CONCURRENT FORCE

SYSTEM
Ireneo A. Cortez
 OBJECTIVES
• To understand the basic characteristics of forces
• To understand the classification of force systems  To understand
some force principles
• To know how to obtain the resultant of forces in 2D and 3D systems
• To know how to obtain the components of forces in 2D and 3D
systems
 INTRODUCTION

A force system is a collection of forces acting at specified locations (may also include
couples). Thus the set of forces shown on any free body diagram make up a force
system. Force system is simply a term used to describe a group of forces.
We used the free body diagram as a graphical illustration to visualize the applied
forces, moments, and resulting reactions on a body in a given condition.
The concept of forces is fundamental for solving statics and dynamics problems. If we
know the forces that are acting on an object we can determine how it moves.
Conversely, if we know how an object moves we can calculate the forces acting on it.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF FORCES
 Force: Vector with magnitude and direction
 Magnitude – a positive numerical value
representing the size or amount of the force

 Directions – the slope and the sense of a line

segment used to represent the force
– Described by angles or dimensions
– A negative sign usually represents opposite direction
 Point of application
– A point where the force is applied
– A line of action = a straight line extending through
the point of application in the direction of the force.
• The force is a physical quantity that needs to be represented
using a mathematical quantity
EXAMPLE

direction j
i
1000N

α magnitude

Point of application
Line of action
VECTOR TO REPRESENT FORCE
u A vector is the mathematical representation that best
describes a force

u A vector is characterized by its magnitude and

direction/sense

u Math operations and manipulations of vectors can be

used in the force analysis
 FREE, SLIDING, AND FIXED VECTORS
 Vectors have magnitudes, slopes, and senses, and lines of
application.

 A free vector
– The application line does not pass a certain point in space
 A sliding vector
– The application line passes a certain point in space
 A fixed vector
– The application line passes a certain point in space
– The application point of the vector is fixed.
 VECTOR/FORCE NOTATION
u The symbol representing the force è bold face or underlined
letters

u The magnitude of the force è lightface (in the text book, +

italic)

A=|A| OR A=|A|
 CLASSIFICATION OF FORCES

Based on the characteristic of the interacting bodies:

– Contacting vs. Non-contacting forces
Surface force (contacting force)
– Examples:
• » Pushing/pulling force
• » Frictions
Body force (non-contacting force)
– Examples:
• » Gravitational force
• » Electromagnetic force
 CLASSIFICATION OF FORCES

 Based on the area (or volume) over

which the force is acting – Distributed
vs. Concentrated forces

 Distributed force
– The application area is relatively large
compare to the whole loaded body
– Uniform vs. Non-uniform

 Concentrated force
– The application area is relatively small
compare to the whole loaded body
 WHAT IS A FORCE SYSTEM?
 A number of forces (in 2D or 3D
system) that is treated as a group:
 A concurrent force system
– All of the action lines intersect at a
common point
 A coplanar force system
– All of the forces lie in the same
plane
 A parallel force system
– All of the action lines are parallel
 A collinear force system
– All of the forces share a common
line of action
 THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
EFFECTS
• A force exerted on the body has two
effects:
– External effects
• » Change of motion
• » Resisting forces (reactions)
– Internal effects
• » The tendency of the body to deform è develop strain,
stresses
– If the force system does not produce change of motion
• » The forces are said to be in balance
• » The body is said to be in (mechanical) equilibrium
 THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
EFFECTS

Example 1: The body changes in motion

a
F
Not fixed, no (horizontal) support

Example 2: The body deforms and produces

(support) reactions è The forces must be in
balance

F FIXED SUPPORT
SUPPORT REACTION
 PRINCIPLE FOR FORCE SYSTEMS

Two or more force systems are equivalent when their applications to a body
produce the same external effect
Transmissibility
Reduction =
– A process to create a simpler equivalent system
– to reduce the number of forces by obtaining the
• “resultant” of the forces
Resolution =
– The opposite of reduction
– to find “the components” of a force vector è “breaking up” the resultant
forces
PRINCIPLE OF TRANSMISSIBILITY

 Many times, the rigid body assumption is taken è only

the external effects are the interest
 The external effect of a force on a rigid body is the
same for all points of application of the force along its
line of actionv

çè

çè
 RESULTANT OF FORCES – REVIEW ON
VECTOR ADDITION

 Vector addition

B
R=A+B=B+A
A R
 Triangle method (head-to-tail method) R A
– Note: the tail of the first vector
and the head of the last vector
B
become the tail and head of the resultant è
principle of the force polygon/triangle
 Parallelogram method
– Note: the resultant is the diagonal of the parallelogram formed by the
 RESULTANT OF FORCES – REVIEW ON
GEOMETRIC LAWS

uLaw of Sines

A
 RESULTANT OF FORCES – REVIEW ON
GEOMETRIC LAWS

c
u Laws of Cosines b

c2 =a2 +b2 −2abcosγ γ

β C
b2 =a2 +c2 −2accosβ a
B
a2 =b2 +c2 −2accosα
 RESULTANT OF TWO CONCURRENT FORCES

The magnitude of the resultant (R) is given by

sinβ=F2 sinφ
R

 The direction (relative to the direction of

F1) can be given by the law of sines
 RESULTANT OF THREE CONCURRENT FORCES
AND MORE

 Basically it is a repetition of finding resultant of two

forces
 The sequence of the addition process is arbitrary
 The “force polygons” may be different
The final resultant has to be the same.
RESULTANT OF MORE THAN TWO
FORCES
 The polygon method becomes tedious when
dealing with three and more forces
 It’s getting worse when we deal with 3D cases
 It is preferable to use “rectangular-component”
method
 RESOLUTION OF A FORCE INTO
COMPONENTS

u The components of a resultant force are

not unique !!
R =A+B =(G+I) +H
=C+D =E+F
u The direction of the components must be
fixed (given)
 HOW TO OBTAIN THE COMPONENTS OF A FORCE
(ARBITRARY COMPONENT DIRECTIONS)?
Parallel to u
u Steps:
– Draw lines parallel to u and v crossing
the tip of theR
– Together with the original u and v
lines, these two lines produce the
parallelogram
– The sides of the parallelogram
represent the componentsR of
Parallel to v – Use law of sinesto determine the
magnitudes of the components
Fu Fv 900
o = o =
sin 45 sin 25 sin110o
Fu = 900 sin 45
o
677 N
sin 110 0 =
Fv = 900 sin 25
0

sin 110 o = 405 N

 RECTANGULAR COMPONENTS OF A FORCE
•What and Why rectangular components?
Rectangular components è all of the components are
perpendicular to each other
(mutually perpendicular)
Why? One of the angle is 90o ==> simple

 Utilization of unit vectors

 Rectangular components in 2D and 3D

u Utilization of the Cartesian c.s.

Arbitrary rectangular
 THE CARTESIAN COORDINATE SYSTEM

 The Cartesian coordinate Z

axes are arranged
following the right-hand
system (shown on the
right)

The setting of the

system is arbitrary, but
the results of the Y
X
analysis must be
independent of the
chosen system.
 UNIT VECTORS
 A dimensionless vector of unit magnitude
 The very basic coordinate system used to specify
coordinates in the space is the Cartesian c.s.
 The unit vectors along the Cartesian coordinate axis x,
y and z are i, j, k, respectively
 The symbol en will be used to indicate a unit vector in
some ndirection (not x, y, nor z)
 Any vector can be represented as a multiplication of a
magnitude and a unit vector
 UNIT VECTORS

A •is in the positive direction along n

A= A en =Aen
en = AA = AA

B=−Ben =−Ben
•is in the negative direction along n
B
 THE RECTANGULAR COMPONENTS OF A FORCE
IN 2D SYSTEM

• u While the components must be perpendicular to each other,

the directions do not have to be parallel or perpendicular to the
horizontal or vertical directions

F = Fx + F y = Fx i + F y j
y
F
Fy = Fy j

j
θ Fx = Fx i
x
i
 The rectangular components in 3D systems
z
k en

F=Fx +Fy +Fz Fz = z k

F
=Fxi +Fyj+Fzk
F=Fen F
F i F j Fk
en =F = x + y + z θz
F F
Fx =Fcoθx θx θy
Fx = x i Fy = y j
Fy =Fscoθy Fj y
F
Fz =Fco
s θz
i
F = Fsx +Fy +Fz2
2 2
x
en =coθxi +coθyj+coθzk
s s s
θx =cos−1 FFx θy =cos−1 FFy θz
 DOT PRODUCTS OF TWO
VECTORS

A • B = B • A = A B cosθ = AB cosθ

Special cosines:
A
Cos 0o = 1
Cos 30o = ½ √3
Cos 45o = ½ √2
θ Cos 60o = 0.5
Cos 90o = 0
B
DOT PRODUCTS AND RECTANGULAR
COMPONENTS

An = A • e n = A cosθ n (magnitude )

A n = An e n (the vectorialcomponent
in the n direction)

A n = ( A • e n )e n The component along en

At = A −An
The component along et

Remember, e n and e t are perpendicular

 CARTESIAN RECTANGULAR
COMPONENTS
The dot product is particularly useful when the unit vectors are of
the Cartesian system (the i, j, k)
y Fx = F•i =F cosθ
F Fy = F• j=F cos(90−θ)
Fy = Fy j =F sinθ

Also, in 3D,
90-θ
j
θ Fx = Fx i Fz = F•k
x
i
F = Fx +Fy =Fxi+Fyj=(F•i)i+(F• j)j
 MORE USAGE OF DOT PRODUCTS …
 Dot products of two vectors written in Cartesian system
• A•B=AxBx +AyBy +AzBz

 The magnitude of a vector (could be a force vector), here A

is the vector magnitude

•A•A=A2 cos0=A2 =AxAx +AyAy +AzAz

• u The angle between two vectors (say between vectors A
and B)

θ=cos−1
AxBx +AAByBy +AzBz 

 THE RECTANGULAR COMPONENTS OF ARBITRARY
DIRECTIONz

Fz = z k k
en
F
F=Fx +Fy +Fz F
Ft
=Fxi +Fyj+Fzk θz
F=Fnen +Ftet Fx = x i n Fn Fy = y j
F F
θx θy
n n
Fn =F•en
j y
=(Fxi +Fyj+Fzk)•en i
=Fxi •en +Fyj•en +Fzk•en x Can you show the
following?
=Fx coθx +Fy coθy +Fz coθz en =coθx i +coθy j+coθz k
s n s n s n s n s n s n
 Summarizing ….
The components of a force resultant are not unique
Graphical methods (triangular or parallelogram methods) combined
with law of sinus and law of cosines can be used to obtain
components in arbitrary direction
Rectangular components are components of a force (vector) that
perpendicular to each other
The dot product can be used to
– obtain rectangular components of a force vector
– obtain the magnitude of a force vector (by performing selfdot-
product)
– Obtain the angle between two (force) vectors
 RESULTANTS BY RECTANGULAR
COMPONENTS
The Cartesian rectangular components of forces can be utilized to obtain the
resultant of the forces.

•Adding the x vector components, we obtain the x vector component of the resultant
Adding the x vector components, we obtain the x vector component of the
resultant

Rx =∑Fx =F1x +F2x

y •Adding the y vector components, we obtain the y

vector component of the resultant

F1
F1y R
F2x x
F1x y= ∑Fy =F1y +F2y
F2 •The resultant can be obtained by performing the vector addition of these
F2y two vector components

R = R +R =R i+R j
 RESULTANTS BY RECTANGULAR
COMPONENTS

 The scalar components of the

resultant

Rx = F1x +F2x =(F1x +F2x)i =Rxi

Ry = F1y +F2y =(F1y +F2y)j=Ryj

The magnitude of the resultant R= Rx2 +Ry2
•The angles formed by the resultant and the Cartesian axes

θx =cos−1 RRx θy =cos−1 ___

RRy
 All of the above results can be easily extended
for 3D system
 PROBLEMS
Problem1
Determine the resultant of the force system shown in Fig. P-263 and its x and y intercepts.

Rx=ΣFx
Rx=300sin30∘−224(25√)+361(213√)
Rx=149.895 lb to the right

Ry=ΣFy
Ry=300cos30∘+224(15√)−361(313√)
Ry=59.613 lb upward
R=Rx2+Ry2
√R=149.8952+59.6132
√R=161.314 lb
tanθx=RyRx
tanθx=59.613149.895
θx=21.69∘
MO=ΣM
MO=−(300sin30∘)(2)+224(15√)(2)+361(213√)(1)
MO=100.598 lb⋅ft counterclockwise

Rya=MO
59.613a=100.598
a=1.688 ft to the right of the origin

Rxb=MO
149.895b=100.598
b=0.671 ft below the origin

Thus, R = 161.314 lb upward to the right at θx = 21.69° and intercepts at (1.668, 0)

and (0, -0.671)
Problem2
Forces F, P, and T are concurrent and acting
in the direction as shown in Fig. P-015.
Three Concurrent Forces

a. Find the value of F and α if T = 450 N, P =

250 N, β = 30°, and the resultant is 300 N
acting up along the y-axis.

b. Find the value of F and α if T = 450 N, P =

250 N, β = 30° and the resultant is zero.

c. Find the value of α and β if T = 450 N, P =

250 N, F = 350 N, and the resultant is zero.
a. Unknown force and direction with non-zero resultant
Rx=0 and Ry=300 N
Rx=ΣFx answer
0=Fcosα+250cos30∘−450
Fcosα=233.49
F=233.49/cosα
Ry=ΣFy
300=Fsinα−250sin30∘
Fsinα=425
(233.49/cosα)sinα=425
tanα=1.8202
α=61.22∘ answer
F=233.49cos61.22∘
b. Unknown force and direction with zero resultant
Rx=0 and Ry=0
answer
Rx=ΣFx
0=Fcosα+250cos30∘−450
Fcosα=233.49
F=233.49/cosα
Ry=ΣFy
0=Fsinα−250sin30°
Fsinα=125
(233.49/cosα)sinα=125
tanα=0.5354
α=28.16∘ answer
F=233.49cos28.16∘
F=264.85 N
c. Unknown direction of two forces with zero resultant
Rx=0 and Ry=0
Ry=ΣFy
0=350sinα−250sinβ
7sinα−5sinα=0
7sinα=5sinβ
49sin^2α=25sin^2β → Equation (1)

Rx=ΣFx
0=350cosα+250cosβ−450
7cosα+5cosβ−9=07cosα=9−5cosα
49cos^2α=(9−5cosα)^2
49cos^2α=81−90cosβ+25cos2β → Equation (2)
Equation (1) + Equation (2)
49sin^2α+49cos^2α=25sin2β+(81−90cosβ+25cos2β)
49(sin^2α+cos2α)=25(sin^2β+cos2β)+81−90cosβ
49(1)=25(1)+81−90cosβ
90cosβ=25+81−49
cosβ=57/90
β=50.70∘ answer

From Equation (1)

49sin^2α=25sin250.70∘
7sinα=5sin50.70∘
sinα=5/7sin50.70∘
α=33.56∘ answer
Problem 3
Determine the values of α and θ so that the forces shown in Fig. P-
316 will be in equilibrium.

By Cosine Law answer

302=202+402−2(20)(40)cosα
2(20)(40)cosα=202+402−30^2
1600cosα=1100
cosα=0.6875
α=46.57∘ answer
316-force-polygon-triangle.gif
202=302+402−2(30)(40)cosθ
2(30)(40)cosθ=302+402−20^2
2400cosθ=2100
cosθ=0.875
θ=28.96∘
 Concurrent force systems Objectives.

• To understand the basic characteristics of forces. To

understand the classification of force systems  To
understand some force principles To know how to obtain
the resultant of forces in 2D and 3D systems. To know
how to obtain the components of forces in 2D and 3D
systems Characteristics of forces Force: Vector with
magnitude and direction Magnitude – a positive
numerical value representing the size or amount of the
force Directions – the slope and the sense of a line
segment used to represent the force Described by angles
or dimensions.
THANK YOU