… of a body

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… of a body#

By applying equilibrium to the free-body diagram of a body you can find unknown forces and moments which prevent motion (translation and rotation). The concept of equilibrium of a body is treated in chapter 3.1.1 of the book Engineering Mechanics Volume 1 (Hartsuijker and Welleman, 2006). At maximum three unknown forces (of which maximum one couple) can be solved in a planar problem and six forces in a threedimensional problem. The steps involved are:

  1. Draw a free body diagram of the body

  2. Split the forces in convenient directions by applying resolution of forces

  3. Solve the forces and moments using \(\sum F = 0\) in two nonparallel convenient directions and \({\left. {\sum T } \right|_x} = 0\) for any arbitrary points \(x\) as treated in chapter 3.1.5 of the book Engineering Mechanics Volume 1 (Hartsuijker and Welleman, 2006). For threedimensional problem, moments are taken around a line as treated in chapter 3.3.2. The full procedure for planar problems is shown in chapter 3.2 and for threedimensional problems in chapter 3.4.

Exercises#

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