‫ﺑﺴﻢ ﷲ اﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦ اﻟﺮﺣﯿﻢ‬

STATICS
(ENGINEERING MECHANICS-I)

LECTURE #19
Center of Gravity and Centroid

By

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Contents
2

 Objectives of the present lecture

 Center of gravity
 Center of mass
 Centroid
 Problems
 A real life application
 Further reading

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Objectives of the Present lecture
3

 To discuss the concept of the center of gravity, center of mass,

and the centroid.
 To illustrate through examples how to determine the location of
the centroid of various geometrical shapes.

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Center of Gravity
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 The point at which resultant of gravity

forces act, is known as Center of
Gravity.
 A body is composed of an infinite
number of particles of differential size.
 If these particles have a weight dW,
they will approximately form a parallel
force system, and the resultant of this
system is the total weight of the body
W.
 This weight will pass through a single W  dw   dw
point which is the center of gravity G.

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Center of Gravity (Contd.)
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The moment of the resultant force W about any axis equals to
the sum of the moments of the weights dw about the same axis.
Equating the moments about the y - axis : x W  xdw   xdw

Equating the moments about the x - axis : yW  ydw   ydw

Rotating the axes by 90 about the y - axis and then
equating the moments about the y - axis : z W  zdw   zdw

 The C.G. with respect to the x, y, and z axes is

 xdw  ydw  zdw

x ; y ; z
W W W
GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017
 Center of Mass
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If gravity field is treated as uniform and parallel, g is constant.
W  mg ; dw  ( dm) g
This expression contain no
The expression for C.G. modifies to : reference to gravitational
effects since g no longer
g  xdm g  ydm g  zdm appears. Therefore, it defines a
x ; y ; z unique point in the body which
gm gm gm
is a function solely of the
 xdm  ydm  zdm distribution of mass. This point
x ; y ; z is known as the CENTER OF
m m m MASS, and clearly it coincides
It is meaningless to speak of the center of with the center of gravity as
gravity of a body that is removed from the long as the gravity field is
earth’s gravitational field, since no uniform and parallel.
gravitational forces would act on the body.
The body would, however, still possess its
unique center of mass.
GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017
 Centroid of a Volume
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If density ρ of a body is uniform throughout:
m  V ; dm  (dV ) 
This expression contain no
The expression for C.M. modifies to : reference to mass properties.
Therefore, it defines a unique
  xdV   ydV   zdV point in the body which is a
x ; y ; z function solely of the
V V V
geometrical property of the
 xdV  ydV  zdV body. This point is known as
x ; y ; z the CENTROID.
V V V
The term centroid is used
If the density is uniform throughout the when the calculation concerns
body, the positions of the centroid and a geometrical shape only.
center of mass are identical, whereas if When speaking of an actual
the density varies, these two points will, in physical body, we use term
general, not coincide. center of mass.
GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017
 Centroid of a line (e.g. a rod)
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If density ρ and cross section Area of a body is uniform
throughout (e.g. in a rod)
V  AL; dV  A(dL)
The expression for Centroid modifies to :
A xdL A ydL A zdL
x ; y ; z
AL AL AL
 xdL  ydL  zdL
x ; y ; z
L L L

It should be noted that, in general, the

centroid C do not lie on the line.

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Centroid of an Area
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If density ρ and thickness of a body is uniform throughout.

V  tA; dV  t (dA)
The expression for Centroid modifies to :
t  xdA t  ydA t  zdA
x ; y ; z
tA tA tA
 xdA  ydA  zdA
x ; y ; z
A A A

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Note (for a regular shaped body)
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 Centroid of a line or area would lie somewhere on a

line of symmetry.
 If there are two (or more) lines of symmetries,
centroid would lie on their intersection.
 For a volume, centroid would lie on a plane of
symmetry.
 If there are two (or more) planes of symmetries in a
volume, centroid would lie on a line created by their
intersections.

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Centroidal coordinate of the element
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Sometimes in the calculation of centroid it is more convenient to use

the coordinate of the centroid of the element for the moment arm in
expressing the moment of the differential element.

The moment of dA about y-axis = xcdA

The moment of dA about x-axis = ycdA
where xc , yc = x- and y- coordinates of the centroid C of the element.

Difference between ( x,y ) and ( xc ,yc ) :

x and y describe either boundary of the area, whereas xc , yc
represent centroidal coordinate of the element.
In the present case :
xc  x
yc  y

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Contd.
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The expression for Centroid modifies to :

For area object :

 x dA
c  y dA
c  z dA
c
x ; y ; z
A A A

In this case :
xc  x For volume object :
zc  z x dV y dV z dV
x
 c
; y
 ;
c
z
 c

V V V

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Problem-1
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Locate the centroid of a circular arc as shown in the figure.

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Solution
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Since x - axis is the axis of symmetry, centroid would lie on the x - axis.That is


 xdL r cos (rd )

 2r sin 
x x x and y  0
L 2r 2

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Problem-2
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Locate the centroid of a half and quarter-circular arcs using the formula
derived in Problem-1.
Solution
For a semicircular arc 2    x  2r / 
Line of
symmetry
For a quarter - circular arc :
Along the line of symmetry :
2r sin  2r sin 450 4r / 2 2r 2
x   
2 2  ( / 4)  
Along the vertical axis :
2r 2 1 2r
x sin 450   
 2 

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Problem-3
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Locate the centroid of the volume of a hemisphere of radius

r with respect to its base.

GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017

 Solution
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x  z  0 (By symmetry)
Element chosen : a circular slice of thickness dy, parallel to x - z plane.
Since the hemishpere intersects the y - z plane in the circle, y 2  z 2  r 2 , the
radius of the circular slice is, z  r 2  y 2
dV  z 2 dy  dV   (r 2  y 2 )dy; yc  y
r r
2 2 2 2

 y dV
c
 y (r  y )dy
0

0
y ( r  y )dy
y y r
y r
V 2
 dV   (r  y 2 )dy
0 0

1 4
r 3
y 4 y r
2 3 8
r
3
GE 201: Dr. N. A. Siddiqui 5/27/2017
 Locating the center of gravity: Real Life Application
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This video shows an

interesting experiment
related to finding the
center of gravity.

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Further Reading
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Read more about the Center of gravity and centroid from:

R.C. Hibbeler, Engineering Mechanics: Statics, Twelfth Edition in SI

Units, Chapter 9, Center of gravity and Centroid, pp. 447-493.

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017

 Thank You
20

GE 201: Dr. Nadeem A. Siddiqui May 27, 2017