Bedford,Fowler:Statics.

Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

SystemofForcesandMoments
Introduction
Themomentvectorofaforcevector, ,withrespecttoapointhasamagnitudeequalto
theproductoftheforcemagnitude,F,andtheperpendiculardistancefromthepointtothe
lineofactionoftheforce,D:M=DF.Thedirectionofthemomentisthroughthepointand
perpendiculartotheplanecontainingthepointandthelineofactionoftheforce.Itssignis
definedbytherighthandrule.

Figure1Force,F,withleverarm,D Figure2Forcecomponentswithleverarms

Analternativeequivalenttofindingtheperpendiculardistancebetweenthepointandthe
forceistocomputetheindividualcomponentsofthemomentvector, .Considerforce
componentsintheYZplane, and .TheycauseamomentabouttheXaxis.The
componentsofthepositionvectorinthatplaneare and .Notethatdistance isthe
perpendicularleverarmofcomponent ,andlikewisefor and .However,their
turningeffects,withrespecttotheorigin,havedifferentsigns(counterclockwiseis
positive).Therefore,youcanwritethemomentcomponentabouttheXaxisas

. (1a)

Notethexyzsequenceofthefirstthreesubscripts.Theothertwocomponentsofthe
momentvectorfollowapermutationofthatpattern(xyz,yzx,zxy).Namely,

.(1b)

Thefirsttwotermsineachofthethreemomentcomponentsfollowthexyzpermutation,
andthelastproductinanysinglecomponentreversesthesubscriptsofthepriorproduct.

Theabovealternativecorrespondstothevectorcrossproductofpositionvector and
forcevector :
.(2)

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Theabovecomponentsequencepermutationappliestoanycrossproductoftwovectors:

(3)

ThisformofthemomentcomponentcalculationsiseasilyenteredintoTKSolver.This
componentformisusedinthepresentedexamplesbelow.

Inadditiontofindingthemomentofaforceatapoint,youfrequentlyneedtofindthe
portionofthatmomentthatactsonalinethroughthepoint.Thatportioniscalledthe
momentofaforceaboutaline.Themagnitudeofthemomentaboutthelineisthe
perpendicularprojectionofthetotalmomentmagnitudeontotheline.Thatactionis
showninFigure3.Inotherwords,itisthedotproductofthemomentvectorandtheunit
vectorthatdefinesthedirectioncosinesoftheline:

,(4)

andthefullvectormomentabouttheline(includingitscomponentssigns)is

.(5)

Figure3Projectingamomentvectorontoaline

Ingeneral,Newtonsstaticequilibriumrelationsinvolvebothforcesandmoments.
Specifically,theresultantforcemustvanish,asmusttheresultantmomentaboutany
arbitrarypoint,sayP:
0, 0.

Almostallofthefutureapplicationswillinvolvetheuseofmomentequilibrium.
Frequently,thechoiceofthelocationofthemomentpoint,P,istakenatapointontheline
ofactionoftheforcewiththemostunknowncomponents.Sincetheleverarmtosuch
forcesiszero,thoseforcevectorcomponentsdonotappearintheequationsforthe
momentvectorcomponents.

Youcanwritevalidmomentequationsatdifferentpoints.WithTKSolver,itisactually
usefultohaveadditionalvalidequationsintheruleset.Inthepast,studentswererequired

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

tosolvemanydifferentapplicationstolearnbyexperiencehowtopickpointsthat
introducetheminimumnumberofunknownsintothemomentequilibrium.UsingTK
Solver,youjustneedtocountthenumberofunknownsandwriteatleastthatmanyvalid
equilibriumrulesbyusingvariousFBDsand/orbyselectingvariouspointsforcalculating
theresultantmoments.

Inthischapter,youlearnhowtocalculateresultantmomentsandforcesneededfor
equilibrium.Inthenextchapter,youwillusetheminsolvingequilibriumrelationsfor
objectsofmorecomplicatedshapes.

Example4.3

ThesystemandtheFBDsareshowninFigure4.Assumethatforce isincompression
andactsuptotheright.Here,therearethreeunknowns,forcesC_x,C_y,andthecable
tensionmagnitude,T(sincethepinsupportforceatBmustbeequaltothestraightcable
forcethere).Asatwodimensionalproblem,forceequilibriumgivestwoequations,and
momentequilibriumgivesoneequation(abouttheaxisperpendiculartotheplane)per
FBD.Here,youcoulddrawthreeFBDs:thesystem,theinclinedbar,theinclinedcable.
Withexperience,youwouldnotethattakingmomentsaboutpointCwouldgiveyouthe
tensionmagnitudedirectlyasthesingleunknown.But,thatisnotanecessarychoiceas
shownbelow.

Figure4Aconcurrentbarcablesystemwithdimensions

First,notethegeometrydata.ItisclearthatpointsBandCaredirectlyaboveeachother.
Thecableforce(andtheexternalforceatsupportB)hasaknowndirection.Fromthe
givencoordinates(formingtherare3:4:5triangle)youcouldwritethedirectioncosinesof
thecablebyinspection.Instead,youcanalwaysconstructthe(straight)cablesunitvector
fromthosedata( ).Alsonotethatthehorizontalleverarmsoftheweight,withrespect
topointsA,B,C,aresoobviousthattheycanbeuseddirectly,withoutbuildingaunit
vector.Thegivenhorizontalandverticaldistanceswillbedenotedbyhandv,respectively
here.Invokemomentequilibrium.TakemomentsaboutthezaxisatpointA(with
counterclockwisetakenasthepositivesense),inFBD1:

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

0.

ForceequilibriuminFBD1gives

0,

0.

ThissystemofthreeequationsandthreeunknownscanbesolvedbyTK.Youcanalso
writearedundantequationbytakingmomentsaboutpointB(and/oraboutC):

0.

Notethattheverticalforcecomponent didnotenterthelastequationbecauseitslineof
actionpassedthroughpointB( 0).Nowyouhavefourequilibriumequationsand
threeunknowns.ThoserulesaregiveninFigure5.Especiallynotethatthelengthswere
giventheirabsolutevalues.Thus,thesignsoftheunitvectorweredeterminedby
inspection.Thatisalsotrueforthemomentcalculations.Formorecomplicated
geometriestobecoveredlateryouwoulduseEq1directly,andsupplythealgebraicvalues
fortheknowndistanceorforcecomponents.Asnotedabove,youcouldhaveoriginally
writtenaredundantfourth(orfifth)equationofequilibrium(showninFigure6).

Figure5Equilibriumandgeometryrelationsforthebarcablesystem

Figure6Redundantmomentequilibriumrelation

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Here,thoseadditionaltwolineswereappendedtothebottomofthefile.They,ofcourse,
didnotchangetheoutputsfortheforcecomponents.Thecorrespondingoriginaloutputis
giveninFigure7,anditagreeswiththetextresult.

Figure7Forceandgeometryresultsforthebarcablesystem

Example4.8

Thisproblemisastraightforwardcalculationoffindingthemomentatapointonalineand
thenprojectingthatmomentontotheline.Thegeometryandgivenvectorsareshownin
Figure8.Therearemoregeometrycalculationsthatforthemoments.Therulesforboth

Figure8Forcecausingamomentaboutaline

areshowninFigure9.Again,notethenonproceduralnatureofTKSolverinthatposition
vector isutilizedinthefirstrow,butisnotdefineduntillater.Inthiscase,thealgebraic

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

signofeachcomponentisinputandthegeneralmomentequationsofEqs1,4and5are
employed.TheoutputsaregiveninFigure10.

Thesignofthemagnitudeofthemoment ispositive(whichdiffersfromthetext).
Thatmeansithasthesamedirectionasunitvector .Ifusingtherighthandrule,point
yourthumbtowardpointCfrompointB.Yourfingersthenshowthedirectionofthe
turningeffectoftheforceFaboutlineBC.

Figure9Rulessheetformomentofaforceaboutaline.

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure10Outputsformomentaboutalinebyaforce

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Example3.5Revisited

YoufoundthethreeunknowncableforcesinExample3.5byusingonlyforceequilibrium.
Thatwasprobablythesimplestwaytosolvethatproblem.Youcouldhaveusedonlythe
threemomentequilibriumequationaboutthex,yandzaxes.Thefiguresforthat
problemarerepeatedhereinFigure11.

Withexperience,youmightobservethatcableforcesT_ABandT_ACwouldpassthrough
lineBCandthereforewouldhavenomomentsaboutthatline.OnlytheweightWandcable
forceT_ADdonotintersectthatline.Therefore,arulethatsaysthattheresultantmoment
aboutlineBCiszerowouldgiveyouoneequationandoneunknown.Youreallydonot
needobservationslikethat,unlessyouaretryingtominimizehandcalculations(orsave
timeonatest).Nevertheless,theTKrulesforthatcalculationareshowninFigure12to
illustratemomentequilibriumaboutalinecausedbymultipleforces.

Figure11Momentoftwoforcesaboutaline

KnowingthatyouaregoingtotakemomentsaboutlineBC,therearetworeasonsthat
justifyomittingthemomentofcabletension .Thefirstisthephysicalobservationthat
thelineofactionofforceACintersectslineBC.Therefore,ithasnoleverarmwithrespect
tothatline.Thesecondreasonisapurelymathematicalone.Thevectoralgebradefinition
ofthemagnitudeofthemomentoftension aboutthelineisidenticallyzero:

_ 0.

Thatisbecauseforanytwovectors, and , 0since( )is
perpendiculartoboth and .Thus,itsdotproductwith iszero.

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure12Equilibriumviamomentsaboutaline
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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure13FindingtensionT_ADwithoneequation

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter4:SystemofForcesandMoments,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Admittedly,thenumberofanalyticgeometrycalculationsislarge,buttheyrepresentterms
youwouldhavetocalculatebyhand.Youcouldprobablydothosecalculationsbyhand
fasterthanyoucouldtypetheTKrules.Themainpointhereistoemphasizethemechanics
giveninthelastsevenrules.Notethatitwouldhavetakenfewerrulestoincludethe
equilibriumaboutlineBCiftheyhadjustbeenaddedtotherulesinthepriorsolutionof
Example3.5.Before,positionvector wasemployedandyoucouldhavejustusedits
negativevalueastheleverarmforboththeweightandtensioninsteadofcomputing .
Thesameistruefortheunitvectorsintroducedinthisrevision.

Forthebeginner,stepslikerequiringequilibriumaboutalineareusuallynotneeded.
Instead,youcanusuallyjustrequirethattheresultantforceandmomentvanishineach
FBD.Then,theimportanteffortistoconstructmultiplecorrectFBDs.

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