Statics 5

INTERNAL FORCES & MOMENTS

Background
In addition to reaction forces, external loads also create forces and moments within the structure. These forces and moments often dictate the design of a structure and are of primary concern to the engineer.

Learning Objective
In the previous exercise, we used the X-ray glasses tool to view forces acting internally in a member. Here we will give more general consideration to such internal forces, and we will consider internal moments, as well.

Configuration
We begin with the basic cantilever use in the previous exercise shown below.

A loaded cantilever

StaticsVisualizer File
Statics5a: A familiar friend!

Things to Do
1. One of the goals of this exercise is to gain an understanding of the principles underlying free body diagramsthat is, learning how and why we can isolate any portion of a body in equilibrium, identify the forces acting on that isolated portion, and then enforce equilibrium on the isolated body. To this end, we begin by focusing on the internal forces that arise in any loaded body. Choose the X-ray glasses to tool, and drag an ellipse around the right end of the simple cantilever structure:

The end of the cantilever isolated as a free body

2.

One way to interpret the internal force and internal moment shown is to imagine that these are the resultants induced by the material that we cut away to isolate the cantilevers end. In other words, as long as we replace the effect of the material we cut away with an equivalent set of forces and moments acting on the part we keep, the remaining portion of the body is none the wiser. Internal resultants like this are ultimately what cause materials to break, so it is very important from an engineering perspective to be able to identify and quantify them. Verifying force equilibrium for the isolated end of the cantilever can just about be done by inspection in this case. Choosing xydecomposition of the forces via the 2 key should remove any ambiguity in regards to whether the 20-kip loads truly balance. In this case, we can also verify moment equilibrium just about by inspection. The missing piece of information is the exact length of the cantilever end we have isolated. Choosing Show Lengths from the Options:Member Display menu will cause the length of all members or member portions to be displayed:

3.

Xy-decomposition turned on and member lengths displayed

Taking moments about the cut point for the geometry shown above, we have

M = 115ft k + (14.1 k)(8.2 ft) = _________

4.

Carry out the computation and see what you get: I get 0.0 0.6. Try again using the values corresponding to your isolation ellipse dimensions

To increase the accuracy of your calculation, choose Number Formatting from the Options menu. This will bring up a dialog that lets you select how many decimal places are displayed for the various quantities StaticsVisualizer knows about. Add a decimal place to the length, force, and moment measures, close the dialog and then re-do the previous calculation using the higher precision values. See what you get this time. So far, we have been making StaticsVisualizer do all the work. Lets try doing some computations ourselves. To this end, turn off force and moment value display by either unselecting S h o w Force Values and Show Moment Values in the Options:Force & Moment Display menu, or by simply typing 4 and 5 (the 4 key toggles force value display off and on, while 5 toggles moment value display). Note that StaticsVisualizer will still display forces and moments, but no values will be shown. Resize the isolation ellipse by either selecting the current one with the X-ray glasses tool, or by using the tool to drag out a new ellipse (remember, hold down the control key while dragging to relocate rather than re-size an isolation ellipse). Once you have a new configuration, compute your own values for the vertical and horizontal internal force components, and the internal moment component (remember the applied load 20 kips at 45):
internal internal internal

5.

6.

Fx = ______________

Fy = ______________ M = ______________

7.

Once youve made your predictions, turn the value display back on (type 4 and 5 again), and compare your result to the Dr.s. Note

that you can move the ellipse and try again as many times as you likethe Dr. wont get bored.

Observation

For simple systems, there is nothing StaticsVisualizer does that you cannot do yourself relatively easily. StaticsVisualizer can serve as an excellent sparring partner for solving practice problems of this kind, and eventually you will not need help any more.

Configuration
Now lets consider a variation on the cantilever theme. The file Statics5b contains a configuration as shown:

An end-loaded cantilever with a general orientation

StaticsVisualizer File
Statics 5b: A basic cantilever.

8.

Open the indicated file, and compute what the support reactions should be (note that each grid square is 2 ft. by 2 ft.):
reaction reaction reaction

Fx = ______________

Fy = ______________ M = ______________

9.

Type option/alt-R to show the reactions, and see how you did with your calculation. Type option/alt-r again to turn off the reaction display, and then type 4 and 5 to turn off the force and moment display.

10. Use the X-ray glasses tool to drag an ellipse isolating the right end of the cantilever.

The cantilever with an isolated end

11. Recalling that the applied load in this case is 35 kip, what is the magnitude of the internal force vector? Type 4 to turn force value display back on, and check your answer. 12. To help investigate equilibrium in this case, it is handy to use the third vector decomposition option available with StaticsVisualizer. In particular, choose Axial-Shear Decomposition from the Options:Vector Decomposition menu (or type 3 for a shortcut). This will decompose the internal force into components lying along the member (the axial component) and perpendicular to the member (the shear component). Now take moments about the loaded end of the cantilever (choose Show Lengths from the Options:Member Display menu to see how long your isolated section is), and see if you can determine the magnitude of the internal moment. Type 5 to turn moment display back on and check your answer.

Summary

Determining internal forces and moments in an isolated portion of a structure is similar to finding external reactions for a rigid body. Applying force and moment equilibrium enables one to determine the internal forces and moments acting on any portion of a statically determinate structure. Internal member forces can be represented in terms of axial and shear (transverse) components.

On Your Own
You now have the basic tools to determine reactions and internal forces for any statically determinate system. Try creating your own systems or model problems out from your text, do your own free body analyses, and then check your work with StaticsVisualizer. Heres a quick example to help you get started creating your own systems:

A simple frame

1.

To create this configuration yourself, choose New from the File menu. Choose Clear All/Delete All from the Edit menu to get a clean slate. Use the fixed support tool to create a support by clicking at a convenient location. Use the frame member tool ( ) to create the vertical member by clicking first on the support you just created, and then at a grid point above the support (note: dont click and dragjust click separately at the beginning and end points to members). Create the horizontal member by again clicking with the frame member tool at the top of the previous member you made and then clicking at the desired end point off to the right. Thats ityou have created your own structure. Go ahead and load it up, calculate the reactions yourself, and then see if the program agrees.

2. 3.

4.

You will have opportunity to create many other structures later on, but if you want to experiment more now, just keep adding members by clicking away. Refer to the online documentation for a full description of how the member tools work.