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Force Systems (2D) 1/7

▪ Types of forces [2]

▪ Principle of transmissibility of a force [4]

▪ Force components [5]

▪ Example 1 (components) [6]

▪ Example 2 (resultants) [8]

AMC511S – Engineering Mechanics 114 (Statics) | Andrew Zulu

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Types of forces 2/7

> Contact, remote, body (weight) | Internal, external | Action/reaction (active/reactive)

> Parallel – uni/bi-directional
> Colinear – same straight line
> Concurrent – meeting at a point
> Coplanar – same plane (2D)
> Spatial – not in same plane (3D)
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Principle of transmissibility of a force 3/7

> Point of application of a force can be anywhere on the line of action - same resultant
effects!
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Force components (2D) 4/7

> General (vector sum): 𝐹റ = 𝐹റ𝑥 + 𝐹റ𝑦 ; 𝐹റ = 𝐹𝑥 𝑖Ƹ + 𝐹𝑦 𝑗Ƹ

> Rectangular (orthogonal) - scalar components:

𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹𝑐𝑜𝑠α; 𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹𝑠𝑖𝑛α; 𝐹 = 𝐹𝑥2 + 𝐹𝑦2 ; α = tan−1 (𝐹𝑦 /𝐹𝑥 )

> Acute/obtuse angle – sine or cosine rule
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝐹
= = ; 𝐹 2 = 𝐹𝑥2 + 𝐹𝑦2 − 2 𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑠β
𝑠𝑖𝑛γ 𝑠𝑖𝑛α 𝑠𝑖𝑛β
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Force components – example 1 5/7

Example 1 (Components): Force F has a magnitude of 75 N and angle 𝛼 = 35°. Determine

its components in the (a) rectangular x-y axes (b) non-rectangular y-h axes.
Solution: (a) 𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹𝑐𝑜𝑠α = 75𝑐𝑜𝑠35° = 61.4 𝑁; 𝐹𝑥 = −75𝑠𝑖𝑛35° = −43.0 𝑁
75 𝐹ℎ 𝐹𝑦
(b) Law of sines: = = ⇒ 𝐹ℎ = 75𝑠𝑖𝑛35° = 86.0 𝑁; 𝐹𝑦 =
75sin(180−30−35)°
= 135.9 N.
𝑠𝑖𝑛30° 𝑠𝑖𝑛35° 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽 𝑠𝑖𝑛30° 𝑠𝑖𝑛30°
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Force resultants 6/7

> (Vector) sum that reduces

system to its simplest
> Via orthogonal axes /
loop closure
𝑅 = 𝐹റ1 + 𝐹റ2 + 𝐹റ3 + ⋯ = σ 𝐹;
𝑅𝑥 = σ 𝐹𝑥 ; 𝑅𝑦 = σ 𝐹𝑦 ;

𝑅= 𝑅𝑥2 + 𝑅𝑦2 ;

θ = tan−1 (𝑅𝑦 /𝑅𝑥 )

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Force resultants – example 2 7/7

Example 2 (Resultants): Determine the resultant of the two forces shown and the angle it
makes with the x-axis. The 6-kN force is acting horizontally.
Solution: 𝑅𝑥 = 6𝑐𝑜𝑠30° − 4𝑐𝑜𝑠50° = 2.625 𝑁; 𝑅𝑦 = 6𝑠𝑖𝑛30° + 4𝑠𝑖𝑛50° = 6.064 𝑁

.𝑅 = 𝑅𝑥2 + 𝑅𝑦2 = 2.6252 + 6.0642 = 6.61 𝑁

. 𝜃 = tan−1 𝑅𝑅𝑦𝑥 = tan−1 6.064

2.625
= 66.6°