Chapter 03
FORCES AND MOMENTS
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"Bridges are constructed from many different structural components
such as rods, compression members, beams and cables, etc. To properly size
these components so they will perform their function safely for the duration of their
design life, we must determine the forces and the moments acting on each
component. These forces and moments are vector quantities
that are defined by specifying both magnitude and direction. In this
chapter, we describe two different approaches for dealing with vector
quantities:
- A relatively simple approach based on trigonometry, which is easy to
use when analyzing two-dimensional (plane) structures.
- A more elegant technique utilizing vector algebra, which is very useful in analyzing
three-dimensional structures. Unfortunately, this technique requires an understanding
of a mathematical topic that is new to many engineering students.
We will solve two-dimensional examples employing the trigonometric techniques.
We will also introduce vector algebra and demonstrate the vector dot
and cross product to show their application in determining the unknown forces and
moments in structural components."
p3-1
DISTRIBUTED FORCE
FORCE
A PUSH OR A PULL
FORCE
LINEAR
PROPERTY OF SYSTEMS WHERE THE SYSTEM OUTPUT OR RESPONSE IS IN DIRECT
PROPORTION TO THE INPUT. DOUBLING THE INPUT (LOAD, FORCE, ENERGY, TENSION,...)
HAS THE EFFECT OF DOUBLING THE OUTPUT (STRETCH, COMPRESSION, DISPLACEMENT,...)
LINEARLY DISTRIBUTED FORCE
David Snyder
Pages generated by IDL
Tue Feb 01 12:06:16 2000
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