Equivalent Force

Systems
 Objectives

At the end of the lesson, you should be

able to:
• Compute the resultant of any force
system.
resultant of two moment
or more vectors of a force

resultant of a force system

 Outline

MOMENT
R § Moment of a force
- Moment of a force about a point
- Moment of a force about a line
R § Moment of a couple
F § Equivalent force systems
§ Equivalent force systems.

Air pressure distribution

on the bottom and top
surfaces of the wing

Single "equivalent" force,

with appropriate position.
Principle of transmissibility of a force:
The external effects on a rigid body (e.g., reactions,
accelerations, etc.) are unchanged when a force applied to a
particular point is applied to any other point on the force’s
line of action.

FR is the resultant force of all external forces applied to an object.

M R is the resultant moment of all external forces and moments
applied to an object.

The above are equivalent

force systems.
Illustration: Replace the force F applied at point A by an

equivalent force system at point B. Since M B
is free vector,
it may be positioned
anywhere.

All of the above force systems are equivalent.

Two force systems are equivalent if:

Or, more explicitly, two force systems are equivalent if:

 Our focus in this section is the
construction of systems of
equivalent EXTERNAL forces
(this excludes reactions, forces
supported by cables, bars,
etc.).
 Newton's laws for a rigid body
Consider a body in 2-D:

 F  ma
x x
As long as the left-
hand sides of these
 F  ma
y y
equations are the same,
the solutions on the
 M  I right-hand sides will be
the same.


F  0
x  F x
ext
  Fxint   Fxreactions

F  0
y  F y
ext
  Fyint   Fyreactions

M  0  M ext
  M int   M reactions
1: Determine an equivalent force system at point A.
1: Determine an equivalent force system at point A.

STEP 1: Find the resultant Force

 Fx  800 N  400 N sin 30

 Fx  600 N
Rx  600 N

 Fy  600 N  400 N cos 30

 Fy  946.41 N
R y  946.41 N
1: Determine an equivalent force system at point A.

STEP 1: Find the resultant Force

2 2
R  Rx  R y
R  600   946.41
2 2

R  1120 .6 N

1 946.41
  tan
600
  57.63 
 1: Determine an equivalent force system at point A.
STEP 2: Find the resultant
moment at point A

 M A  800 N 0.1m   600 N 0.15m   400 cos 300.15m   90 Nm

M A  131.96 Nm
1: Determine an equivalent force system at point A.
STEP 3: Express the equivalent force system.
Replace all forces and moment by a single force
and single moment at point A

MA=131.96 Nm

57.63o

R=1120.6 N
This means that the following systems
are equivalent
2: The object shown consists of a thick
rectangular plate with an L-shaped bar.
Determine an equivalent force system that acts
at point E.
2: The object shown consists of a thick rectangular plate with an L-
shaped bar. Determine an equivalent force system that acts at point E.

STEP 1: Find the resultant Force

 Fx  80lb
 Fy  40lb
 Fz  50lb

 
   
R  80i  40 j  50k lb
2: The object shown consists of a thick rectangular plate with an L-
shaped bar. Determine an equivalent force system that acts at point E.
STEP 2a: Find position vectors from point E to each force

For the 50 lb :

𝒓𝑬𝑪 = −𝟓𝒊 + 𝟖𝒋 𝒊𝒏

For the 80 lb :

𝒓𝑬𝑨 = 𝟓𝒊 − 𝟖𝒋 𝒊𝒏

For the 40 lb :
𝒓𝑬𝑩 = 𝟖𝒋 𝒊𝒏
2: The object shown consists of a thick rectangular plate with an L-
shaped bar. Determine an equivalent force system that acts at point E.
STEP 2a: Find position vectors from point E to each force

STEP 2b: Use cross product to solve for moment of each force
about point E
  
i j k
 
   
rEC F 50 lb  5 8 0   400i  250 j lb in
0 0  50
  
i j k
 
  
rEA F 80 lb 5  8 0  640 k lb in
80 0 0
  
i j k
 
rEB F 40 lb 0 1 0 0
2: The object shown consists of a thick rectangular plate with an L-
shaped bar. Determine an equivalent force system that acts at point E.
STEP 2a: Find position vectors from point E to each force

STEP 2b: Use cross product to solve for moment of each force
about point E

STEP 2c: Simply combine all x, y and z components of each moment to get the resultant

 
  
M E   400  700 i  250 j  640k lb in

 
  
M E   1100 i  250 j  640k lb in
STEP 3: Express the equivalent force system.
Replace all forces and moment by a single
force and single moment at point E

 
  
M E   1100 i  250 j  640k lb in

 
   
R  80i  40 j  50k lb *Dimensions are not drawn to scale
 Some special force systems

• Concurrent force system.

• Coplanar force system.
• Parallel force system.
• Wrench (screw) force system.
• Concurrent force system:
All forces intersect at a common point, and there are no moments.
• Coplanar force system.

All forces lie in the same plane, and all moments are
perpendicular to that plane.
• Parallel force system.

All forces are parallel, and all moments are perpendicular to

the direction of the forces.
• Wrench (screw) force system.

The resultant force and resultant moment have the same

direction (or opposite direction).