CHAPTER -TWO

FORCE SYSTEM

By- Meron M. 1
 Contents
 Introduction to Force System
Composition & Resolution of Forces
 Composition of Force
 Resolution of Force
Equivalent force systems
 Moments
 Couples 2
 Introduction to Force System
 Force- is the action of one body on another
that changes/tends to changes the state of
the body acted on.
 A force can be applied on a body as;
a) Contact force- applied by direct mechanical
contact of the acting body on the acted one
(created by push and pull).
b)Remote action (Body force)- applied by
remote action as in gravitational, electrical,
magnetic forces etc.

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Cont….
 The action of a force on a body can be
divided as internal and external.
a)Internal force- is a force exerted by one part
of a body on another part of the same body.
b)External force- is a force exerted on a body
by some other body.
An external force can then be applied on a
body as:
1.Applied force
2.Reactive force
 In Engineering mechanics, only external effects of
forces, hence external forces are considered. 4
Cont…..
Force systems-
 A system of forces can be grouped into different
categories depending on their arrangement in
space.
Forces which act on
the same plane System of Force
Forces which have
the same line of Coplanar Non-Coplanar
action

Collinear Parallel

Concurrent General

Forces which intersect

on the same point Concurrent Parallel General
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Cont….
1. Coplanar Forces:- are forces which act on
the same plane.
Depending on their arrangement on the
plane too, coplanar forces can further be
divided as:
a. Coplanar collinear force:- are coplanar
forces acting on the same line-collinear.

b. Coplanar parallel forces:- are forces

which are on the same plane and parallel.

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Cont….
c. Coplanar concurrent forces:- are forces on
the same plane whose lines of action
intersect at a point.

d. General coplanar forces:

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Cont….
2. Non coplanar forces:- are forces which act
on different planes.
 Again it can further be broken as:
a. Non coplanar parallel forces:- is system
of non planar forces but which are
parallel.

b. Non-coplanar concurrent forces:- are

non-coplanar forces whose lines of action
meet at a point.

c. General Non coplanar force: 8

Composition & Resolution of Forces
I. Composition of Forces
Composition of forces is the process of
combining two or more forces in to a single
resultant force, which has the same
external effect as that of the applied system
of forces.
As discussed in the previous chapter, we
have two laws of adding vectors:
a. The Graphical Method
b. Analytical Method
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Cont….
E.g. The two forces act on a bolt at A. Determine
their resultant.

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Cont….
 Graphical Solution-
i. a parallelogram with sides equal to P and
Q is drawn to scale. The magnitude and
direction of the resultant or of the diagonal
to the parallelogram are measured.

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Cont….
ii. a triangle is drawn with P and Q head-to-
tail to scale. The magnitude and direction
of the resultant or of the third side of the
triangle are measured.

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Cont….
 Analytical Solution-
i. Trigonometric Solution- apply the triangle
rule and
From the Law of Cosines

From the Law of Sines

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II. Resolution of Forces
Rectangular components
 Are the components of the force along the
rectangular coordinate axes.

𝐅 = 𝐅𝐱 + 𝐅𝐲 ;
 Where 𝐅𝐱 and 𝐅𝐲 are vector components of 𝐅 in the
x- and y- directions.
 In terms of the unit vectors i and j, 𝐅𝐱 = 𝐹𝑥𝒊 and 𝐅𝐲 =
𝐹𝑦𝒋.
 So we may write: 𝐅 = 𝐹𝑥𝒊 + 𝐹𝑦𝒋;
where 𝐹𝑥 and 𝐹𝑦 are scalar components of 𝐅.
 The scalars can be positive or negative depending 14
on
the quadrant into which 𝐅 points
Cont….
Determining the components of a force if
I. Dimensions are not always given in vertical
and horizontal directions
II. Angles need not be measured counter
clockwise from the x-axis, and
III.The origin of coordinates need not be on the
line of action of a force.

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Examples
1. The forces F1, F2 and F3 all of which act on
point A of the bracket, are specified in three
different ways. Determine the x and y scalar
components of each of the three forces.

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Cont….
 Scalar Components of F1

F1x = 600 cos 35° = 491 N

F1y = 600 sin 35° = 344 N
 Scalar Components of F2

F2x = -500 (4/5) = -400 N

F2y = 500 (3/5) = 300 N 17
Cont….
Scalar Components of F3

Alterative Calculation

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 Cont….
2. Combine the two forces P and T, which act
on the fixed structure at B, into a single
equivalent force R.

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Cont….
 Graphical Solution (Scale Drawing)

 Measurement of the length R and direction of

the resultant force R yields the approximate
results

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Cont….
 Geometric Solution

 From the law of sine's, we may determine

the angle θ which orients R. Thus,

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Cont….
 Algebraic Solution

 Vector Representation

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 Cont….
3. The 500 N force F is applied to the vertical pole as
shown.
1) Write F in terms of the unit vectors i and j and
identify both its vector and scalar components.
2) Determine the scalar components of the force
vector F along the x’ and y’ axis.
3) Determine the scalar components of F along the
x and y’ axis.

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 Cont….
 Part 1 Solution

F = (Fcos θ)i – (Fsin θ)j

= (500cos 60°)i – (500sin 60°)j
= (250i – 433j) N
• The scalar components are Fx = 250 N and Fy = -433
N.
• The vector components are Fx = 250i N and Fy = -433j
N

 Part 2 Solution
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F = 500 N and F = 0
 Cont….
 Part 3 Solution

 The require scalar components are then

Fx = 1000 N and Fy’ = -866 N.

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Equivalent force systems (Moments & Couples)
A. Moment
 In addition to its tendency to move a body
in the direction of its application, a force
also tends to rotate the body about any axis
which doesn’t intersect the line of action of the
force and which is not parallel to it.
 This tendency of a force to rotate a body about a
given axis is known as the moment, M, of the
force. The moment of a force is also known as
torque.
Cont….
 The magnitude of the moment is
proportional to both 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.
 Therefore the magnitude of moment is
defined as:
M = F*d
 Cont….
 Then, Moment is a vector M perpendicular to
the plane of the body.
 Sense of M is determined by the right -hand
rule
 Curl your fingers in the direction of the
tendency to rotate,
 The thumb will point in the direction of the
moment vector.
 Cont….
 The moment M obeys all the rules of vector
combination.
 In a givens plane (2D), we may speak of
moment about a point which means
moment with respect to an axis normal to
the plane and passing through the point.
 SI unit of Moment: Newton-meters (N.m)
 Sign Convention: Counterclockwise (+ve) or
Clockwise (-ve) or vice versa.
 Cont….
 The moment of F about point A (or
about the z-axis passing through point A) is
positive.
 The curved arrow of the figure is a
convenient way to represent moments in
two-dimensional analysis.
 Cont….
The Cross Product:
 A vector approach for moment calculation’s is
proper for 3D problems.
 The moment about point A in the above figures
may be represented by the cross product
expression.
 Where r = is a position vector which runs from the
moment reference point A to any point on the line
of action of F.
 The magnitude of this expression is given by:

Note: we must maintain the sequence r x F because the

sequence F x r would produce a vector with a sense
opposite to that of the correct moment.
Cont….
B. Couples
 The moment produced by two equal and
opposite and non-collinear forces (forces
which have no same line of action) is known
as couple.
 Consider the action of equal and opposite
forces F and –F a distance d apart.
Cont….
 As their sum in every direction is zero. But
the effect of the forces on the body isn’t zero.
 The magnitude of the couple
M = F (a + d ) − Fa = Fd
 A couple M is free vector.
NB.
 A couple is unchanged as long as the
magnitude and direction of its vector remains
constant,
 i.e. a given couple will not be altered by
changing the value of F and d as long as their
product remains the same.
Cont….
 Likewise a couple is not affected by allowing
the forces act in any one of parallel planes.

Figure above shows four different configurations of

the same couple M.
 Cont….
Force –couple Systems
Resolution of a force into a force and a couple
 Replacement of a force by a force and a couple.
 Force F is represented by a parallel force F and a
Counterclockwise couple Fd.
 The resolution process can best be illustrated by the
following figures.

 The given force F acting at A is replaced by an equal

force at point B and the anti clockwise couple M = F
x d. The transfer process can be seen from the
middle figure and it involves the following
procedure treated by the following figures.
Cont….
Example

Horizontal force acting on the

liver

Replaced by an
equivalent system
consisting of a force
at O and a couple
Cont….
1.The rigid structural member is subjected to a
couple consisting of the two 100-N forces.
Replace this couple by an equivalent couple
consisting of the two forces P and –P, each of
which has a magnitude of 400 N. Determine
the proper angle θ.
Cont….
Solution: The original couple is counter
clockwise when the plane of the force is viewed
from above, and its magnitude is

The force P and –P produce

a counter clockwise couple.

Equating the two expressions

gives
 Cont….
Resultants
 The simplest force combination which can
replace the original force with out changing
the external effect on the rigid body.
 A Resultant = a force-couple system
The resultant can be computed by using the
parallelogram rule or using analytical methods.
Parallelogram Rule Algebraic Method
 Cont….
Example
1. Determine the resultant of the four forces and
one couple which act on the plate shown.
Cont….
Cont….
Cont….
The End

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