Force Systems

Subject :- Engineering Mechanics

UNIT:-1
Force Systems

ELECTRO-THEROPY
Make a World, Difference.

By-
Rajkamal Ghorai (DEE-2013) (7278840303)

Tufan Pal (DEIE-2015) (9002554366)

Anup Kr. Dutta (DEE-2017) (8337850463)

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 Force Systems

Fundamentals and Force system

 Definitions of Mechanics: - It is the branch of physics that deals with the action of forces on
bodies and with motion.

 Engineering Mechanics: - It is that branch of Applied Science, which deals with the laws and
principles of Mechanics, along with their applications to engineering problems.
The subject of Engineering Mechanics may be divided into the following two main groups:
1. Statics
2. Dynamics
1. Statics: - It is that branch of Engineering Mechanics, which deals with the forces and their effects
while acting upon the bodies at rest.
2. Dynamics: - It is that branch of Engineering Mechanics, which deals with the forces and their
effects, while acting upon the bodies in motion.
The subject of Dynamics may be further subdivided into the following two branches:
i. Kinetics
ii. Kinematics
i. Kinetics: - It is the branch of dynamics, which deals with the bodies in motion due to the application
of forces.
ii. Kinematics: - It is that branch of dynamics, which deals with the bodies of motion, without any
reference to the force which are responsible for the motion.

 Rigid Body: - It is a solid body in which deformation is zero or so small it can be neglected.
The distance between any two given points on a rigid body remains constant in time regardless of
external forces exerted on it.

 Scalar Quantity: - The scalar quantities (or sometimes known as scalar) are those quantities which
have magnitude only.
EX. – Length, mass, time, distance, volume, density, temperature, speed etc.

 Vector Quantity: - The vector quantities (or sometimes known as vector) are those quantities
which have both magnitude and direction.
EX. – Force, displacement, velocity, acceleration, momentum etc.

1. Representation of vector: - a vector is represented

by a directed line as shown in Fig. It may he noted that
the length OA represents the magnitude of the
vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑂𝐴. The direction of the vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ 𝑂𝐴 is from O
(starting point) to A (i.e., end point). It is also known as
vector P.

2. Equal Vectors: - The vectors, which are parallel to each other and have same direction (i.e., same
sense) and equal magnitude are known as equal vectors.

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3. Like Vectors: - The vectors, which are parallel to each other and have same sense but unequal
magnitude, are known as like vectors.
4. Opposite Vectors: - The vectors, which are parallel to each other and have opposite direction (i.e.,
opposite sense) and equal magnitude are known as opposite vectors.
5. Collinear Vectors: - Vector parallel to one line or lying on one line are called collinear vectors.
6. Coplanar Vectors: - Vectors lie on the same plane are called coplanar vectors.
7. Unit Vector: - A vector, whose magnitude is unity, called unit vector.

 Force (F): - It is an agent which produce or tends to produce, destroys or tends to destroy motion.
 SI unit of force: - The SI unit of force is the newton, symbol N. [1 N = 1 kg·m·s-2]
 Characteristics or a force: - In order to determine the effects of a force, acting on a body, we must
know the following characteristics of a force :
1. Magnitude of the force (i.e., 100 N, 50 N, 20 RN, 5 KN, etc.)
2. The direction of the line, along which the force acts (i. e., along 0X, OY, at 30° North of East etc.). It is
also known as line of action of the force.
3. Nature of the force (i.e., whether the force is push or pull). This is denoted by placing an arrow head
on the line of action of the force.
4. The point at which (or through which) the force acts on the body.
 Effects or a force: - A force may produce the following effects in a body, on which it acts :
1. It may change the motion of a body. i.e. if a body is at rest, the force may set it in motion. And if the
body is already in motion, the force may accelerate it.
2. It may retard the motion of a body.
3. It may retard the forces, already acting on a body, thus bringing it to rest or in equilibrium. We shall
study this effect in chapter 5 of this book.
4. It may give rise to the internal stresses in the body, on which it acts. We shall study this effect in the
chapters ‘Analysis of Perfect Frames’ of this book.
 Principle of transmissibility of forces: - It states, “If a force acts at any point on a rigid body, it may
also be considered to act at any other point on its line of action, provided this point is rigidly connected
with the body.”
[A rigid body may be defined as a body which can retain its shape and size, even if subjected to some external
forces. In actual practice, nobody is perfectly rigid. But for the sake of simplicity, we take all the bodies as
rigid bodies.]

 Classification of force system: -

1. Coplanar forces: - The forces, whose lines of action lie on the same plane, are known as coplanar forces.

2. Non-Coplanar forces: - The forces, whose lines of action do not lie on the same plane, are known as non-
coplanar forces.
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3. Collinear forces: - The forces, whose lines of action lie on the

same line, are known as collinear forces.

4. Coplanar concurrent forces: - The forces, which meet at one point and their lines of action
also lie on the same plane, are known as coplanar concurrent forces.

5. Coplanar non-concurrent forces: - The forces, which do not meet at one point and their lines of action
also lie on the same plane, are known as coplanar non-concurrent forces.
6. Coplanar parallel forces: - The forces, which do not intersect each other and their lines of action also lie
on the same plane, are known as coplanar parallel forces.
7. Coplanar like parallel forces: - The forces, which are parallel and acting in same direction on a same
plane are called coplanar like parallel forces.
8. Coplanar unlike parallel forces: - The forces, which are parallel and acting in opposite direction on a
same plane are called coplanar unlike parallel forces.

Resolution of a Force
The process of splitting up the given force into a number of components, without changing its effect on
the body is called resolution of a force.
A force is, generally, resolved along two mutually perpendicular directions. In fact, the resolution of a
force is the reverse action of the addition of the component vectors.
 Principle of resolution: - It states, “The algebraic sum of the resolved parts of a no. of forces, in a
given direction, is equal to the resolved part of their resultant in the same direction.”
Note: In general, the forces are resolved in the vertical and horizontal directions.
 Method of resolution for the resultant force: -
1. Resolve all the forces horizontally and find the algebraic sum of all the horizontal components (i.e.,
∑ 𝐻).
2. Resolve all the forces vertically and find the algebraic sum of all the vertical components (i.e., ∑ 𝑉).
2
3. The resultant R of the given forces will be given by the equation: R =√(∑ 𝐻)2 + (∑ 𝑉) .
∑𝑉
4. The resultant force will be inclined at an angle 𝜃, with the horizontal, such that tan𝜃 = ∑ .
𝐻

Note: The value of the angle 𝜃 will vary depending upon the values of ∑ 𝑉 and ∑ 𝐻 as discussed below:
1. When ∑ 𝑉 is +ve, the resultant makes an angle between 00 to 1800. But when ∑ 𝑉 is –ve, the resultant
makes an angle between 1800 to 3600.
2. When ∑ 𝐻 is +ve, the resultant makes an angle between 00 to 900 or 2700 to 3600. But when ∑ 𝐻 is
–ve, the resultant makes an angle between 900 to 2700.

Moment of a Force

 Definition: - It is the product of force (F) and moment

arm (d) which produces the turning effect on the body, on
which it acts.

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Mathematically,
Moment (M) = P x d
Where P = Force acting on the body
d = perpendicular distance between the point, about which moment is required and
the line of action of the force.
Unit: - Newton - meter (N - m) [SI unit], KN - m, N - mm.

 Types of moment: - Moments are two types - i. Clockwise moments

ii. Anticlockwise moments

i. Clockwise moments: - It is the moment of force, whose

effect is to turn or rotate the body, about the point in the
same direction in which hands of a clock move.

ii. Anticlockwise moments: - It is the moment of force, whose

effect is to turn or rotate the body, about the point in the
opposite direction in which hands of a clock move.

 Sign convention: - 1. A clockwise direction moment is taken as –ve moment.

2. A anticlockwise direction moment is taken as +ve moment.

 Law of moments (Varignon’s Theorem): - It states, “If a number of coplanar forces are acting
simultaneously on a particle, the algebraic sum of the moments of all the forces about any point is equal
to the moment of their resultant forces about the same plane.”
Use: - It is used to calculate the resultant moment of forces applied about the same plane on a body.

 Couple: - A pair of two equal and unlike parallel forces (i.e. forces equal
in magnitude with lines of action parallel to each other and acting in
opposite directions) is known as a couple.
 Arm of a couple: - The perpendicular distance (a), between the lines of
action of the two equal and opposite parallel forces, is known as arm of
the couple as shown in Fig.
 Moment of a couple: - The moment of a couple is the product of the force (i.e., one of the forces of the
two equal and opposite parallel forces) and the arm of the couple. Mathematically:
Moment of a couple = P x a
Where P = Magnitude of the force, and
a = Arm of the couple.
 Unit: - Newton - meter (N - m) [SI unit], KN - m, N – mm.

 Equivalent couple: - Any two couples whose moments are equal & of the same Sign are equivalent to
each other.

Ex. - the couples shown m Fig. are equivalent

and any one of them can be represented by the
other.

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 Resultant of any number of coplanar couples: - Any number of coplanar couples acting on a body is
equivalent to a single couple whose moment is equal to the algebric sum of the moments of all the
couples.

Let us consider a system of coplanar

couples (P, p) (Q, q) (R, r) etc. are acting on a
body.

Let AY & BY are the time of action of

forces P.

Let the arm of couple (P, p) = p

& the arm of couple (Q q) = q
Let the line of actions of couple (Q, q) is along Ay & By.
Now moment of couple (Q, q) = Q. q
𝑄.𝑞
Let = x𝑝
𝑝
Therefore instead of the couple (Q, q),
𝑄.𝑞
We can take another couple (
𝑝
, 𝑝) whose arm is p.
𝑄.𝑞
Now the line of action of the two unlike equal parallel forces are alone AY & BY
𝑝
𝑅𝑟
Similarly, we can take another couple ( , p) instead of the couple (R, r) whose arm is equal to p.
𝑝

If we replace all the couples by transforming them in the similar way, whose arm is equal to p then
we can place them along A B and we can get one single couple whose arm will be equal to 'p’ and the two
forces of that couple Will be equal to
𝑄.𝑞 𝑅𝑟
P+ + + …..
𝑝 𝑝

Hence, the given couples are equivalent to a single couple whose moment is equal to
𝑄.𝑞 𝑅𝑟
= (P + + + …..) x p.
𝑝 𝑝
= (Pp + Qq + Rr + ……..)
= algebric sum of all the moments of given couples.

Therefore the resultant of a number of coplanar couples is a couple whose moment is equal to the
algebric sum of the moment of all individual couples.

 Characteristics of a couple: - A couple (whether clockwise or anticlockwise) has the following

characteristics :

1. The algebraic sum of the forces, constituting the couple, is zero.

2. The algebraic sum of the moments of the forces, constituting the couple, about any point is the same,
and equal to the moment of the couple itself.
3. A couple cannot be balanced by a single force. But it can be balanced only by a couple of opposite
sense.
4. Any no. of coplanar couples can be reduced to a single couple, whose magnitude will be equal to the
algebraic sum of the moments of all the couples.

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Composition of Force

 Resultant force: - If a number of forces are acting simultaneously on a particle, then it is possible to
find out a single force which could replace them i.e., which would produce the same effect as produced
by all the given forces. This single force is called resultant force and the given forces are called component
forces.
 Composition of force: - The process of finding out the resultant force is known as composition of
force.

 Resultant of any no. of Concurrent Coplanar Forces by Method of Resolution: - This is an

analytical method of finding the resultant when the body is subjected to a system of concurrent force
system. In this method, firstly each force is resolved into two mutually perpendicular directions. Then
the components in each direction are algebrically added to get the two components. These two
component forces are acting in two mutually perpendicular directions and are combined to get the
resultant.

In Fig (a) the Concurrent forces P1, P2, P3 & P4 are acting at point O. The components of these forces
are PX1, PX2, PX3; PX4 and Py1, PY2, PY3, PY4 acting
into two mutually perpendicular directions (x and
y) respectively.

So the total force acting in x direction PX =

PX1 - PX2 - PX3 + PX4
And the total force acting in y direction, PY
= PY1 +PY2 – PY3 – PY4

Hence the resultant of these two force, R = √𝑷𝑿𝟐 + 𝑷𝒀𝟐 which is acting at an angle 𝜃,
𝑷𝒀
Where, tan𝜽 =
𝑷𝑿

 Laws of Mechanics: -
 Parallelogram Law: “If two forces, acting at a point are represented in magnitude and direction by the
two adjacent sides of a parallelogram, then their resultant is represented in magnitude and direction by
the diagonal of the parallelogram passing through that point.”

Proof: - Let two forces P & Q are acting at a point O & represented by the two adjacent sides OA & OB of
a parallelogram AOBC. Now the resultant R is represented by the Diagonal OC. Draw CD perpendicular
to the extension of OB.

Here, 𝛼 = Angle between P & Q

𝜃 = Angle between R & Q
Referring to Figure. From ∆OCD, OC2 = OD2 + DC2 [∵ ∠𝑂𝐷𝐶 = 900]
But OD = OB + BD
= OB + BC cos𝛼
= Q + P cos𝛼
& DC = BC sin𝛼 = P sin 𝛼
∴ R2 = (Q + P cos𝛼)2 + P2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛼
= Q2 + P2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2𝛼 + 2PQ cos𝛼 + P2 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛼
= Q2 + P2 (𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝛼 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛼) + 2PQ cos𝛼
= Q2+ P2 + 2PQ cos𝛼
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R = √𝑷𝟐 + 𝑸𝟐 + 𝟐𝑷𝑸𝐜𝐨𝐬𝜶

𝐷𝐶 P sin 𝛼
And tan𝜃 = =
𝑂𝐷 Q + P cos𝛼

𝐏 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜶
∴ 𝜽 = 𝒕𝒂𝒏−𝟏 (𝐐 + 𝐏 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝜶)

 Triangle law of forces: “If two forces acting simultaneously on

a body are represented by the sides of the triangle taken in
order, their resultant is represented by the closing side of the
triangle taken in opposite order.”

Two forces P (=𝐴𝐵) and Q (=𝐵𝐶) are acting on a body in the

direction shown in Fig., then their resultant R (=𝐴𝐶) taken in
opposite order of closing side of the triangle ABC.

 Polygon law of forces: If a number of forces acting

simultaneously on a body at a point, are
represented in magnitude and direction by the
sides of a polygon, taken in order, then the
resultant is represented in magnitude and direction
by the closing side of the polygon, taken in opposite
order.

Force P1, P2, P3, P4 are represented by vectors 𝐴𝐵, 𝐵𝐶, 𝐶𝐷, and 𝐷𝐸 respectively and taken in order
as shown in fig. (b) (with direction) then there resultant R (𝐴𝐸) is presented by the closing side of the
polygon taken in opposite order.

 Graphical method: - This is a method which we can employ to find out the magnitude and direction
of the resultant force graphically.

If a number of forces acting at a point be in equilibrium, then it can be said that the resultant of these
forces will be zero and the length of the closing line of the polygon taken in order drawn to represent
the given forces will be zero. That means the end point of the diagram must coinside with the starting
point of the diagram. This diagram is called the vector diagram. Hence, vector diagram must be a closed
figure.

 Space diagram: Space diagram is that type of diagram by which we can show the
forces in space. In a space diagram the actual direction of forces are marked by
straight lines with arrow put at the end of each line to indicate the sense of the
force to which like to act.
Fig. (a) shows the space diagram of the forces F1, F2 and F3.

 Vector diagram: By this diagram we can represent the given forces in magnitude,
direction and their sense in accordance of some suitable scale. Starting point of
diagram must be coinside with the end point to represent the resultant of that
forces. [Fig. (b)]

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 Bow's notation: Bow designated a force by two letters which are written on either side of the line of
action of the force. In the fig. (a) of space diagram forces F1, F2, and F3 are represented by AB, BC and CA
respectively: consequently in vector diagram the corresponding forces are represented by ab bc and ca
respectively.

This method of naming the forces in the space and Vector diagram is called Bow's notation.

Hence Bow's notation is particularly suitable in graphical solution of systems of forces which are in
equilibrium.

 How to solve the problems on system of co-planar concurrent forces by graphical method: - At first
space diagram is to be to show the direction of the given line of forces are specified by the angles
between them. The angle which they make with the vertical or horizontal must be drawn accurately to
obtain the most possible accurate result.

But in vector diagram a suitable scale is to be chosen to get the maximum and minimum values of
the forces in the given system. To draw this diagram starting with a known force parallel or perpendicular
to it and proceed either in clockwise or anticlockwise direction. The closing point and starting point’s line
represent the resultant of the force, whose direction is to be found from the starting point towards the
ending point and sense of act.

 Funicular polygon: Let F1, F2, F3 and F4 are non-concurrent forces act on a rigid body in a plane. Let the
body be in equilibrium under the action of these forces. Now we will find out the resultant and its
magnitude and direction of these Forces by using graphical method.

First draw the space diagram and named the forces as shown in figure of space diagram.

Now applying Bow’s notation, the vector diagram a, b, c, d, e is drawn as shown in vector diagram.

By using a suitable scale the length of ab,

bc, cd and de represent the magnitude of
the forces F1, F2, F3 and F4. The arrow heads
indicate the directions of forces. Now join
ae, this ae line represent Resultant 'R' both
in magnitude and directions. Now take any
point O as 'Pole' inside or outside of the
vector polygon named abcdea and join oa,
ob, oc, od and oe as shown in figure of
vector diagram.
Next in fig. (a) choose any point X1 on F1 and draw X1 X5 parallel to oa and X1 X2 parallel to ob thus, X2
is a point on F2 from which draw X2 X3 Parallel to oc such that X3 meets F3. From X3 draw X3 X4 parallel to
od and from X4 draw X4 X5 parallel to oe meeting in X5. Then through X5 draw a line parallel to ae which
will be the line of action of R. Mark that the point X5 is obtained by intersection of the first ray and last
ray.
The polygon X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 is called the link polygon or equilibrium polygon or 'funicular polygon'.

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 Resultant of parallel forces: Fig. (a) shows as

system of parallel force F1, F2 and F3. Thus we
have to find out the resultant R. At First the
space between the forces are named by using
Bow's notation. To construct the force polygon
as shown in fig. (b). A line is drawn parallel to the
forces and on this line the magnitude of F 1, F2
and F3 are plotted. These are represented as ab
(upward), bc (downward) and cd (Upward) in
Fig. (b) . Now choose any point O as pole and join oa, ob, oc and od.
Next take any point X1 on F1 and through this point draw lines X1 X2 and X1 X4 parallel to ob and oa
respectively. Then draw X2 X3 parallel to oc and X3 X4 parallel to od. Thus X1X4 and X3X4 will intersect at
the point X4 through which the line of action of the resultant R passes. The magnitude of the resultant R
is given by ad in the force polygon.

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