Module 8 Class Activity:

Application of Static Equivalency:

Unknown Distributed Contact Forces
Created by:


Paul S. Steif
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
steif@andrew.cmu.edu

Anna Dollr
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department
Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056
dollara@muohio.edu
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.
Copies or derivatives of this work should acknowledge the original creators.

Support member by resting it on your hand located at various positions
Does hand always exert a net force which acts
through the center of the area of contact?
Represent Unknown Contact Forces
Yes
No
Gr
Pi
Are you able to keep the member in
equilibrium regardless of position of your
hand?
Yes
No
Gr
Pi
If board would exert net force acting through center
moments would not be in equilibrium!
Represent Unknown Contact Forces
Force necessary to maintain equilibrium: not through board center!
Cannot be
balanced!
Represent Unknown Contact Forces
Deformation of the supporting
foam seen as evidence that the
distribution of contact force
between the two bodies (puncher
and foam block) is non-uniform
foam
Object is placed off
center on a foam block
Represent Unknown Contact Forces
Cannot be
balanced!
Distribution of normal forces is
increasingly non-uniform
Represent Unknown Contact Forces
The members weight is supported by a
cord attached to the right hook, and by a
board under the left portion of the
member.
The support of the board is always statically equivalent to a
single force F in the center of the area of contact,
no matter the value of T.
T
board
c
Equilibrium with Distributed Contact Forces
True
False
Gr
Pi
There is only one tension T which will maintain equilibrium
There is a lower limit and an upper limit to the tensions T that
can maintain equilibrium
There is a lower limit to the tensions T that can maintain
equilibrium, but no upper limit
There is an upper limit to the tensions T that can maintain
equilibrium, but no lower limit
Which of the following is true?
T
board
W
Pi
Bl
Ye
Wh
The members weight is supported
by a cord attached to the right hook,
and by a board under the left portion
of the member.
Equilibrium with Distributed Contact Forces
x = c
T
min ,
N
max
x = 0
T
max ,
N
min

0 < x < c
T
min
< T < T
max

x
c
T
max

T
min

T
N
max

N
N
min

Equilibrium with Distributed Contact Forces
L
2

T
max

N
min

Equilibrium with Distributed Contact Forces
SM|
N
= 0: (L
1
-c)T
min
W(L
2
-c)
SM|
N
= 0: (L
1
)T
max
W(L
2
)
L
1

T
min
= W(L
2
-c)/(L
1
-c)
T
max
= W(L
2
/(L
1
)
To find T
min ,
T
max
:

c
W
T
min

N
max

W