CHAPTER 1

FORCE SYSTEMS
(Part A)


Topics
- Basic Concepts
- Force
- Moment
- Couples
- Resultant of force systems
- Problems in 2-and-3 Dimensions








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1.1 Basic Concepts (Fundamentals)
The following concepts and definitions are basic to the study of mechanics:

1.1.1 What is Mechanics?

Mechanics is the physical science that concerns the conditions of rest or motion of bodies
under the action of forces. In simple words it is the study of forces and their effects.
Physical science that deals with the effects of forces on object.
Study of the state of rest or motion of the bodies under the action of forces.




Note: Static can be regarded as a special case of dynamics in which the acceleration is
zero (i.e. constant velocity)
Statics = Dynamics with zero acceleration (constant velocity)

The mechanics of rigid bodies is subdivided into two areas: Statics and Dynamics.
- Statics deals with the equilibrium of bodies either at rest or move with constant
velocity; whereas
- Dynamics deals with bodies in accelerated motion. Statics can be regarded as a
special case of dynamics, in which the acceleration is zero.




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1.1.2 Fundamental Concepts (Terms and Terminology)

A particle: *- It is a body whose size is very small (~zero volume) that can be
analyzed as a mass concentrated at a point.
For example, the size of the earth is insignificant compared to the size of its orbit, and
therefore the earth can be modeled as a particle when studying its orbit motion.










Rigid body: *- It is a combination of a large number of particles and these particles
remain at a fixed distance from one another both before and after applying a load, i.e.
a body is considered rigid when the change in distance between two points is
negligible. In short, RIGID BODY CANNOT DEFORM.
In most cases, the actual deformation occurring in structures, machines, mechanisms,
and the like are relatively small, and the rigid-body assumption is suitable for
analysis.

Concentrated force

Concentrated force: Concentrated force describes the effect of a load on a small
area of a body (acts at a point on a body). We define a load as a concentrated force
when the area (over which the load is applied) is very small compared to the overall
size of the body.


Length: Is needed to locate the position of a point in space, thereby it describes the
size of a physical system. The length in SI unit is meter, m.

Particle
Hook (represent
as a particle)
Railroad wheel
(rigid body)
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Time: It is measured by the intervals between the repeatable events such as the
swings of a clock pendulum or the vibrations of a quartz crystal in a watch. In SI unit,
time is measured in second, (s), minute (min), hour (hr).

Mass: The concept of mass is a measure of body inertia (which is simply the
resistance of the body to change its velocity). It can also be thought of as the quantity
of matter in a body. The earth will attract two bodies of the same mass in the same
manner and they offer the same resistance to a change in transnational motion. The
mass of a body affects the gravitational attraction force between it and other bodies.
(Kg).

Force: It represents the action of one body on another. A force tends to move a body
in the direction of its action. It can be exerted by actual contact or at a distance (e.g.-
gravitational and magnetic forces). The action of a force is characterized by: (1) its
magnitude, (2) its direction, and (3) its point of application. Thus the force is a
vector quantity. In SI unit, the force is measured in (Newton, N).

Velocity and acceleration: The rate of change of position of a point is called
velocity (m/s) and the rate of change of its velocity is called as the acceleration
(m/s
2
).

Space: It is a geometric region that occupied by bodies whose position is defined or
located by linear or angular measurements relative to a coordinate system. For three-
dimensional problems (3-D), three independent coordinates are needed from a certain
reference point (O) known as origin. For two-dimensional problems, only two
coordinates are required.

Weight: Any two particles or bodies have a mutual attractive (gravitational) force
acting between them. This was illustrated on page 3 on Newtons Law.
In the case of a particle located at or near the surface of the earth, the gravitational
force between the earth (of mass M
e
) and the particle of (mass m) is termed as the
weight of the particle (W). If r is the distance between the earths center and the
particle, then we have the weight of the particle is given as:
2
.
r
M m
G W
e
=
Introducing a constant g = G.M
e
/r
2
then the weight of the particle W may be
expressed as:
W = m.g
Comparing with F = m.a, we term g the acceleration due to gravity. For a point on
the surface of the earth, the value g with a reasonable accuracy can be taken as 9.81
m/s
2
in SI unit and 32.17ft/sec
2
in U.S. unit





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1.1.3 Newtons laws of Motion
The entire subject of rigid-body mechanics is based on Newtons three laws of
motion.

- Newtons first law: A particle remains
at rest or continues to move with
constant and uniform velocity (in a
straight line with a constant speed) if
there is no unbalanced force acting on it.

- Newtons second law: A particle acted
upon by an unbalanced force F
experiences an acceleration, (a), that has
the same direction as the force and a
magnitude that is directly proportional to
the force.

Mathematically, if F is the applied force to a particle of mass m, then
..(1.1)

- Newtons third law: The forces of
action and reaction between interacting
bodies are equal in magnitude,
opposite in direction, and collinear
(they lie on same line of action).


- Newtons law of gravitation
attraction: It concerns the gravitational
attraction between any two particles. It
states that two particles of mass m
1

and m
2
are mutually attracted with
equal and opposite forces F and F
and the magnitude of F is given
mathematically by:
2
2 1
.
r
m m
G F = ..(1.2)
Where:
F = the gravitation force between the two particles or bodies of masses m
1
and m
2
,
G = the universal constant of gravitation (constant of gravity), according to
experimental evidence, G = 66.73(10
-12
) m
3
/(kg.s
2
),
r = distance between the two particles or bodies






F = m.a
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SI units:
Length in meter = m,
Time in second = s,
Mass in (kilograms) = kg,
Force in Newton = N,

The force unit N is derived from F = m.a. Thus 1 N is equal to a force required to
give 1kg of mass an acceleration of 1m/s
2
(N=kg.m/s
2
). Therefore, a body of mass
1kg has a weight of 9.81N, a 2-kg body weight 19.62 N, and so on.

Prefix:



1.2- Working with vectors

1.2.1- Scalars and Vectors
Scalar: is a quantity that has magnitude only, such as mass, volume, density, speed (i.e.
rpm), length and energy. A positive or negative number characterizes them. In other
words, scalars are quantities that associated with magnitude only.

Vector: A vector is a quantity that has both a magnitude and a direction. Or in other
words, vector quantities possess a magnitude and direction. Examples of vector quantities
are force, displacement, velocity (i.e. m/s), acceleration, moment, and momentum.
Speed is a scalar; it is the magnitude of velocity, which is a vector that is specified by a
direction as well as speed (magnitude).
Vectors are symbolized by boldface letter, such as V, A, B, or

. , , B A V

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Conventions for Equations and diagrams:
A vector is represented graphically by an arrow to define its magnitude, direction,
and sense. The length of the arrow defines the magnitude of the vector, the
direction is defined by the angle between a reference axis, and the arrowhead
indicates the arrows line of action and the sense.

The negative of vector V is a vector -V as shown in the figure having the same magnitude
as V but in opposite direction and lies on the line of V action.

Example 1


1.2.2- Vector Operations
Multiplication and Division of a vector by a scalar:
If A is a vector and a is a scalar, then:
- The product of the vector A by the scalar a = a A

- Magnitude = |a A|

- If a is positive, sense of aA is the same as sense of A

- If a is negative sense of aA, it is opposite to the sense of A

- Negative of a vector is found by multiplying the vector by ( -1 )

- Law of multiplication applies:
- Dividing the vector A by the scalar a = (1/a) A, a 0



Magnitude of Vector = 4 units

Direction of Vector = 20measured
counterclockwise from the horizontal axis

Sense of Vector = Upward and to the right

The point O is called tail of the vector and
the point P is called the tip or head
Scalar multiplication and division
Vector A and its negative counterpart
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Parallelogram law and Triangle law


- A and B are vectors that may be added to form a resultant vector R or vector sum
R = A + B.

Using the Parallelogram law of combination,
It states that: two vectors A and B may be replaced by their equivalent vector R,
and R is a diagonal of the parallelogram that formed by A and B as its sides.
Thus the combination or resultant vector is given by the equation of vector sum as:
R = A + B
Note: R = A + B as vector but not as scalar, i.e. r = a + b


Special case:
For Collinear vectors A and B which they both have the same line of action, the
parallelogram reduces to a simple algebraic or scalar addition, i.e. R = A + B

- Concurrent
Vectors intersect at a particular point

- Coplanar
Vectors lie on same plane
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- Vector Subtraction (a special case of addition)

The resultant difference R' between two vectors A and B may be given as:
R' = A + (-B) = A B

- Resolution of a Vector
A vector may be resolved into two components if their lines of action are known,
and this can be done by using the parallelogram, see the figure below;

1. R is a vector to be resolved into two components A and B acting along the lines a
and b,
2. Extend lines from the head of R parallel to the action lines a and b until
intersection occurs with a and b, as shown in Fig.(a),
3. Draw the two components A and B such that they extend from the tail of R to the
points of intersection.

Special case of vector addition:
Resultant of two parallel noncollinear forces
Resultant of Resultants
Given F
1
and F
2

Draw F and F (arbitrary magnitude and direction, but
equal magnitude, opposite direction and collinear)
Find resultants R
1
and R
2

R is the resultant of F
1
and F
2



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Rectangular components in 2-D

It is usually convenient to deal with vector components, V
1
and V
2
, which are mutually
perpendicular. These components are called rectangular components. V
x
and V
y
are
vector components in x and y direction and V
x'
and V
y'
are the x' and y' vector
components in x' and y' direction.
The direction of the vector V with respect to x-axis is specified by the angle u, where:
x
y
V
V
1
tan

= u

Example:
- F
a
and F
b
are known two forces;
their resultant F
c
can be obtained using
the parallelogram as follows
Draw lines parallel to the chains a and
b from the heads of F
a
and F
b
until
the intersect.

- If F
c
along the chain c is given then
its two components F
a
and F
b
can be
determined in a similar manner by
using the parallelogram law. Here we
must start from the head of F
c
.





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Procedure for analysis:
Addition of two forces can be solved as follows:
(1) Parallelogram Law
Sketching the vector addition by parallelogram law,
1. Adding two component forces (parallelogram) yielding a resultant force that
forms the diagonal of the parallelogram,
2. Resolving a force into its components along two known axes directed from the
tail of the force, construct lines from the head of the force parallel to the axes to
form a parallelogram, then the sides of the parallelogram represent the
components.
3. Label all the known and unknown force magnitudes and the angles.

(2) Trigonometry
1. Redraw a half portion of the
parallelogram to illustrate the triangle
head-to-tail addition of the
components,
2. The magnitude of the resultant force
can be obtained from the laws of
cosines, and its direction is determined
from the law of sines,
3. The magnitudes of two force
components are determined from the
law of sines.




Example 2

The two forces act on a bolt at A.
Determine their resultant.






SOLUTION:
1. Graphical solution - construct a
parallelogram with sides in the same
direction as P and Q and lengths in
proportion. Graphically evaluate the
resultant which is equivalent in direction and
proportional in magnitude to the the
diagonal.

2. Trigonometric solution - use the triangle
rule for vector addition in conjunction with
the law of cosines and law of sines to find
the resultant.
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1. GRAPHICAL SOLUTION:






2. TRIGONOMETRIC 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,

R = 98 N o = 35
ii. A triangle is drawn with P and Q head-to-tail
and to scale. The magnitude and direction of
the resultant or of the third side of the
triangle are measured,

R = 98 N o = 35
Apply the triangle rule. From the Law
of Cosines,



R = 97.73 N



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Example 3


SOLUTION:







1. Parallelogram Law

Unknown: magnitude of
F
R
and angle
2. Trigonometry

Law of Cosines



Law of Sines

Direction of FR measure from the horizontal

The screw eye is subjected to two
forces F
1
and F
2
. Determine the
magnitude and direction of the resultant
force.

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Example 4

The ring is subjected to two forces F1 and F2. If it is
required that the resultant force have a magnitude of
1kN and be directed vertically downward, determine
a) Magnitude of F
1
and F
2
provided = 30, and
b) The magnitudes of F
1
and F
2
if F
2
is to be a
minimum.

SOLUTION:


a) Parallelogram Law
Unknown: Forces F1 and F2









(a)


b) Minimum length of F
2
occur when
its line of action is perpendicular to F
1
.

Hence when

F
2
is a minimum







(c)
From the vector diagram





(d)
Law of Sines




(b)