we consider a two body system as
in first image, gravitational force
between m1 and m2 is an internal
force whereas if we consider m1 and
me as separate bodies then the
gravitational force exerted by m1 on
m2 is external force.
• That’s the reason mg is taken as
external force. If earth and m1
are considered as one system
then m1g would not have been
an external force.
• Principle of transmittivity
• Principle of transmissibility, which states that a force may be
applied at any point on its given line of action without altering
the resultant effects of the force external to the rigid body on
which it acts.
• For example, the force P acting on the rigid plate in Figure
may be applied at A or at B or at any other point on its line of
action, and the net external effects of P on the bracket will not
change. The external effects are the force exerted on the plate
by the bearing support at O and the force exerted on the plate
by the roller support at C.
• This course deals essentially with the mechanics of rigid
bodies, we will treat almost all forces as sliding vectors for the
rigid body on which they act.
 Classification of forces
Contact and Body Forces
• A contact force is produced by
direct physical contact; an
example is the force exerted on a
body by a supporting surface.
• A body force is generated by
virtue of the position of a body
within a force field such as a
gravitational, electric, or
magnetic field. An example of a
body force is your weight.
 Classification of Forces
Concentrated and Distributed forces
• Every contact force is actually applied over a finite area
and is therefore really a distributed force.
• When the dimensions of the area are very small
compared with the other dimensions of the body, we
may consider the force to be concentrated at a point
with negligible loss of accuracy.
• Force can be distributed over an area, as in the case of
mechanical contact, over a volume when a body force
such as weight is acting, or over a line, as in the case of
the weight of a suspended cable.
• The weight of a body is the force of gravitational
attraction distributed over its volume and may be taken
as a concentrated force acting through the center of
gravity.
Concurrent Forces
• Two or more forces are said to be concurrent at a point if their
lines of action intersect at that point. The forces F1 and F2
shown in Fig a. have a common point of application and are
concurrent at the point A. Thus, they can be added using the
parallelogram law in their common plane to obtain their sum
or resultant R.
• Suppose the two concurrent forces lie in the same plane but
are applied at two different points as in Fig. b. By the
principle of transmissibility, we may move them along their
lines of action and complete their vector sum R at the point of
concurrency A, as shown in Fig. b. We can replace F1 and F2
with the resultant R without altering the external effects on the
body upon which they act.
Concurrent Forces
• We can also use the triangle law to
obtain R, but we need to move the
line of action of one of the forces, as
shown in Fig. c. If we add the same
two forces as shown in Fig. d, we
correctly preserve the magnitude and
direction of R, but we lose the
correct line of action, because R
obtained in this way does not pass
through A. Therefore this type of
combination should be avoided.
A Special Case of Vector Addition
• To obtain the resultant when the two forces F1
and F2 are parallel as in Fig., we use a special
case of addition. The two vectors are combined
by first adding two equal, opposite, and
collinear forces F and -F of convenient
magnitude, which taken together produce no
external effect on the body. Adding F1 and F to
produce R1, and combining with the sum R2
of F2 and -F yield the resultant R, which is
correct in magnitude, direction, and line of
action. This procedure is also useful for
graphically combining two forces which have a
remote and inconvenient point of concurrency
because they are almost parallel.

*This slide may be skipped.

 Rectangular Components
• Vector components which are mutually
perpendicular are called rectangular components.
• The most common two-dimensional resolution of a
force vector is into rectangular components.
• Fx and Fy are vector components of F in the x- and
y-directions. (Bold letters here denote vectors)
• Perpendicular projections are also called
orthogonal projections
• Each of the two vector components may be written
as a scalar times the appropriate unit vector.
• Fx and Fy are the x and y scalar components of the
vector F. (Here, letters in italics denote scalars)
Determining the Components of a Force
• Consider two forces F1 and F2 which
are originally concurrent at a point O.
Figure 2/7 shows the line of action of
F2 shifted from O to the tip of F1
according to the triangle rule.
• The term ΣF x means “the algebraic
sum of the x scalar components”.
• For the example shown in Figure,
note that the scalar component would
be negative.
Moment
• In addition to the tendency to move a body in the direction
of its application, a force can also tend to rotate a body
about an axis. The axis may be any line which neither
intersects nor is parallel to the line of action of the force.
This rotational tendency is known as the moment M of the
force. Moment is also referred to as torque.
• As a familiar example of the concept of moment, consider
the pipe wrench of Figure. One effect of the force applied
perpendicular to the handle of the wrench is the tendency to
rotate the pipe about its vertical axis. The magnitude of this
tendency depends on both the magnitude ‘F’ of the force
and the effective length ‘d’ of the wrench handle. Common
experience shows that a pull which is not perpendicular to
the wrench handle is less effective than the right-angle pull
shown.
 Moment about a point
• Figure shows a two-dimensional body acted on by a force F in
its plane. The magnitude of the moment or tendency of the
force to rotate the body about the axis O-O perpendicular to
the plane of the body is proportional both to the magnitude of
the force and to the moment arm d, which is the perpendicular
distance from the axis to the line of action of the force.
• The moment is a vector M perpendicular to the plane of the
body. The sense of M depends on the direction in which F
tends to rotate the body. The right-hand rule, Figure, is used to
identify this sense. We represent the moment of F about O-O
as a vector pointing in the direction of the thumb, with the
fingers curled in the direction of the rotational tendency.
• The moment M obeys all the rules of vector
combination and may be considered a sliding
vector with a line of action coinciding with the
moment axis.
• SI unit of moment is newton-meters (N-m).
• Moment about a point means the moment with
respect to an axis normal to the plane and
passing through the point.
• Moment directions may be accounted for by
using a stated sign convention, such as a plus
sign (+) for counterclockwise moments and a
minus sign (-) for clockwise moments, or vice
versa.
Varignon’s Theorm
• Varignon’s theorm states that the moment of a force about any point is
equal to the sum of the moments of the components of the force about
the same point.
• To prove this theorem, consider the force R acting in the plane of the
body shown in Fig. a. The forces P and Q represent any two
nonrectangular components of R.

which says that the moment of R about O equals the sum of the
moments about O of its components P and Q. This proves the
theorem.
Couple
 Couple
• The moment produced by two equal, opposite, and
noncollinear forces is called a couple.
• Consider the action of two equal and opposite forces F and
-F a distance ‘d’ apart, as shown in Figure. These two forces
cannot be combined into a single force because their sum in
every direction is zero. Their only effect is to produce a
tendency of rotation.
• The combined moment of the two forces about an axis normal
to their plane and passing through any point such as O in their
plane is the couple M.
• Its direction is counterclockwise when viewed from above for
the case illustrated.
• The magnitude of the couple is independent of the distance
‘a’ which locates the forces with respect to the moment center
O. It follows that the moment of a couple has the same value
for all moment centers. Hence it is a free vector.
• Here again, the moment expression contains no
reference to the moment center O and, therefore,
is the same for all moment centers. Thus, we may
represent M by a free vector, as shown in figure c,
where the direction of M is normal to the plane of
the couple and the sense of M is established by
the right-hand rule.
Equivalent Couples
• Changing the values of ‘F’ and ‘d’ does not change a given couple as long as the product ‘Fd’
remains the same. Likewise, a couple is not affected if the forces act in a different but parallel
plane.
• In each of the four cases, the couples are equivalent and are described by the same free vector
which represents the identical tendencies to rotate the bodies.
Force Couple System
• The effect of a force acting on a body is the tendency to push or pull the body in the direction of
the force, and to rotate the body about any fixed axis which does not intersect the line of the force.
We can represent this dual effect more easily by replacing the given force by an equal parallel force
and a couple to compensate for the change in the moment of the force.
Resultant of Forces
• The resultant of a system of forces is the simplest force combination which
can replace the original forces without altering the external effect on the
rigid body to which the forces are applied.
• Equilibrium of a body is the condition in which the resultant of all forces
acting on the body is zero. This condition is studied in statics.
• When the resultant of all forces on a body is not zero, the acceleration of
the body is obtained by equating the force resultant to the product of the
mass and acceleration of the body. This condition is studied in dynamics.
Thus, the determination of resultants is basic to both statics and dynamics.
• The most common type of force system occurs when the forces all act in a
single plane, say, the x-y plane, as illustrated by the system of three forces
F1, F2, and F3 in Fig. a. We obtain the magnitude and direction of the
resultant force R by forming the force polygon shown in part b of the
figure, where the forces are added head-to-tail in any sequence.
Principle of moments
Principle of moments
• If the resultant force R for a given force system is zero, the resultant of the system need not be zero
because the resultant may be a couple. The three forces in Fig. 2/15, for instance, have a zero
resultant force but have a resultant clockwise couple M = F3d.