Department of CE, KITSW U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

1CE AY:2022-23
CDT18 LECTURE SUMMARY

CDT18 Identifying zero force members

Topics Covered

Motivation Analyze the truss members or finding the axial force in members
(Why you
(students) should
learn these topics?)

Lecture Learning Outcomes (LLOs):After completion of this lecture, you should be able to…
LLO1On topic 1
Identify the zero force members for analyzing the truses.

CDT18– Lecture Summary – Key Takeaways

Zero force members in a truss are members which do not have any force in them. There
are two rules that may be used to find zero-force members in a truss. These are
described below and illustrated.

Case 1
At a TWO member joint: If those members are NOT parallel AND there
are no other external loads (or reactions) at the joint THEN both of those
members are zero force members.
Case 2
In a THREE member joint: If TWO of those members ARE parallel AND
there are no other external loads (or reactions) at the joint THEN the
member that is not parallel is a zero force member.

Fig. Examples of zero force members

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 Department of CE, KITSW U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS
1CE AY:2022-23
CDT18 LECTURE SUMMARY
CDT18- LECTURE LEVEL PRACTICE PROBLEMS (LLPs) to test the LLOs
LLP1:How many zero force members are there in the truss shown?.

Figure.1
Ans :The zero force members are BH, DJ, FG and GJ. The members AB, AH and CI are NOT zero
force members because the joints A and I have external loads on them.
LLP2:How many zero force members are there in the truss shown?.

Figure.2
Ans:member CD and BC fall under case 1 of zero-force members. Since member CD is a zero-force
member, member DE is also a zero
Additional LLPs: Practice problems for homework
LLP1.1 (on LLO1)::How many zero force members are there in the truss shown?.

Figure.1.1

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Department of CE, KITSW U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS
1CE AY:2022-23
CDT18 LECTURE SUMMARY
LLP1.2 (on LLO1):
Identify the zero members in given truss as shown in fig.1.2

Figure.1.2

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