Adama Science and Technology University

School of Civil Engineering and Architecture

Civil Engineering Program

Engineering Mechanics

Hana Y.
Chapter-Two
Force Systems
 Introduction
 Two dimensional force systems
 Rectangular resolution of forces
 Moment and Couple
 Resultants of general coplanar force systems
 Three dimensional force systems
 Rectangular components
 Moment and couple
 Resultants

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Introduction
 The action of one body on another that changes/tends
to changes the state of the body acted on.
 It is a vector quantity as its effect depends on its
magnitude of action plus direction.
A complete specification of the action of a force
must include its magnitude, direction and point
of application………… Fixed Vector

A force can be applied on a body as;

 Contact force and
 Remote action(Body action).

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Introduction(Cont..)

Internal
The action
of force on Applied
a body
External
Reactive

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Introduction(Cont..)

Coplanar: are forces which act on the same

plane.
• Coplanar Collinear forces
• Coplanar Parallel forces
Non-Coplanar forces: are forces which act
on different planes.

• Non Coplanar parallel forces

• Non-Coplanar concurrent forces

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Introduction(Cont.…)
Principle of Transmissibility
► Consider only rigid bodies.
► Concern only on net external forces.
► Sliding vector ….. Focus on line of application!

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.

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Introduction(Cont..)

Composition of forces is the process of combining two or

more forces in to a single resultant force, which has the
same external effect as that of the applied system of
forces.

Law of adding Vectors;

I. Parallelogram rule
II. Triangle rule

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Introduction(Cont..)

Parallelogram rule:
The vectors should be placed in such a way that they form a
parallelogram and they shouldn’t change their external effect. By
the principle of transmissibility we can move each force on its line
to meet at a point with out affecting the external effect.
Triangle Rule:
The vectors needs moving to the line of action of one of the forces.
We can change the line of action of either force, but the start of
the first vector should coincide with the point of intersection of the
line of action of the forces.

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Introduction(Cont..)
◉ It is the reverse of composition of forces.
◉ It is the process of getting the components of vector
along different axes.

sin∅
Fn = F
sinα
sinθ
Ft = F
sinα

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Two - Dimensional Force System
Rectangular components of a force are the
components of the force along the rectangular
coordinate axes.

It follows parallelogram rule that the vector

‘F’, based on the figure shown here, can be
written as follows;
F = Fx + Fy
[FX and Fy are vector components of F in the ‘x’
and ‘y’ direction.]
F = Fx i + Fy j
[FX and Fy are scalar components of F in the ‘x’
and ‘y’ direction.]

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Two - Dimensional Force System
Rectangular components are convenient for finding the sum
or resultant, R, of two forces which are concurrent.
Consider two forces F1 and F2 which are originally
concurrent at a point O.
R = F1 + F2
R = (F1xi + F1yj) + (F2xi + F2yj)

Rx = F1x + F2x = ∑Fx

RY = F1y + F2y = ∑Fy

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
I. Moment
 Tendency of a force to rotate a body about any axis
which does not intersect the line of action of the force
and which is not parallel to it.
 The moment of a force is also known as TORQUE.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
I. Moment(Cont..)

► F2 does not create rotation

because it intersects with the
axis line o-o.

► F1 does not create rotation

because it is parallel to the
axis.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
I. Moment(Cont..)
Right hand rule - Curl your fingers in the direction of
the tendency to rotate, the thumb will point in the
direction of the moment vector.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
I. Moment(Cont..)
Moment Computation
M = F*d ̝

If vector forms of force and radius are used,

M=rXF

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
I. Moment(Cont..)

Varignon’s Theorem
“The moment of a force about
any point is equal to the sum
of the moments of the
components of the force about
the same point.”

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)

Answer: Mo = 2.61KNM

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
II. Couple
Moment produced by two equal, opposite, parallel and
non collinear forces is called a couple.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
II. Couple(Cont..)
• The forces can not be combined to a single force.

• Couple is not affected by the direction of the forces.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)

• Force has a tendency to push or pull a body in the

direction of its action and to rotate the body about any
axis.

• We can replace the force with an equal and parallel force

and a couple to compensate for the moment.

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)
R=∑F
Mo=∑M

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Equivalent Force Systems
(Moments and Couples)

Example: The rigid structural member is subjected to a

couple consisting of the two 100N forces. Replace
this couple by an equivalent couple consisting of
the two forces P and –P, each of which has a
magnitude of 400N.
Determine the proper angle θ.

Answer: θ= 51.32o

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Three - Dimensional Force System
◉ Many of the problems in mechanics require analysis in
three dimensions.
◉ Consider a force F acting at the origin O of the system
of rectangular coordinates x, y, z.
Draw a vertical plane OBAC containing F.
 The plane passes through the vertical y-axis; its
orientation is defined by the angle φit forms with xy-
plane.
 The force F may be resolved into a vertical component Fy
and a horizontal component Fh.
 But Fh may be resolved to rectangular components Fx and
Fz along the x and z axes, respectively.
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Three - Dimensional Force System

Fh = F sinθy Fx = Fhcos φ= F sinθy cos φ

Fy = F cos θy Fz = Fh sin φ= F sinθy sin φ
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Three - Dimensional Force System

Applying the Pythagorean theorem to the triangles OAB and

OCD, we write;
F2 = (OA)2 = (OB)2 + (BA)2 = (Fy)2 + (Fh)2
Fh2 = (OC)2 = (OD)2 + (DC)2 = (Fx)2 + (Fz)2

F2 = (Fy)2 + (Fx)2 + (Fz)2

F2 = (Fx)2 + (Fy)2 +(Fz)2

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Three - Dimensional Force System
◉ The relationship between the force F and its three
components Fx, Fy, Fz, is more visualized if a box is
drawn as below,

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Three - Dimensional Force System

λ= cosθx i+ cosθy j + cosθz k

λx = cosθx
λy = cosθy
λz = cosθz

λx2 +λy2 +λz2 = 1

Cos2θx + Cos2θy + Cos2θz = 1
𝐹𝑥
Cosθx=
𝐹
𝐹𝑦
Cosθy=
𝐹
𝐹𝑧
Cosθz=
𝐹

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Three - Dimensional Force System
a. Specification by two points on the line of action of the
force.
If the coordinates of points A and B of the figure
shown below, the force F may be written as;

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Three - Dimensional Force System
b. Specification by two angles which orient the line of
action of the force.
Considering the angles θ and Φ are
known, resolve F in to horizontal and
vertical components.
Fxy = F cos Φ
Fz = F sin Φ

Then:
Fx = Fxy cos θ = F cosΦ cosθ
Fy = Fxy sin θ = F cosΦ sinθ

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Three – Dimensional Force System
Dot Product
The dot product has two applications.
1. Projection of a vector on another vector or on a certain
direction.

2. To find an angle between two vectors.

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Three – Dimensional Force System

Since determining the perpendicular distance to the line of

action is tedious in 3D, the use of cross product becomes
effective.

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Three – Dimensional Force System

Moment can be computed about an arbitrary axis.

To find the moment of a force
about an arbitrary axis using
vector product,
 Calculate the moment about
any point on the axis, r X F
 Project the moment on the
arbitrary axis using dot
product.

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Three – Dimensional Force System

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Three – Dimensional Force System

Similar to the 2D system, any system of force in 3D

can be replaced by an equivalent force and a resultant
moment.

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Three – Dimensional Force System

Wrench Resultant
 If the resultant couple vector M is parallel to the resultant
force F, then the resultant is called wrench resultant.
 If the resultant couple and resultant force has the same
direction, the wrench is said to be positive, other wise it is
called a negative wrench.

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Three – Dimensional Force System

Wrench Resultant(Cont..)
Any force system can be changed to a wrench
resultant.

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Examples
1. Determine the x, y, and z components of the 200KN
force. Also find the angles θx, θy, θz that the force forms
with the coordinate axes.

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Examples
2. The frame shown below is subjected to a horizontal force
F = 300j, N. Determine the magnitude of the components
of this force parallel and perpendicular to member AB.

Answer; F//AB = 257.1 N

F⏊AB = 154.6N
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Examples
3. Replace the two forces and the negative wrench by a
single force R applied at A and the corresponding couple
M.

Answer; R = 1416N
M = 106NM
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Exercise
4. Determine the wrench resultant of the three forces acting
on the bracket. Calculate the coordinates of the point P in
the x-y plane through which the resultant force of the
wrench acts. Also find the magnitude of the couple M of
the wrench.

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