ME 165

Basic Mechanical Engineering

Lecture 04

Rigid Bodies –Equivalent System of Forces

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET

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 Introduction
➢ Treatment of a body as a single particle is not always possible. In general, the
size of the body and the specific points of application of the forces must be
considered.
➢ Most bodies in elementary mechanics are assumed to be rigid, i.e., the actual
deformations are small and do not affect the conditions of equilibrium or motion
of the body.
➢ Current chapter describes the effect of forces exerted on a rigid body and how to
replace a given system of forces with a simpler equivalent system.
🠶 moment of a force about a point
🠶 moment of a force about an axis
🠶 moment due to a couple
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 External and Internal Forces
➢ Forces acting on rigid bodies are divided into two groups:
• External forces
• Internal forces

➢ External forces represent the action of other bodies on the rigid body under
consideration. They are entirely responsible for the external behavior of the rigid
body. They will either cause it to move or ensure that it remains at rest.
➢ Internal forces are the forces which hold together the particles forming the rigid
body. If the rigid body is structurally composed of several parts, the forces
holding the component parts together are also defined as internal forces.
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 Vector Product of Two Vectors

🠶 The vector product of two vectors P and Q is defined as the vector 𝑽 which
satisfies the following conditions:
1. The line of action of 𝑽 is perpendicular to the plane containing P and Q (Fig. a)
2. The magnitude of 𝑽 is: V = PQ sin θ
3. The direction of 𝑽 is obtained from the right-hand rule. (Fig. b).
4. Vector products:
🠶 are not commutative, Q × P ≠ P × Q = −(P × Q)
🠶 are distributive, P × 𝑸𝟏 + 𝑸𝟐 = P × 𝑸𝟏 + P × 𝑸𝟐
🠶 are not associative, P × Q × 𝑺 ≠ P × (Q × 𝑺)
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 Vector Product Expressed in terms of
Rectangular Component

𝑽 = 𝑷 × 𝑸 = 𝑃𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑃𝑦 𝒋 + 𝑃𝑧 𝒌 × 𝑄𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑄𝑦 𝒋 + 𝑄𝑧 𝒌
= 𝑃𝑦 𝑄𝑧 − 𝑃𝑧 𝑄𝑦 𝒊 + 𝑃𝑧 𝑄𝑥 − 𝑃𝑥 𝑄𝑧 𝒋 + 𝑃𝑥 𝑄𝑦 − 𝑃𝑦 𝑄𝑥 𝒌

𝒊 𝒋 𝒌
𝑽 = 𝑃𝑥 𝑃𝑦 𝑃𝑧
𝑄𝑥 𝑄𝑦 𝑄𝑧
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 Moment of Force

➢ Moment is a physical quantity that describes

the rotational effect (or rotational tendency)
about an axis produced by a force.
Just like force, moment is also a vector.

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 Moment of Force About a Point

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 Varignon’s Theorem

🠶 If several forces 𝑭𝟏 , 𝑭𝟐 , . . . are applied at the same point A and if we denote by r

the position vector of A, then from the theorem we found that

𝒓 × 𝑭𝟏 + 𝑭𝟐 + ⋯ = 𝒓 × 𝑭 𝟏 + 𝒓 × 𝑭𝟐 + ⋯

🠶 So, the moment about a given point O of the resultant of several concurrent
forces is equal to the sum of the moments of the various forces about the same
point O.
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 Rectangular Components of the Moment of Force
𝒓 = 𝑥𝒊 + 𝑦𝒋 + 𝑧𝒌
𝑭 = 𝐹𝑥 𝒊 + 𝐹𝑦 𝒋 + 𝐹𝑧 𝒌
So now,
𝑴𝒐 = 𝒓 × 𝑭 = 𝑀𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑀𝑦 𝒋 + 𝑀𝑧 𝒌
where, 𝑀𝑥 = 𝑦𝐹𝑧 − 𝑧𝐹𝑦
𝑀𝑦 = 𝑧𝐹𝑥 − 𝑥𝐹𝑧
𝑀𝑧 = 𝑥𝐹𝑦 − 𝑦𝐹𝑥

🠶 We can also write Mo in the form of determinant like:

𝒊 𝒋 𝒌
𝑴𝒐 = 𝑥 𝑦 𝑧
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑧
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 Rectangular Components of the Moment of Force
🠶 General Case:
The moment MB about an arbitrary point B of a force F applied at A

In this case, r is replaced by

This vector is the position vector of A relative to B.

𝒊 𝒋 𝒌
𝑴𝑩 = 𝑥𝐴/𝐵 𝑦𝐴/𝐵 𝑧𝐴/𝐵
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑧

where,

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 Rectangular Components of the Moment of Force
❑ Problem:
A precast concrete wall section is temporarily held by two cables as shown. Knowing that
the tension in cable BD is 900 N, determine the moment about point O of the force exerted
by the cable at B.

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 Rectangular Components of the Moment of Force
❑ Solution:

Ans: M = 1200i-1500j-900k N.m

6/25/2023 Practice: (Ex. 3.25, 3.21) 12
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