CLASS PRESENTATION: BUILDING AND STRUCTURAL CONSTRUCTION N5

TOPIC: CENTROIDS AND SECOND MOMENT OF AREA

By the end of the lesson learners should be able to:
• Define terms related to geometric properties of materials.
• Determine the centroid of a planar shape with reference to a
given axis.
• Calculate the moment of inertia of a planar shape with reference
to a given axis.

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CENTRE OF GRAVITY is the point at which the weight or mass of
an object (which has thickness/volume) acts.
CENTROID of an area is the point at which the area may be
considered to be concentrated or where the object is balanced. The
centroid applies to flat / planar ( lamina) objects with negligible
thickness.
NEUTRAL AXIS is simply a line of symmetry that passes through
the centroid. If an with a particular cross section is used as a beam, a
plane that passes through the neutral axis experiences neither
compression nor tension.
SECOND MOMENT OF AREA (I) is the geometrical measure of
how a certain shape resists stresses such as bending, twisting or
rotation. It is also known as moment of inertia.

2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za

2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
• Identify different shapes that make up the compound/
composite shape.
• Find the centroids of those individual shapes from the axis of
interest.
• Compute the areas of the individual shapes.
• Calculate the first moment of area of each shape from a given
reference.
• Centroid is the summation of first moment of area divided by
the sum of areas.
• Tabulate your answers

2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za

2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za
2019 CTU Training Solutions. All Rights Reserved. | ctutraining.ac.za