Force System Resultants

Moment of a Force—Scalar Formulation

When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for the body to rotate about a point that is not on the line of action
of the force. This tendency to rotate is sometimes called a torque, but most often it is called the moment of a force or simply
the moment.
Magnitude

Direction
Right-hand rule

As illustrated by the example problems, the moment of a

force does not always cause a rotation. For example, the
force F tends to rotate the beam clockwise about its
support at A with a moment MA = FdA. The actual rotation
Resultant Moment would occur if the support at B were removed.
Example
For each case illustrated in Fig., determine
the moment of the force about point O.
Cross Product Direction. Vector C has a direction that is perpendicular to
the plane containing A and B such that C is specified by the
Cross Product
right-hand rule; i.e., curling the fingers of the right hand
Magnitude from vector A (cross) to vector B, the thumb points in the
Cartesian Vector Formulation direction of C.
Laws of Operation.
Moment of a Force—Vector Formulation Cartesian Vector Formulation
Vector Formulation

Principle of Transmissibility
Resultant Moment of a System of Forces
Magnitude
Example Determine the moment produced by the force F in Fig. About point O. Express the result as a Cartesian
vector.
Principle of Moments (Varignon’s theorem )
The moment of a force about a
point is equal to the sum of
the moments of the components
of the force about the point.
Example Determine the moment of the force about point O.
Moment of a Force about a Specified Axis
Determine the resultant moment of the
three forces in Fig. About the x axis, the y
axis, and the z axis.
Moment of a Couple
A couple is defined as two parallel forces that have the
same magnitude, but opposite directions, and are separated
by a perpendicular distance d

The moment produced by a couple is

called a couple moment
Example Determine the resultant couple moment of the three couples acting
on the plate in Fig.
Simplification of a Force and Couple System
Simplification of a Force and Couple System
Example Replace the force and couple system shown in Fig. by an equivalent resultant force and couple moment acting
at point O.

Force Summation.

Moment Summation
 Coplanar Force System
Further Simplification of a
Force and Couple System

Concurrent Force System

Parallel Force System

Reduction to a Wrench
Example
Replace the force and couple moment system acting on the beam in Fig. by an equivalent resultant force, and find where its
line of action intersects the beam, measured from point O.
Reduction of a Simple Distributed Loading
Example
Determine the resultant force and specify where it acts on the beam measured from A.
𝑆 = 𝑞𝑎 𝑞 𝑞0
𝑆 = 0.5𝑞0 𝑎
𝐶 𝐶
𝐵 𝐵
𝐴 𝐴
𝑎 𝑎

𝑃 = 𝑆 = 𝑞𝑎 𝑃 = 𝑆 = 0.5𝑞0 𝑎

𝐵 𝐵
𝐴 𝐴
𝑎/2 𝑎/2 𝑎/3 2𝑎/3