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Distributed forces in statics has several meanings; one dealing with center of masses and the other with... well distributed forces like wind.
Center of masses, or what engineers typically refer to as centroids, is probably something you already have done in a math class. The centroid is simply that location where the entire weight (or mass) of an object can be considered to act. This makes things easier when we apply the equations of statics.
The other type of distributed forces is a bit easier to see why it is in this section. A few good examples are wind acting on a building, or water pressure acting on the face of a dam. Like with centroids we will learn how to take the distributed force and convert it into a single equivalent force so we can then do statics. |
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