Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles

3.1 Equilibrium
 Engineering statics is the study of rigid bodies in equilibrium so it’s appropriate to begin by defining what we mean by rigid bodies and what we mean by equilibrium.
 A body is an object, possibly made up of many parts, which may be examined as a unit. In statics, we consider the forces acting on the object as a whole and also examine it in greater
detail by studying each of its parts, which are bodies in their own right. The choice of the body is an engineering decision based on what we are interested in finding out. We might,
for example, consider an entire high-rise building as a body for the purpose of designing the building’s foundation, and later consider each column and beam of the structure to
ensure that they are strong enough to perform their individual roles.
 A rigid body is a body that doesn’t deform under load, that is to say, an object which doesn’t bend, stretch, or twist when forces are applied to it. It is an idealization or approximation
because no objects in the real world behave this way; however, this simplification still produces valuable information. You will drop the rigid body assumption and study
deformation, stress, and strain in a later course called Strength of Materials or Mechanics of Materials. In that course, you will perform analysis of non-rigid bodies, but each problem
you do there will begin with the rigid body analysis you will learn to do here.
 A body in equilibrium is not accelerating. As you learned in physics, acceleration is velocity’s time rate of change and is a vector quantity. For linear motion,
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.1 Equilibrium
 There are several ways to think about this equation. Reading it from left to right it says that if all the forces acting on a body sum to zero, then the body will be in equilibrium. If you
read it from right to left it says that if a body is in equilibrium, then all the forces acting on the body must sum to zero. Both interpretations are equally valid but we will be using the
second one more often. In a typical problem equilibrium of a body implies that the forces sum to zero, and we use that fact to find the unknown forces which make it so. Remember
that we are talking about vector addition here, so the sums of the forces must be calculated using the rules of vector addition; you won’t get correct answers if you can’t add vectors!
 We’ll be using all of the different vector addition techniques introduced in Section 2.6, which may lead to some confusion. It doesn’t matter, mathematically, which technique you use
but part of the challenge and reward of statics is learning to select the best tool for the job at hand; to select the simplest, easiest, fastest, or clearest way to get to the solution. You’ll do
best in this course if you can use multiple approaches to solve the same problem.
 In Chapter 5 we will add another requirement for equilibrium, namely equilibrium equation (5.3.2) which says the forces which cause rotational motion and angular acceleration α also
must sum to zero, but for the problems of this chapter the only condition we’ll need for equilibrium is .
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.2 Particles
 We’ll begin our study of Equilibrium with the simplest possible object in the simplest possible situation — a particle in a one-dimensional coordinate system. Also, in this chapter
and the next all forces will be represented as concentrated forces. In later sections, we will address more complicated situations, higher dimensions, and distributed forces, but
beginning with very simple situations will help you to develop engineering sense and problem-solving skills which will be useful later.
 The defining characteristic of a particle is that all forces that act on it are coincident or concurrent:
o Forces are coincident if they have the same line of action, and
o concurrent if they intersect at a point.
o Forces are coincident/concurrent if their lines of action all intersect at a single, common point or if they share the same line of action.
o One practical consequence of this is that particles are never subjected to forces that cause rotation.

 Another consequence of concurrent forces is that Equation (3.1.1) is the only equilibrium equation that applies.
 Another simplification we will be making is to treat all forces as concentrated. Concentrated forces act at a single point, have a well-defined line of action, and can be represented
with an arrow — in other words, they are vectors. Real forces don’t actually act at a single mathematical point but concentrating them is intuitive and will be justified in a later
chapter 7.8. You’re already familiar with the concept if you have ever placed all the weight of an object at its centre of gravity.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.3.1 A simple case
 Consider the weight suspended by a rope shown in Figure 3.3.1. Diagrams of this type are called space diagrams; they show the objects as they exist in space.
 In mechanics we are interested in studying the forces acting on objects and in this course, the objects will be in equilibrium. The best way to do this is to draw a diagram that focuses on
the forces acting on the object, not the mechanisms that hold it in place. We call this type of diagram a free-body diagram because it shows the object disconnected or freed from its
supporting mechanisms. This shows that there are two forces acting on the object; the force of the rope holding it up, and the weight of the object which is trying to pull it to earth,
which we treat as acting at its centre of gravity.
 The actual shape of the weight is not important to us, so it can simply be represented with a dot, as shown when the view control is in position three. The forces have been slid along
their common line of action until they both act on the dot, which is an example of an equivalent transformation called the “Principle of Transmissibility.” This diagram in view three
is completely sufficient for this situation and is called a simplified FBD.

 Drawing free-body diagrams can be surprisingly tricky. The reason for this is that you must identify all the forces acting on the object and correctly represent them on the free-
body diagram. If you fail to account for all the forces, include additional ones, or represent them incorrectly, your analysis will surely be wrong.
 So what kind of analysis can we do here? Admittedly not much. We can find the tension in the rope caused by a particular weight and use it to select an appropriately strong rope, or we
can determine the maximum weight a particular rope can safely support.
 The actual analysis is so trivial that you’ve probably already done it in your head, nevertheless several ways to approach it will be shown next.
 In the vector approach we will use the equation of equilibrium.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.3.1 A simple case
 Find T:
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.3.3 Two-force Bodies
 As you might expect from the name, a two-force body is a body with two forces acting on it, like the weight just discussed. As we just saw, in order for a two-force body to be in
equilibrium the two forces must add to zero. There are only three possible ways that this can happen:
 The two forces must either
o share the same line of action, have the same magnitude, and point away from each other, or
o share the same line of action, have the same magnitude, and point towards each other, or
o both forces have zero magnitude.
 When two forces have the same magnitude but act in diametrically opposite directions, we say that they are equal-and-opposite. When equal and opposite forces act on an object and
they point towards each other we say that the object is in compression, when they point away from each other the object is in tension. Tension and compression describe the internal
state of the object.

 Did you notice that last three examples in Figure 3.3.7 did not include the object’s weight? These are simplifications that ignore the object’s weight to make them two-force bodies. If
the object’s weight was included, it would be a three-force body. This approximation is justifiable when the object’s weight is small in comparison with the tensile or compressive
forces. In this case, we say that the weight is negligable, i.e. small enough to neglect. Also note that all these examples show single forces acting at each point. If several forces act at a
point, they should be combined into a single resultant force acting there.
 Two force bodies appear frequently in multipart structures and machines which will be covered in Chapter 6. Some examples of two force bodies are struts and linkages, ropes, cables
and guy wires, and springs.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.3.4 General Procedure
 The general procedure for solving one, two, or three-dimensional particle equilibrium problems is essentially the same. Start with the 5-step method for creating a free-body diagram
and solve for your unknowns using your equilibrium equations.
1. Draw a Free-Body Diagram
2. Select and isolate the particle. The “free-body” in free-body diagram means that a concurrent force particle or connection must be isolated from the supports physically
holding it in place. This means creating a separate free-body diagram from your problem sketch.
3. Establish a coordinate system. This step is simple for one-dimensional problems: just label a positive direction for the forces.
4. Identify all loads. Include force vectors on your free-body diagram representing each applied load pushing or pulling the body, in addition to the body’s weight, if it is non-
negligible. Every vector should have a descriptive variable name and a clear arrowhead indicating its direction.
5. Identify all reactions. Reactions represent the resistance of the physical supports you cut away by isolating the body in step 1. All particle supports are two-force members that
result in tension or compression forces. Label each reaction with a descriptive variable name and a clear arrowhead.
6. Label the diagram. Verify that every force is labeled with either a value or a symbolic name if the value is unknown. Your final free-body diagram should be a stand-alone
presentation and is the basis of your equilibrium equations.
7. Create and Solve Equilibrium Equations
8. Write the equilibrium equation. Now represent your free-body diagram as an equilibrium equation. Your computation should start with the governing equation, like .
9. Solve for unknown. Use algebra to simplify the equilibrium equation and solve for the unknown value. Write the unit of your answer. All answers in engineering have units
unless you prove that they don’t. Finally, underline or box your answers.
10. Check your work. Do the results seem reasonable given the situation? Have you included appropriate units?
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
3.4 2D Particle Equilibrium
 In this section we will study situations where everything of importance occurs in a two-dimensional plane and the third dimension is not involved. Studying two-dimensional
problems is worthwhile because they illustrate all the important principles of engineering statics while being easier to visualize and less mathematically complex.
 We will normally work in the “plane of the page,” that is, a two-dimensional Cartesian plane with a horizontal x- axis and a vertical y-axis discussed in Section 2.3 previously. This
coordinate system can represent either the front, side, or top view of a system as appropriate. In some problems it may be worthwhile to rotate the coordinate system, that is, to
establish a coordinate system where the x and y axes are not horizontal and vertical. This is usually done to simplify the mathematics by avoiding simultaneous equations.
Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
N

N
N
N
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.1 – Find the resultant of the following 3 forces

θA = 53.1deg; θB = 14.04deg; θC = 76deg;

Ax = Acos53.1; Ay = Asin53.1
Bx = Bcos14.04; By = Bsin14.04
Cx = Ccos76; Cy = Csin76
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.1 – Find the resultant of the following 3 forces

θA = 53.1deg; θB = 14.04deg; θC = 76deg;

Ax = Acos53.1; Ay = Asin53.1
Bx = Bcos14.04; By = Bsin14.04
Cx = Ccos76; Cy = Csin76
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.2 – Find the resultant of the following 3 forces

θA = 36.9deg; θB = 53.1deg; θC = 45deg;

Ax = Acos(θA); Ay = Asin(θA)
Bx = Bcos(θB); By = Bsin(θB)
Cx = Ccos(θC); Cy = Csin(θC)
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.3 – Find the resultant of the following 3 forces

θA = 36.9deg; θB = 45deg; θC = 45deg;

Ax = Acos(θA); Ay = Asin(θA)
Bx = Bcos(θB); By = Bsin(θB)
Cx = Ccos(θC); Cy = Csin(θC)
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.4 - Three forces act on particle A as shown. Use the equations of equilibrium to determine the magnitudes of B and C when load W= 350 N.

Tip:
Since the angle given for B is the angle made with the vertical y-axis, then
we have 2 options:
(1) Find the angle that B makes with the horizontal x-axis (90 – 65 = 25);
then Bx = Bcos25; By = Bsin25
(2) Use the angle given but switch the formulas such that we have:
Bx = Bsin65; By = Bcos65
Both of these give the same answers!
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.5 - Three forces act on particle A as shown. Use the equations of equilibrium to determine the magnitudes of B and C when load W= 250 N.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.6 - Four forces with magnitudes A = 10 N, B = 50 N, and C = 85 N, act on a particle in the directions shown. Determine the magnitude and direction of force D required for
equilibrium.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.7 - Four forces with magnitudes A = 25 N, B = 90 N, and C = 85 N, act on a particle in the directions shown. Determine the magnitude and direction of force D required for
equilibrium.
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.8 – Ball in a Trough

Acos30° Bcos25°
65° 30° 25° 30° 25°
60°
30° 25°

Asin30° Bsin25°

Space Diagram Free-Body Diagram Simplified FBD W

W W
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.8 – Ball in a Trough

Acos30° Bcos25° Resolving sim. Eq. (1) and (2):

30° 25°
Acos30° = Bcos25° A = 0.906B/0.866 = (9 - 0.423B) / 0.5
0.866A = 0.906B  A = 0.906B/0.866 ...(1) 0.5 * 0.906B = 0.866 * (9 - 0.423B)
Asin30° Bsin25° 0.453B = 7.794 – 0.366B
0.819B = 7.794
Asin30° + Bsin25° = W B = 7.794 / 0.819 = 9.516N
W 0.5A + 0.423B = 9
0.5A = 9 - 0.423B Thus A = (0.906 * 9.516) / 0.866
Simplified FBD
A = (9 - 0.423B) / 0.5 … (2) A = 9.956N
 Chapter 3 Equilibrium of Particles
Revision:
R3.9 – Cargo Boom

Space Diagram Free-Body Diagram

Resolving sim. Eq. (1) and (2):

T = 0.643C/0.97 = (24 –0.766C)/0.242
Tcos14° = Ccos50°
0.242* 0.643C = 0.97 * (24 - 0.766C)
0.97T = 0.643C  T = 0.643C/0.97 … (1)
0.156C = 23.28 – 0.743C
0.899C = 23.28
Tsin14° + Csin50° = W C = 23.28 / 0.899 = 25.9N
0.242T + 0.766C = 24
0.242T = 24 - 0.766C Thus T = (0.643 * 25.9) / 0.97
T = (24 – 0.766C) / 0.242 … (2) T = 17.17N