RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

TROY, NY

EXAM NO. 1 INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING ANALYSIS

(ENGR-1100)
September 21, 2005
8:00 – 9:30 AM

NAME: ______________________________ SECTION: _________

RIN: _______________________________

INSTRUCTOR: _______________________________

Problem Points Score

1 25
2 25
3 25
4 25
Total 100

1 – of - 4
Problem 1 (25 Points)

A horizontal circular plate is suspended as shown from three wires which are attached to a support D.
Each wire forms a 30° angle with the vertical. If the magnitude of the force in wire CD is 120 N:
a) Find the direction cosines, cos θx, cos θy, and cos θz, for that force.
b) Write the force in wire CD in rectangular Cartesian (vector) form.

Solution:

3CD
a) The Y-component of CD is CD cos 30! = N = 103.92N 3 pts
2
The component of CD along line OC = CD sin (30! )= 60N 3 pts
The X-component of CD = OC cos (120! )= !30N 4 pts
The Z-component of CD = OC sin (120! )= 51.96N 4 pts
" y is given = 30! ,cos (" y )= 0.866 2 pts
CD x !30
cos ("x ) = = = !0.25 3 pts
CD 120
CD y 51.96
cos (" y )= = = 0.433 3 pts
CD 120
b) CD = 120 (- 0.25i + 0.866j + 0.433k ) N
= (-30i + 103.92j + 51.96k ) N 3 pts

2 – of - 4
Problem 2 (25 Points)

Suppose a force analysis of a particle in equilibrium produced the following system of equations:
4FC ! 3FB = 500
0.866FA + 0.707FB ! FC = 0
!0.707FB + 0.5FA = 50

Solve this system of linear equations using the Gauss-Jordan Elimination method.
a) Show the augmented matrix
b) Use elementary row operations to obtain the reduced row echelon form
c) Write the solution for the three forces (using 3 significant digits), FA, FB, & FC

NOTE: Show all work and calculations.

" 0 !3 4 500 %
$ '
$0.866 0.707 !1 0 ' Augmented matrix
$ 0.5 !0.707 0 50 '
# &

"0.866 0.707 !1 0 %
$ '
$ 0 !3 4 500 ' Swap 1st and 2nd rows
$ 0.5 !0.707 0 50 '
# &
" 1 0.8165 !1.155 0 %
$ '
$0 !3 4 500 ' Multiply 1st row by 1.155 and 3rd row by -2
$ !1 1.414 0 !100 '&
#
" 1 0.8165 !1.155 0 %
$ '
$0 !3 4 500 ' Replace 3rd row with sum of 1st and 3rd rows
$0 2.231 !1.155 !100 '
# &
" 1 0.8165 !1.155 0 %
$ '
$0 1 !1.333 !166.67 ' Multiply 2nd row by - and 3rd by 0.448
$0 !1 0.5177 44.823 '&
#
" 1 0.8165 !1.155 0 %
$ '
$0 1 !1.333 !166.67 ' Replace 3rd row with sum of 2nd and 3rd rows
$0 0 !0.8156 !121.844 '&
#

3 – of - 4
" 1 0.8165 !1.155 0 %
$ '
$0 1 !1.333 !166.67 ' Multiply 3rd row by -1.224 (this is echelon form)
$0 0 1 149.4 '&
#
" 1 0 !0.0663 136.1 %
$ '
$0 1 !1.333 !166.67 ' Multiply 2nd row by –0.8165 & add to 1st row
$0 0 1 149.4 '&
#
" 1 0 !0.0663 136.1%
$ '
$0 1 0 32.5 ' Multiply 3rd row by –1.333 & add to 2nd row
$0 0 1 149.4 '&
#
! 1 0 0 146 $
# &
#0 1 0 32.5 & Multiply 2nd row by –0.816 & add to 1st row
#0 0 1 149.4 &
" %

FA = 146
FB = 32.5 Note: rounding differences may produce slightly different answers
FC = 149
Accept answers within ±1 unit of force. Exact order of steps given above
is not the only correct way to solve this problem.

4 – of - 4