Statics of Rigid Bodies

Lesson 1
Fundamentals of Statics of Rigid Body
TOPICS
1. Introduction to Statics of Rigid Body
2. Component of a Force
3. Moment of a Force
4. Couple
5. Resultant of Concurrent Force System
6. Resultant of Parallel Force System
7. Resultant of Non-concurrent force system

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
 Understand the principle engineering mechanics particularly the statics of rigid body
 Discuss how component of force is evaluated
 Differentiate moment of a force to couple
 Determine the resultant and component of force for parallel, concurrent and non-concurrent
force system

TOPIC 1: Introduction to Statics of Rigid Body

BodyBodies

Engineering Mechanics is the branch of science that deals with the behaviour of a body
when the body is in state of motion or at rest. In general, engineering mechanics is divided into
Statics and Dynamics. Statics deals with the study of a body when it is at rest while Dynamics deals
with the study of the body in motion. Further, dynamics is divided into kinetics and kinematics. The
study of body in motion when the forces causing the motion is not considered is known as kinematics
while kinetics considered the effect of forces on a body while in motion. Figure 1 shows the
classification of engineering mechanics

ENGINEERING MECHANICS

Statics Dynamics
(body at rest) (body in motion)

Kinematics Kinetics

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Definitions:
In order to understand the concept of Statics f Rigid Bodies, the following terms will be defined
first:
 Vector Quantity – A quantity defined by its magnitude and direction. Some examples of
vector quantities are velocity, acceleration, force and momentum. A vector quantity is
represented by a straight line with arrow that shows its magnitude and direction. The
length of the line is the magnitude while the arrow shows the direction of the vector
quantity.

50KN due east

 Scalar Quantity – a quantity defined by its magnitude only; examples are mass, length,
time and temperature.
Ex. 50g

 Rigid Body is a combination of a large number of particles in which all the particles remain
at a fixed distance from one another, both before and after applying a load.

Example: a box, a crate or any object under analysis

 Particle is a representative of the body (whole) which has a mass but the size can be
neglected.
Example: nucleus

 External or applied force is anything which changes or tends to change the state of
motion of a body. While Internal Force is the force within the body as a result of the
applied force. In statics, the sum of internal and external forces must be equal to zero, or
the body should be in equilibrium state.

 Coplanar forces are forces that are acting on the

same plane.

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

 Collinear Forces are

forces whose line of
action lie on the same line.

 Concurrent Forces are forces whose line of action are

passing through a common point

 Parallel Force are forces in the same direction whose lines

of action never meet.

 Non-coplanar forces are forces whose

line of action do not lie on the same plane
but they meet at one point

 Resultant Force is the equivalent single force that represents a system of forces.

 Equilibrant Force is also known as the balancing force which has the same magnitude as
the resultant force but in opposite direction.

TOPIC 2: Component of a force

Forces acting with some angle of inclination with the coordinate axes can be resolved to its x and
y.

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Component of a force in x-y plane

Such that:
𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑥 = 𝐹 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃𝑦
𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃𝑥 = 𝐹 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃𝑦

2
𝐹 = √(𝐹𝑥 )2 + (𝐹𝑦 )

𝐹𝑦
tan 𝜃𝑥 =
𝐹𝑥

Given the slope of the line of action: vertical/horizontal

𝑟 = √(𝑣)2 + (ℎ)2
ℎ
𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹 ( )
𝑟
𝑣
𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹 ( )
𝑟
Components of a force in 3D Space

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Given the direction cosines of the force:

𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑥
𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑦
𝐹𝑧 = 𝐹 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑧
2
𝐹 = √(𝐹𝑥 )2 + (𝐹𝑦 ) + (𝐹𝑧 )2

𝐹𝑥
cos 𝜃𝑥 =
𝐹
𝐹𝑦
cos 𝜃𝑦 =
𝐹
𝐹𝑧
cos 𝜃𝑧 =
𝐹

Given the coordinates of any two points along the line of action of the force (with reference to the
figure shown, one of the points is the origin):

Where d = OB

𝑑 = √𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2
𝑥
𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹 ( )
𝑑
𝑦
𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹 ( )
𝑑
𝑧
𝐹𝑧 = 𝐹 ( )
𝑑

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Example 1:
Determine the x and y components of the given forces as shown.

Solution:

𝐹1𝑥 = 𝐹1 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = 58𝐾𝑁 cos 30° = 𝟓𝟎. 𝟐𝟐𝟗𝟓𝑲𝑵

𝐹1𝑦 = 𝐹1 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 58𝐾𝑁 sin 30° = 𝟐𝟗. 𝟎 𝑲𝑵

𝐹2𝑥 = 𝐹2 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = 50𝐾𝑁 cos 45° = 𝟑𝟓. 𝟑𝟓𝟓𝟑 𝑲𝑵

𝐹2𝑦 = 𝐹2 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 50𝐾𝑁 cos 45° = −𝟑𝟓. 𝟑𝟓𝟓𝟑 𝑲𝑵

ℎ 5
𝐹3𝑥 = 𝐹3 ( 𝑟 ) = 45𝐾𝑁 (13) = −𝟏𝟕. 𝟑𝟎𝟕𝟕 𝑲𝑵
𝑣 12
𝐹3𝑦 = 𝐹3 (𝑟 ) = 45𝐾𝑁 (13) = −𝟒𝟏. 𝟓𝟑𝟖𝟓𝑲𝑵

𝐹4𝑥 = 𝐹4 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = 40𝐾𝑁 cos 0° = 𝟒𝟎. 𝟎 𝑲𝑵

𝐹4𝑦 = 𝐹4 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 40𝐾𝑁 sin 0° = 𝟎

Example 2:
Determine the angle between vector A and the y- axis.

Solution:
𝐴𝑥𝑦 = 𝐴 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 𝐴 sin 30˚
= 0.5 𝐴

𝐴𝑦 = 𝐴𝑥𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 𝐴𝑥𝑦 sin 40˚

= 0.5 𝐴 (𝑠𝑖𝑛40°)
= 0.321 𝐴

𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃𝑦 = 0.321

𝜃𝑦 = 71.3˚

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Example 3:
The triangular block shown is subjected to the loads P = 1600 lb and F = 600 lb. If AB = 8 in.
and BC = 6 in., resolve each load into components normal and tangential to AC.

Solution:

θ
10 6
8

6 8
𝐹𝑛 = 𝐹 sin 𝜃 = 600(10) 𝑃𝑛 = 𝑃 cos 𝜃 = 1600(10)
𝑭𝒏 = 𝟑𝟔𝟎𝒍𝒃 𝑷𝒏 = 𝟏𝟐𝟖𝟎𝒍𝒃
8 6
𝐹𝑡 = 𝐹 cos 𝜃 = 600(10) 𝑃𝑡 = 𝑃 cos 𝜃 = 1600(10)
𝑭𝒏 = 𝟒𝟖𝟎𝒍𝒃 𝐏𝐭 = 𝟗𝟔𝟎𝐥𝐛

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Statics of Rigid Bodies

Exercises 1.1
1. Determine the x and y components of the given system of forces.

2. Three forces act on a point: 3 N at 0°, 4 N at 90°, and 5 N at 217°. Determine the x and y
components of each force.

3. A block is resting on an incline of slope 5 vertical and 12 horizontal as

shown. It is subjected to a force F = 500 N on a slope of 3 and 4.
Determine the components of F parallel and perpendicular to the incline.

4. The body on the 30° incline is acted upon by a force P inclined

at 20° with the horizontal. If P is resolved into components
parallel and perpendicular to incline and the value of the parallel
component is 1800 N, compute the value of the perpendicular
component and that of P.

5. If the force F is resolved into components parallel to the bars AB and BC, the magnitude of the
component parallel to bar BC is 4 kN. What are the magnitudes of F and its component parallel to
AB?