Bedford,Fowler:Statics.

Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

CentroidsandCentersofMass
Introduction
Thischapterisacalculusreviewofthemeasuresoflines,areas,andvolumesaswellastheirfirstandsecond
moments.Mostimportanthereishowtheyrelatetodistributedloadresultants,andresultantforcesand
moments.Thecentroidsandsecondmomentsofareasarewidelyusedinlatercoursesonthestressanalysis
ofbarsandbeams.Hereyouwillapplythemtolineloadsofacertainforceperunitlength.Figure1shows
anarbitrarydistributedloadwithaconstantdirection.Ofcourse,thedirectionoftheresultantisthesame.
Themagnitudeoftheresultantforceissimplytheareaundertheloadingcurve.Forcommonareashapesyou
canlookuptheareaanditscentroidinatable.Thecentroidgivesthepointthroughwhichtheresultantforce
acts.Inotherwords,formomentcalculationsyouusethecentroidpositiontocalculateleverarms.

Figure1Adistributedlineloadanditsresultantmagnitudeandposition
Centroidsandsecondmomentsaredirectlyrelated,bymassdensity,tothecenterofmassandthemass
momentofinertia.Lateryouwillsettheresultantforcevectorequaltotheobjectsmasstimesthe
accelerationvectorofthecenterofmass.Instatics,theconstantvelocitymeansthattheaccelerationis
identicallyzero.Later,youwillalsosettheresultantmomentvectorequaltotheproductoftheangular
accelerationvectorandthemassmomentofinertia(tensor).Thepointschosentoevaluatethemoment
vector,andthemassinertiatensor,areusuallythecenterofmass,orafixedpoint,orapointwithaknown
acceleration(inthatorderoflikelihood).Ifanobjecthasalineofsymmetry,thenthecentroidalwayslieson
thatline.Thus,ifanobjecthastwo(ormore)linesofsymmetryyoucanlocatethecentroidandcenterof
massbyinspection.Thedistributedweightofanyobjectcanalwaysbetakenasactingatitscenterofmass.
Lineloads
Oftenadistributedlineloadcanbesplitintotwoormoreshapesforwhichyouremembertheequationsfor
theirareaandcentroid.Figure2illustratesthatconceptforatrapezoidallineload.Youcouldsplititintotwo
subareas.Thenbothcontributetotheresultantlineload(bysummingthetwoforces),andtotheresultant
momentofthelineloadwithrespecttoanypointchosen.Themomentcalculationsimplyusestheleverarm
fromthechosenpointtothecentroidofeachsubarea(timetheforcefromthatsubarea).
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Figure2Distributedloadscanbesplitintoalternateregions
Distributedlineloadscanoftenbeapproximatedbyasimplepolynomial.Figure3givesrelationsforthearea
andcentroidofaregionunderapolynomialsegment.Itincludesarectangularregion(n=0,a=bh,x_g=b/2),a
triangle(n=1,a=bh/2,x_g=2b/3),aparabolicsegment(n=2,a=bh/3,x_g=3b/4)amongthegeneralrelations.
Similarrelationsfortheareaabovethecurvearealsogiven.NotethatFigure1couldhavebeensplitintotwo
suchareas.Or,itcouldhavebeenviewedasarectangularloadminustwopolynomialendsegments.

Figure3Usefulequationsforapolynomiallineloadsegment
Example7.7
Thisbeam,inFigure4,hasaconstantverticallineloadof400N/mbetweenpointsAandB.Itsverticalleghas
atrapezoidalhorizontalloadof800N/matthebottomtaperingdownto400N/matthetop.Theverticalleg
loadcouldbesplitintotwotriangularloads,atriangleandarectangularload,orbeintegrateddirectlywith
calculus.thetextshowsthesecondoption,buttheTKexample(inFigures5and6)willusethefirstoption.

Figure4Abeamwithtwodistributedlineloads
Therectangularverticaldistributedload,betweenpointsAandB,is
400
6
2,400 .
2
RelativetopointB,itsleverarmis
3 .Therectangularloadontheverticalleghasthesame
magnitudeandlength.Thus,itwillhavethesamemagnitude(butisdirectedhorizontally),andthesame
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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

relativeleverarmfromthetop.Thetriangularloadontheverticallegiscalculatedfromthetoppoint,to
maketheequationsinFigure3apply.Theresultanthorizontalforceis
/2
400
6 /2
1,200 .Itsleverarm,fromthetopis
2 3
4 .Figure4(right)showsthosesametwoleverarms
measuredfromthebottomoftheverticalleg.Generally,youneedtodevelopthedistributedlineload
resultant(s)valueandlocationbeforeyouwritetheequilibriumequations.Theresultantdistributedload
,or
momentwithrespecttopointBis: _
_

2400 3

2400 6

1200 6

2,400

Likewise,youcouldhavesplittheverticalleglineloadintotwotriangles.Onevariesfrom800N/matthe
bottomtozeroatthetop,whilethesecondvariesfrom400N/matthetoptozeroatthebottom.Thefirst
/2
800
6 /2 2,400 at
2 3
4 (2maboveB).
trianglehasaresultantof
/2
400
6 /2 1,200 at
2 3
4 abovepointB.
Thesmallertrianglehas
Clearly,thenetresultantforceisthesame(3,600N)asisthefinalmomentwithrespecttoBforbothline
loads: _
2400 3
2400 6 4
1200 4
2,400
.

Figure5Rulesheetforbeamwithtwolineloads
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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Asacomment,Figure5containstheresultantforceandmomentofatrapezoidalloadthatiseasilyobtained
fromFigure2(tryit).Notethatthelineloadsperunitlengthcanhaveeitherpositiveornegativesigns.
However,forlineloadswithmixedsignsyouhavetobealerttoavoiddivisionbyzero.Thus,forthefirsttime,
aruleforthecentroidoftheleglineloadincludesanifthenelsestatementtoavoidpossibledivisionbyzero.
ThetextloadingvaluesareusedinFigure6andtheoutputsmatchthesupportloadsofthetext.

Figure6Variablessheetforbeamwithtwolineloads
ByreferringtoFigure2,youshouldnotethatthegenerallineloadcanbesplitintoapurecoupleeffect
combinedwithacenteredforceeffect.ThisconceptissketchedinFigure7.Thatisacommonwaytoview
suchloads,especiallywhenstudyingbeams.Sometimesthepressurecausesonlyacouple.

Figure7Alineloadisoftensplitintoacouplecombinedwithacenteredforce

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

ToillustratetheconceptofalineloadcausingonlyapurecoupleconsiderFigure8.TherethelineloadonAB
isomitted,andtheleglineloadhasoppositesignsateachend.Thatis,theleghasalineloadthatvanishesat
themidpointoftheleg.Thus,itlooksliketwotriangularloads.Oneistotherightonthetophalfoftheleg
andanequalandoppositeoneonthelowerhalfoftheleg.Theresultantappliedloadingisapurecouple.
Therefore,youshouldexpectthesupportstorespondwithanequalandoppositecouple.Figure8showsthat
resultinthatsupportpointBpushesupwithaforcewhiletheverticalforceatAisdownwardandhasthe
samevalue.BeingseparatedbythedistanceL_AB,theyformtheresistingcouple.Thereisnohorizontalforce
atAbecausetheresultantcenteredforcewaszero.

Figure8Lineloadformingapurecouple

Example7.16
TheproblemaspresentedhasadiagonalsymmetryasindicatedbythegeometryontheleftofFigure9.The
TKexampleisstatedinamoregeneralformwherethetwosegmentsofthebarhavedifferentlengths.The
mass(andweight)perunitlengthistakenasconstant.Here,thexcentroidisfoundbyrequiringthemoment
oftheweightofthepiecestoequalthemomentofthetotalweight.Theycentroidisfoundbythecomposite
object(line)theorem.ThecorrespondingrulesaregiveninFigure10.

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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure9WeightloadingofaLshapedbar
Themassperunitlengthisrelatedtothetotalmass.Thatyieldstheweightofeachlegsection.Ofcourse,Ay
mustbalancethetotalweightforthegivensupportconditions.Therollerforce,B,willdependontherelative
lengthsofthetwolegs.Figure11showstheresultsforthetextdatawherethetwoleglengthswereeachone
meter.Ifyoubentthesamebarintoaformwheretheupperlegwasonlyhalfameter,youshouldexpectthe
reactionatBtoincreasefortworeasons.First,its(vertical)leverarmhasbeenreduced.Secondly,thelever
armoftheweightW_AChasincreased.Indeed,Figure12showsthatholdingthemassconstantand
specifyingthehorizontallengthL_ACtooneandahalfmeters,thesystemfindstheverticallength,L_CB,as
expected.Thatchangeinbendpointincreasestheforceattherollerbyafactorof2.5toabout1,472N.If
youneededtolimitthatforceto1,000NthenyoucouldinputthatintoyourTKmodelandsolveforL_AC
aftergivingitastartingguess.(Trythatchange.Thenewlengthisabout1.31m,asgiveninFigure13.)

Figure10Lshapebarwithunequalleglengths
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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure11Outputforasymmetricalbar

Figure12Unequallengthlegschangetherollerforce
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Bedford,Fowler:Statics.Chapter7:CentroidsandCentersofMass,ExamplesviaTKSolver

Figure13Limitingtherollerforcedeterminesthenewshape,L_AC

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