FORCE SYSTEM

Rigid body A rigid body is defined as a definite quantity of matter, the parts of which are fixed in
position relative to each other. Physical bodies are never absolutely but deform slightly under the
action of loads. If the deformation is negligible as compared to its size, the body is termed as
rigid.

Force is the term assigned to mechanical interaction between bodies. A force can affect both the
motion and the deformation of the body on which it acts. Forces may arise from direct contact
between bodies, or they may be applied at a distance (such as gravitational attraction).

The three quantities required to completely define force are called its specification or
characteristics. So the characteristics of a force are:
1. Magnitude
2. Point of application
3. Direction of application

A force may be moved anywhere along its line of action without changing its external effects on
a rigid body

Force is a fixed Vector In case of rigid bodies, line of action of force is important (not its point of
application if we are interested in only the resultant external effects of the force), we will treat
most forces as

External effect: Forces applied (applied force); Forces exerted by bracket, bolts, Foundation
(reactive force)

Internal effect: Deformation, strain pattern – permanent strain; depends on material properties
of bracket, bolts, etc.

Principle of Transmissibility

When dealing with the mechanics of a rigid body, we ignore deformations in the body and concern
ourselves with only the net external effects of external forces. In such cases, experience shows
us that it is not necessary to restrict the action of an applied force to a given point. For example,
the force P action on the rigid plate in Fig.2 may be applied at A or at B or at any other point on
its line of action, and the net external effects of P on the bracket will not change. The external
effect are the force exerted on the plate by the bearing support at 0 and the force exerted on the
plate by the roller support at C. This conclusion is summarized by the principle of transmissibility,
which states that a force may be applied at any point on its given line of action without altering
the resultant effects of the force external to the rigid body on which it acts. Thus, whenever we
are interested in only the resultant external effects of force, the force may be treated as a sliding
vector, and we need specify only the magnitude, direction, and line of action of the force, and
not its point of application.

Force Classification

A. Contact Force-is produced by direct physical contact; an example is the force exerted on
a body a supporting surface.

B. Body Force- is generated by virtue of the position of a body within a force field such as A
gravitational, electric, or magnetic field. An example of a body force is your weight.

Concurrent Force- Forces are said to be concurrent at a point if their lines of action intersect at
that point.

Consider the forces F1, F2, F3, . . . acting on the rigid body in Fig. 2.3(a) (for convenience, only
three of the forces are shown). All the forces are concurrent at point O. (Their lines of action
intersect at O.) These forces can be reduced to a single, equivalent force by the following two
steps.
 1. Move the forces along their lines of action to the point of concurrency O, as indicated in
Fig. 2.3(b). According to the principle of transmissibility, this operation does not change
the external effects on the body. Therefore, the force systems in Figs. 2.3(a) and (b) are
equivalent, which is indicated by the equal sign between the figures.
2. With the forces now at the common point O, compute their resultant R from the vector
sum
R = ∑ 𝐹 = F1 + F2 + F3 +···

This resultant, which is also equivalent to the original force system, is

shown in Fig. 2.3(c) together with its rectangular components. Note that Eq.
(2.1) determines only the magnitude and direction of the resultant. The line of
action of R must pass through the point of concurrency O in order for the
equivalence to be valid.

Rectangular Components
Rx =𝛴Fx Ry = 𝛴Fy Rz = = 𝛴 Fz

SAMPLE PROBLEMS

1.