An-Najah National University

College of Engineering

Statics-61110
Chapter [6]

Moments of Inertia

Dr. Sameer Shadeed

1 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Chapter Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Define the moments of inertia for an area

2. Determine the moments of inertia for an

area by integration

2 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Applications

Many structural members like

beams and columns have cross
sectional shapes like I, H, C, etc
Why do they usually not have solid
rectangular, square, or circular cross
sectional areas?
What primary property of these
members influences design decisions?
How can we calculate this property?

What parameters of the cross sectional area influence the

designer’s selection?
How can we determine the value of these parameters for a given
area?
3 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Rectangular and Polar Moments of Inertia
For the differential area dA shown
in the figure
The moments of inertia (MoI) of the
element dA about the x- and y-axes
are
dIx = y2dA and dIy = x2dA
The MoI for the entire area A about
the same axes are obtained by
integration

Rectangular MoI

4 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Rectangular and Polar Moments of Inertia
The MoI of dA about the pole O (z-axis) is dIz = r2dA
By integration, the MoI of the entire area about O is
estimated as

Polar MoI

Because r2 = x2 + y2, it is clear that

The MoI is also referred to as the second moment of

area and has units of length to the fourth power (m4 or in4)
5 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Rectangular and Polar Moments of Inertia

The MoI of an element involves the square of

the distance from the inertia axis to the element

Thus an element whose coordinate is negative

contributes as much to the moment of inertia as
does an equal element with a positive coordinate
of the same magnitude

Consequently the area moment of inertia about

any axis is always a positive quantity

6 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Rectangular and Polar Moments of Inertia
In contrast, the first moment of the area, which
was involved in the computations of centroid, could
be either positive, negative, or zero
The choice of the coordinates to use for the
calculation of MoI is important
Rectangular coordinates should be used for
shapes whose boundaries are most easily
expressed in these coordinates
Polar coordinates will usually simplify problems
involving boundaries which are easily described in r
and θ
7 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 The Importance of MoI for Areas
Consider three different possible cross sectional shapes and areas
for the beam AB. All have the same total area and, assuming they are
made of same material, they will have the same mass per unit length
For the given vertical loading P on the beam, which shape will
develop less internal stress and deflection? Why?
The answer depends on the MoI of the beam about the x-axis. It
turns out that section A has the highest MoI because most of the area
is farthest from the x-axis. Hence, it has the least stress and
deflection

8 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Radius of Gyration of An Area
Consider an area A, as shown in figure
a, which has rectangular moments of inertia
Ix, and Iy, and a polar MoI Iz about O
We now visualize this area as
concentrated into a long narrow strip of
area A a distance kx from the x-axis, figure
b
By definition the MoI of the strip about
the x-axis will be the same as that of the
original area if kx2A = Ix
The distance kx is called the radius of
gyration of the area about the x-axis

9 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Radius of Gyration of An Area
A similar relation for the y-axis is written by
considering the area as concentrated into a
narrow strip parallel to the y-axis as shown in
figure c
Also, if we visualize the area as
concentrated into a narrow ring of radius kz as
shown in figure d, we may express the polar
moment of inertia as kz2A = Iz
In summary we write

10 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Radius of Gyration of An Area
The radius of gyration has units of length and gives an
indication of the spread of the area from the axes
This characteristic is important when designing columns
The radius of gyration, then, is a measure of the distribution
of the area from the axis in question
A rectangular or polar moment of inertia may be expressed by
specifying the radius of gyration and the area

Thus, the square of the radius of gyration about a polar axis

equals the sum of the squares of the radius of gyration about the
two corresponding rectangular axes
11 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Transfer of Axes
The MoI of an area about a
noncentroidal axis may be easily
expressed in terms of the MoI
about a parallel centroidal axis
In the shown figure, the xo-yo
axes pass through the centroid C
of the area
Using the so-called parallel-
axis theorem, the MoI of the
area about the x-y axes can be
expressed as

12 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Parallel-axis Theorems
Two points in particular should be noted. First, the axes
between which the transfer is made must be parallel, and second,
one of the axes must pass through the centroid of the area
If a transfer is desired between two parallel axes neither of
which passes through the centroid, it is first necessary to transfer
from one axis to the parallel centroidal axis and then to transfer
from the centroidal axis to the second axis
The parallel-axis theorem also hold for radius of gyration as
follows:

where k is the radius of gyration about a centroidal axis parallel

to the axis about which k applies and d is the distance between
the two axes
13 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Example 1

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 Example 1 (Solution)

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 Example 1 (Solution)

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 Example 2

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 Example 2 (Solution)

18 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 3

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 Example 3 (Solution)

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 Example 4

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 Example 4 (Solution)

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 Example 4 (Solution)

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 Example 5

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 Example 5 (Solution)

25 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Area Moments of Inertia
Composite Areas
It is frequently necessary to calculate the moment of
inertia of an area composed of a number of distinct parts of
simple and calculable geometric shape

Because a moment of
inertia is the integral or sum
of the products of distance
squared times element of
area, it follows that the
moment of inertia of a
positive area is always a
positive quantity

26 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Area Moments of Inertia
Composite Areas

The moment of inertia of a composite area

about a particular axis is therefore simply the sum
of the moments of inertia of its component parts
about the same axis

It is often convenient to regard a composite

area as being composed of positive and negative
parts

We may then treat the moment of inertia of a

negative area as a negative quantity

27 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Composite Areas
Steps For Analysis
1. Divide the given area into its simpler shaped parts
2. Locate the centroid of each “simpler” shaped part and indicate the
perpendicular distance from each centroid to the desired
reference axis
3. The MoI of these “simpler” shaped areas about their centroidal
axes are found inside back cover of the textbook
4. Determine the MoI of each “simpler” shaped part about the
desired reference axis using the parallel-axis theorem
5. When a composite area is composed of a large number of parts,
it is convenient to tabulate the results for each of the parts in
terms of its area A , its centroidal moment of inertia I, the distance
d from its centroidal axis to the axis about which the moment of
inertia of the entire section is being computed, and the product
Ad 2
28 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Composite Areas
Steps For Analysis
6. The MoI of the entire area about the reference axis is determined
by performing an algebraic summation of the individual MoI
obtained in Step 4. (Please note that MoI of a hole is subtracted)

7. From the sums of the four columns, then, the moments of inertia
for the composite area about the x- and y-axes become

29 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Radius of Gyration of A composite Area

Although we may add the moments of inertia of the

individual parts of a composite area about a given axis, we
may not add their radii of gyration

The radius of gyration for the composite area about the

axis in question is given by where I is the total
moment of inertia and A is the total area of the composite
figure

Similarly, the radius of gyration k about a polar axis

through some point equals where , for x-
y axes through that point
30 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed
 Example 6

Compute the moment of inertia for the composite area

shown the figure about the x-axis

31 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 6 (Solution)
Composite Parts. The composite area is obtained by subtracting
the circle from the rectangle as shown in the figure. The centroid
of each area is located in the figure
Parallel-Axis Theorem. The
moments of inertia about the x axis
are determined using the parallel-
axis theorem and the data in the
table on the inside back cover

Circle:

32 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 6 (Solution)

Rectangle:

Summation:

33 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 7

34 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 7 (Solution)

35 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed

 Example 7 (Solution)

36 Statics Notes 2013 [Moments of Inertia] Dr. Sameer Shadeed