Module 3

INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Module 3
Analysis of Force systems

Mechanics: Mechanics is a branch of physical science which deals with the state of rest or motion
of bodies under the action of forces.
Mechanics can be sub-divided into the following:

Mechanics of rigid bodies: It is the study of bodies that do not undergo any deformation under the
application of forces.
Statics: It deals with the study of the behaviour of bodies or particles in the state of rest.
Dynamics: It deals with the study of behaviour of bodies or particles in the state of motion.
Mechanics of deformable bodies: It deals with the study of bodies that undergo deformation under
the application of forces.
Mechanics of fluids: It deals with the study of fluids.

Idealisations in mechanics:
1. Particle: A body of infinitely small volume whose mass can be neglected.
2. Body: An assemblage of a number of particles.
3. Rigid body: A combination of large number of particles occupying fixed positions with respect
to each other and do not change under the application of external forces.
- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 1 of 13
 Module 3

All particles in a rigid body remain at a fixed distance from one another even after the
application of forces. Thus there is no change in either shape or dimensions of the body.
4. Continuum: A continuous distribution of molecules in a body without intermolecular space.
5. Point force: Where force is applied on any object by another, there is finite non-zero area of
contact between them. If the area of contact is neglected, then the force is considered to act only
at one point on the object as a point force.

Rigid body concept:

• Change in either shape or dimensions is not studied in mechanics. Thus all objects are considered
to be perfectly rigid.
• Rigid bodies can have translational motion (rectilinear or curvilinear), rotational motion or a
combination of translational and rotational motion. Rigid body is treated as a particle if it has only
translational motion.
• Resultant force acting on any object causes translational motion. Rotational force is caused by the
net moment of force.
• When a rigid body is considered as a particle, its mass is concentrated at its centre of mass, since
Newton’s laws of motion are applicable to the centre of mass.

Basic quantities:
• Space: The geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are denoted using a co-ordinate
system.
• Time: Measure of succession of events.
• Mass: Total amount of matter present in a body. It is a measure of inertia of body.
• Force: It is an external agent which changes or tends to change the state of rest or of uniform
motion of an object.

Force and its characteristics:

Force is an external agent which changes or tends to change the state of rest or of uniform motion of
an object. It is a vector quantity (has both magnitude and direction). The SI unit of force is Newton
(N).

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 2 of 13

 Module 3
Every force is characterised by its:
• Magnitude: Length of the vector represents the magnitude of force.
• Direction: Direction of force is represented by a arrow head.
• Point of application: Point at which the force starts. Both the direction and point of application
define its line of action.
• Line of action: Line along which the force acts.

Force system: If two or more forces are acting on a body or a particle constitute a force system.

Types of force system:

1. Coplanar force system: Forces acting in a single plane.
a) Concurrent force system: Forces whose line of action intersect at a single point.
b) Non-concurrent force system: Forces whose line of action do not intersect at a single point.
c) Parallel force system: Forces which have parallel lines of action.

• Coplanar concurrent force system: If two or more forces are acting in a single plane and their
lines of action do not meet at a common point, then the forces constitute a coplanar non-
concurrent force system.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 3 of 13

 Module 3
• Coplanar non-concurrent force system: If two or more forces are acting in a single plane and
their lines of action do not meet at a common point, then the forces constitute a coplanar non-
concurrent force system.

• Coplanar like parallel force system: All the forces act parallel to one another and are in the
same direction.

• Coplanar unlike parallel force system: The forces act parallel to another, but some of the forces
have their line of action in opposite directions.

2. Non coplanar force system: If two or more forces are acting in different planes, the forces
constitute a non-coplanar force system.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 4 of 13

 Module 3
• Non coplanar concurrent force system: If a system has two or more forces acting on different
planes but pass through the same point, then it is said to be a non-coplanar concurrent force
system.

• Non coplanar non concurrent force system: If two or more forces are acting on different planes
but do not pass through the same point, they constitute a non-coplanar non-concurrent force
system.

• Non coplanar parallel force system: If two or more forces are acting in different planes and are
parallel to one another, the system is said to be a non-coplanar parallel force system.

3. Collinear force system: If the lines of action of two or more forces coincide with one another, it
is called a collinear force system.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 5 of 13

 Module 3
Non collinear force system: If the lines of action of the forces do not coincide with one another, it
is called a non-collinear force system.

Principle of Superposition of forces: It states that if more than one force acts on an object, then
the combined effect due to all the forces is the vector addition of all the individual forces.

If the forces P 1⃗ , P 2⃗ and P 3⃗ act on a object, then the net effect can be represented by a single
forces called the resultant which is the vector addition of the given forces.
I.e., R ⃗ = P 1⃗ + P 2⃗ + P 3⃗

Principle of Transmissibility of forces: This principle states that a forces can be transmitted from
one point to another point along the same line of action such that the effect produced by the force
on a body remains unchanged.

Consider a rigid body subjected to a force F at point O. According to the principle of

transmissibility, the force F can be transmitted to a new point O1 along the same line of action such
that the net effect on the body remains unchanged.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 6 of 13

 Module 3
Resolution of forces: Resolution is the process in which a given force is replaced by its rectangular
components which together produce the same effect as that of the single force.

Consider force F making an angle θ with the horizontal axis to be resolved. Force F can be resolved
into two components i.e., Fx and Fy along X and Y axis respectively.
In △CAD,
Fx
Cosθ = , Fx = F Cosθ
F
Fy
Sinθ = , Fy = F Sinθ
F
If F made an angle θ with the vertical axis, then
Fy = F Cosθ and Fx = F Sinθ

Composition of forces: It is the process in which two or more forces are combined together such
that the net effect produced by a single resultant force is equal to the algebraic sum of all the
individual forces.

Consider the above given rigid body subjected to various forces as shown.
∑ Fx = Algebraic sum of the components of the forces along the X axis.
Thus, ∑ Fx = F4 + F1 Cosθ1 - F3 Sinθ2
∑ Fy = Algebraic sum of the components of the forces along the Y axis.
Thus, ∑ Fy = -F2 - F1 Sinθ1 - F3 Cosθ2
Fx 2 + F y2
∑ ∑
Magnitude of resultant R =

∑Fy
Direction of resultant θ = tan-1 ( )
∑ Fx
- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 7 of 13
 Module 3
Parallelogram law: If the two forces acting simultaneously on a particle and away from it, then
they can be represented in magnitude and direction by two adjacent sides of a parallelogram, whose
resultant is represented by the diagonal of the parallelogram both in magnitude and direction drawn
from their common point.

Consider P ⃗ and Q ⃗ be the two forces represented by the sides AB and AD of the parallelogram, θ be
the angle between them and R ⃗ be the resultant represented by the diagonal AC.
Consider △CBE,
BE
Cosθ = , BE = Q Cosθ
BC
CE
Sinθ = , CE = Q Sinθ
BC
AC 2 = A B 2 + BE 2 + 2(A B)(BE ) + CE 2
R 2 = P 2 + Q 2Cos 2 θ + 2(P)(QCosθ ) + Q 2 Sin 2 θ
R 2 = P 2 + Q 2(Cos 2 θ + Sin 2 θ ) + 2PQCosθ
R 2 = P 2 + Q 2 + 2PQCosθ (WK T, Cos 2 θ + Sin 2 θ = 1)
Magnitude of the resultant R = P 2 + Q 2 + 2PQCosθ
Direction of the resultant,
Consider △CAE,
CE CE QSinθ
ta n α = = =
AE A B + BE P + QCosθ
QSinθ
α = ta n −1( )
P + QCosθ

Moment of force: Moment of the force is the rotational effect produced by a force on a body. It is
calculated as the product of the magnitude of the force and the perpendicular distance between the
line of action of the forces and the point or axis of rotation.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 8 of 13

𝛼
 Module 3
Types of moment:
• Clockwise moment: If the given force tends to rotate the body in the clockwise direction, then it
is said to be a clockwise moment and taken to be positive.

• Anti clockwise moment: If the given force tends to rotate the body in the anti clockwise
direction, then it is said to be anti clockwise moment and is taken to be negative.

Couple:
Two equal, opposite non-collinear (parallel) forces constitute a couple.
As the two forces are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction, their resultant force is zero but a
moment is associated with the couple. Therefore a couple acting on a rigid body can produce only
rotational motion.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 9 of 13

 Module 3
Properties of a couple:
• Two equal and opposite parallel forces are required to form a couple.
• The magnitude of the moment of the couple = Product of the magnitude of one of the forces and
moment arm (Perpendicular distance between the two forces)
• Resultant of the forces of the couple is zero.

Types of couple: Clockwise couple and Anticlockwise couple

Varignon’s theorem (Principle of moments):

Statement: The algebraic sum of the moments of individual forces of a force system about a point
is equal to the moment of their resultant about the same point.
Consider two forces P1 and P2 having moment arms d1 and d2 respectively. Let the resultant force
be R having a moment arm d. The moment arms of all the forces are from the moment centre B.
To prove: Rd = P1 d1 + P2 d2
Proof: Join AB and take it to be the Y axis
and correspondingly draw X axis at right
angles to it. Let θ be the angle made by the
resultant R with the X axis. Similarly θ is
formed at the Y axis by the perpendicular
BB1 drawn to R.
In △ ABB1
BB1
Cosθ =
AB
d
Cosθ =
AB
Thus d = AB Cosθ
Ry = R Sinθ
B R

θ d
θ
Rx = R Cosθ
A B1

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 10 of 13

 Module 3
WKT, Rd = R ( ABCosθ )
Rd = AB ( R Cosθ )
Rd = AB ( Rx ) ——— 1
Where Rx = Component of R in the X direction
Similarly for forces P1 and P2 we get P1x and P2x as their respective components in the X
direction.
Thus P1d1 = AB ( P1x) ———- 2
P2d2 = AB (P2x ) ———- 3
Adding equations 2 and 3 , we get
P1d1 + P2d2 = (AB . P1x ) + (AB . P2x )
P1d1 + P2d2 = AB ( P1x + P2x )
WKT, the sum of X components of the individual forces is equal to the X components of the
resultant R.
Thus P1x + P2x = Rx
P1d1 + P2d2 = AB (Rx ) ———— 4
From equation 1 and 4 we can conclude that
Rd = P1d1 + P2d2

Free body diagram: It is an isolated diagram

of an object in the system in which all forces
and couple moments acting on it are shown
including support reactions.

Where,
W - Self weight. It always acts vertically
downwards.
R - Normal reaction. It always acts
perpendicular to the plane
T - Tension in the string

Support reactions: When objects are supported by some supporting mechanism, the supporting
mechanism exerts a force or couple moment on the object which tries to restrict the motion of the
object. These forces or couple moments which oppose or restrict the motion of objects are called
support reactions.

Equilibrium: A body is said to be in equilibrium provided it remains at rest if initially at rest.

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 11 of 13

 Module 3
Equilibrant: In a system if the resultant of the force system is not equal to zero then it implies that
the body is not in equilibrium. Equilibrant is defined as a force or a moment required to keep an
object in equilibrium.

Equilibrant for a concurrent force system: A force which has same magnitude as resultant force
but opposite in direction.

Equilibrant for a non-concurrent force system:

• Non zero resultant force: A force which has same magnitude as resultant force but opposite in
direction on the same line of action as that of the resultant force.
• Zero resultant force: A couple moment having same magnitude as resultant couple moment but
opposite sense of rotation. Here force system gets reduced to a single resultant couple.

Principle of equilibrium: A body is said to be in equilibrium if the algebraic sum of all the forces
acting on the body is zero and also if the algebraic sum of moments of forces about any fixed point
is zero.
i.e., A body is said to be in equilibrium if there is no translation or rotation of the body under the
application of external forces.

Conditions of equilibrium:
• Coplanar concurrent force system

∑ ∑
Fx = 0 and Fy = 0

• Coplanar non-concurrent force system

∑ ∑ ∑
Fx = 0 , F y = 0 and M=0

• Parallel force system

∑ ∑
F=0 and M=0

• Non coplanar non concurrent force system

∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Fx = 0, F y = 0, Fz = 0 and M=0

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 12 of 13

 Module 3
Lami’s theorem:
Statement: If three concurrent forces are in equilibrium, the ratio of magnitude of any force to the
Sine of the angle between the other two forces is constant.
Consider three concurrent forces P, Q and R acting at a point O and let α, βa n dγ be the angles
between R and Q, R and P and P and Q respectively.

Proof: As three forces are in equilibrium, they will form a closed triangle drawn one after the other.
Using the Sine rule,
P Q R
= =
Sin(180 − α) Sin(180 − β ) Sin(180 − γ)
P Q R
Thus, = =
Sin α Sinβ Sinγ

- Adarsha M R, Dept. of Civil Egg, SJCIT Page 13 of 13