Lecture notes of Mechanics of Materials for 30-Jul-18

17-IN

CENTRE OF GRAVITY
&
Moment of Inertia

BY ENGR. MUHAMMAD ALI MORIYANI

B.E (CIVIL ENGINEERING)

Background
Every particle of a body is attracted by the earth towards its
centre. The force of attraction, which is proportional to the
mass of the particle, acts vertically downwards and is
known as weight of the body.

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Lecture notes of Mechanics of Materials for 30-Jul-18
17-IN

But every body is made of small particles

Pictures are highly exaggerated

Background
Every particle of a body is attracted by the
earth towards its centre.
The force of attraction, which is proportional
to the mass of the particle, acts vertically
downwards and is known as weight of the
body.
A point may be found out in a body, through
which the resultant of all such forces act.
This point is known as the centre of gravity of
the body.

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What is Centre of GRAVITY?

Centre of gravity is a point at

which the mass of the body
is perfectly balanced.

The balancing bird is a toy that has its center of

gravity located at the tip of the beak.

Introduction
The center of gravity (CG) of an object is the point at which
weight is evenly dispersed and all sides are in balance.
In other words, the point through which the whole weight of the
body acts, irrespective of its position(orientation of body), is
known as centre of gravity (briefly written as C.G.).
It may be noted that every body has one and only one centre of
gravity.
So Centre of gravity is a unique point in a body.
(Why?)

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Lecture notes of Mechanics of Materials for 30-Jul-18
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Definition
Centre of Gravity :
Centre of gravity of a body is defined as the point through
which the whole weight of the body acts. It is represented
or denoted by C.G. or G.
A human's center of gravity can change as he takes on
different positions, but in many other objects, it's a fixed
location.

Where should be Centre of Gravity of

This Hammer??

Should be somewhere here(Why??)

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Lecture notes of Mechanics of Materials for 30-Jul-18
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Centre of Gravity/
Centroid/
Centre of Mass

There are few elements for which mass is not properly

defined. However for those elements other terms like
Length, Area or the volume are defined.
For example. Thread, Line, Plane Figures etc.

Thread(One Dimensional) Plane Figures(Two Dimensional)

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Centroid:
The point, at which the total area of a plane figure (such as rectangle,
triangle, square, quadrilateral, circle etc.) is assumed to be
concentrated, is called the centroid of that area. The centroid is also
represented by C.G. or G.

Centroid

The centre of plane figures having only areas, but no mass

is known as centroid.

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Center of Mass(COM)
The Center of mass is the average location of the mass distribution.
If the object were given some angular momentum, it would spin about
the COM.
The center of mass and the center of gravity may or may not be equal.
The center of Mass never changes. Center of gravity however varies
depending on the value of "g“ direction of pull and its distribution
across the body
The Centre of Mass will always be inside the object. While the Centre of
gravity can be outside the object.

How to find the Centre of Gravity of a

Object?

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Methods to find centre of gravity

The centre of gravity (or centroid) may be found out by any one of
the following methods.
1. By geometrical considerations
2. By moments
3. By graphical method
Graphical method is a tedious and cumbersome method for finding
out C.O.G of simple figures. That is why ,it has academic value only .
We shall discuss the geometrical and moment method.

1. By geometrical considerations
In general, determining the center of gravity (CG) is a
complicated procedure because the mass (and weight) may
not be uniformly distributed throughout the object. The
general case requires the use of calculus.
If the mass is uniformly distributed(Assumption), the
problem is greatly simplified. If the object has a line (or
plane) of symmetry, the CG lies on the line of symmetry

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For a Uniform Rod

The center of gravity of uniform rod is at its middle point.

Hint: Find the axis of symmetry for regular shapes

Rectangle and Triangle

The centre of gravity of rectangle or parallelogram lies at a point where it diagonals

intersect.
The centre of gravity of a triangle lies at a point where the three medians of triangle meet .
Note: median is a line joining the vertex and the middle point of the opposite point.

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Trapezium and Semicircle

Circular Sector and Hemisphere

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Right Angle Triangle and Right Circular Solid

Cone

2. By Moments(Centroid of Composite
Shapes)
Centroid by moment method is based on the principal of taking moments about any arbitrary
point.
Centroid by moment method states that “When a number of coplanar parallel forces acts in a
certain plane, then the algebraic sum of their moments about any point in the same plane is
equal to the moment of their resultant forces about the same point.’’
(Also called Varignon’s Principle of Moments or Law of Moment)

Moment method is most effective when the plane is irregular or when it is not possible to
divide large covered area into rectangles, triangles, circles, etc

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Centroid of Composite Shapes

𝑎3
Centroid by Moments 𝑎2
𝑎1

Consider an object of area A whose

centroid is required to be found out.

𝐴𝑥 = 𝑎1 𝑥1 + 𝑎2 𝑥2 + 𝑎3 𝑥3 +……..

𝑎𝑛 𝑥𝑛
𝑥=
𝐴
Similarly
𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑛
𝑦=
𝐴

Centroid – Axis of Reference

Y-axis

The centre of gravity of a body is always

calculated with reference to some assumed axis
known as axis of reference.
𝒙 COG
The axis of reference of plane figures is generally
taken as the lowest line of the figure for
calculating y and the left line of the figure for
calculating x.
𝒚 X-axis

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Composite
Sections

Symmetrical Un-Symmetrical
Sections Sections

Steps involved in determining the C.G of

composite sections.
1. Establish the symmetry of section.
2. Establish the axis of reference.
3. Break down of the composite sections into individual sections for which you know the
formula to determine the C.G.
4. Apply the formula shown above to determine the C.G of whole composite section.

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Centroid OF SYMMETRICAL SECTIONS

If a section is symmetrical about X-X axis or Y-Y axis, the procedure for calculating
the centre of gravity of the body is very much simplified; as we have only to
calculate either x or y .This is due to the reason that the centre of gravity of the
body will lie on the axis of symmetry.

Example no. 1. Find the center of gravity

of the following figure.

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Example no. 2. Find the center of gravity

of the following figure.

Centroid OF UNSYMMETRICAL SECTIONS

If a section is not symmetrical about X-X axis or Y-Y axis, then we have to find out
both the values of x and y

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Example no 1. Find the center of gravity

of the following figure

Example no 2. Find the center of gravity

of the following figure

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Moment of Inertia

The moment of inertia, also known as 2nd moment of

area of plane area, area moment of inertia, or second
area moment, is a geometrical property of an area
which reflects how its points are distributed with
regard to an arbitrary axis.

Mathematically,
𝐼 = 𝐴𝑟 2

Note: It’s unit of dimension is that of fourth power of

length.

Moment of Inertia

The second moment of area is a measure of the 'efficiency' of a cross-sectional

shape to resist bending stress and deflection caused by lateral loading.

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MOMENT OF INERTIA BY INTEGRATION

Consider a plane figure, whose moment of inertia is

required to be found out about X-X axis and Y-Y axis.
Dividing the area into a no. of strips, let
◦ dA = Area of individual strip.
◦ x = Distance of the COG of the strip on X-X axis.
◦ y = Distance of the COG of the strip on Y-Y axis.
• We know that the moment of inertia of the strip about Y-Y axis
= 𝒅𝑨. 𝒙𝟐
• Now the moment of inertia of the whole area may be found out by integrating above
equation. i.e.,
𝑰𝒚𝒚 = 𝒅𝑨. 𝒙𝟐
Similarly 𝑰𝑿𝑿 = 𝒅𝑨. 𝒚𝟐

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF A RECTANGULAR SECTION

Let
b = Width of the section
d = Depth of the section
Now consider a strip PQ of thickness dy parallel to X-X axis and at a distance y
from it.
∴ Area of the strip
= 𝑏. 𝑑𝑦
We know that moment of inertia of the strip about X-X axis,
= 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 × 𝑦 2 = 𝑏. 𝑑𝑦 𝑦 2 = 𝑏. 𝑦 2 . 𝑑𝑦
Now moment of inertia of the whole section may be found out by integrating
𝒅 𝒅
the above equation for the whole depth i.e. from − 𝐭𝐨 +
𝟐 𝟐
𝒅 𝒅
+ +
𝑰𝒙𝒙 = 𝒅
𝟐
𝒃. 𝒚𝟐 . 𝒅𝒚 = 𝒃 𝒅
𝟐
𝒚𝟐 . 𝒅𝒚
− −
𝟐 𝟐
𝒅
𝒚𝟑 + 𝟐 𝒅/𝟐 𝟑
−𝒅/𝟐 𝟑
𝒃𝒅𝟑
=𝒃 =𝒃 − =
𝟑 −𝒅 𝟑 𝟑 𝟏𝟐
𝟐
Similarly
𝒃𝒅𝟑
𝑰𝒚𝒚 =
𝟏𝟐

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17-IN

Moment of Inertia for Common Shapes

Moment of Inertia

Problem 1: Find the moment of inertia of a rectangular section about its centre of
gravity in x and y directions. if the dimensions are as shown in figure.
80mm

120mm

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Moment of Inertia

Problem 2: Find the moment of inertia of a hollow rectangular section about its
centre of gravity if the external dimensions are breadth 60 mm, depth 80 mm and
internal dimensions are breadth 30 mm and depth 40 mm respectively.

Assignment questions on Moment of

Inertia
Problem 1: A hollow circular section has an external diameter of 80 mm and internal diameter of
60 mm. Find its moment of inertia about the horizontal axis passing through its centre.

Problem 2: An isosceles triangular section ABC has base width 80 mm and height 60 mm.
Determine the moment of inertia of the section about the centre of gravity of the section and the
base BC.

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Parallel Axis Theorem

It states, If the moment of inertia of a plane area about an axis through its
centre of gravity is denoted by 𝐼𝐺 , then moment of inertia of the area about any
other axis AB, parallel to the first, and at a distance h from the centre of gravity is
given by:
𝐼𝐴𝐵 = 𝐼𝐺 + 𝑎ℎ2
Where
𝐼𝐴𝐵 = Moment of inertia of the area about an axis AB,
𝐼𝐺 = Moment of Inertia of the area about its centre of gravity
𝑎 = Area of the section, and
ℎ = Distance between centre of gravity of the section and axis AB.

Moment of inertia of composite sections

The moment of inertia of a composite section may be found

out by the following steps :
1. First of all, split up the given section into plane areas (i.e., rectangular,
triangular, circular etc., and find the centre of gravity of the section).
2. Find the moments of inertia of these areas about their respective centres
of gravity.
3. Now transfer these moment of inertia about the required axis (AB) by the
Theorem of Parallel Axis, i.e., IAB = IG + ah2
4. The moments of inertia of the given section may now be obtained by the
algebraic sum of the moment of inertia about the required axis.

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17-IN

Moment of inertia of composite sections

Problem 1: Find the moment of inertia of a T-section with flange as 150 mm × 50

mm and web as 150 mm × 50 mm about X-X and Y-Y axes through the centre of
gravity of the section.

In life, Nobody and Nothing will help you until

you start helping yourself.

Thank you!!

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Lecture, Department of Civil Engineering. 22