Assignment 1

Course: ME 201
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Guwahati

1. Find all the supporting forces and moment for the cantilever beam as
shown in Fig.1.

Figure 1:

2. Two equal cylinders, each weighing 900 N are placed in a box as shown
in Fig. 2. Determine the reaction forces at A, B, C. Neglect the friction
between the cylinders and the box.

Figure 2:

1
3. Compare the forces F required to just start the 900 N lawn roller over
a 75 mm step when (a) the roller is pushed and (b) the roller is pulled.

Figure 3:

4. A 100 N force is required to operate the foot pedal as shown in Fig.

4. Determine the force in the connecting link and the force exerted by
the lever on the bearing at O. Neglect the weight of the lever.

Figure 4:

5. A rigid rod with negligible weight and small transverse dimensions

carries a load W whose position is adjustable. The rod rests on a small
roller at A and the bears against the vertical wall at B. Determine
the distance x for any given value of θ such that the rod will be in
equilibrium. Assume that friction is negligible.

6. Determine the forces in all the members of the truss shown in Fig. 6

2
 Figure 5:

Figure 6:

7. A circular cylinder A rests on the top of two half-circular cylinders B

and C (shown in Fig. 7), all having the same radius r. The weight of
A is W and that of B and C is 21 W each. Assume that the coefficient
of static friction between the flat surfaces of the half-cylinders and the
horizontal table top is µs . Determine the maximum distance d between
the centers of the half-cylinders to maintain equilibrium.

8. A block of weight W rests on an inclined plane which makes an angle

θ = arctan 34 as shown in Fig. 8. A force P , parallel to the x axis, is
applied to the block and gradually increased from zero; when P reaches
the value 0.4W the block begins to slide. What is the coefficient of
friction between the block and the inclined plane?

9. A window air-conditioning unit is supported by a round rod as shown

in Fig. 9. For what angle θ will the required cost of the rod be a
minimum?

3
 Figure 7:

Figure 8:

10. A longshoreman can barely start pushing a trunk up a 30◦ concrete

ramp shown in Fig.10. He can barely hold it from sliding back when
the slope is 60◦ . What is the coefficient of static friction between the
trunk and the concrete?

4
Figure 9:

Figure 10: