How to calculate the tension in a beam of a bridge?

[Wimpalot]

What's negative?
Unless you identify what you are talking about and what sign convention you are using, "positive" and "negative" are just meaningless noises.

Sorry the torque due to T is negative.
I broke the space key on my keyboard so I am being a bit lazy with words.

 

[jbriggs444]

Sorry the torque due to T is negative.
I broke the space key on my keyboard so I am being a bit lazy with words.

So you add a negative to a negative and get zero?

[Back in #18, you said that the torque due to F_P was negative. Now you say that the torque due to T is also negative]

 

[Wimpalot]

So you add a negative to a negative and get zero?

[Back in #18, you said that the torque due to F_P was negative. Now you say that the torque due to T is also negative]

Sorry I got mixed up the torque due to the tension should be positive.

 

[jbriggs444]

Sorry I got mixed up the torque due to the tension should be positive.

Ok. And since your convention is that positive is counter-clockwise, we are talking about compression. If T is the "tension" in that beam then T must be negative.

So, can you now solve for T?

 

[Wimpalot]

Ok. And since your convention is that positive is counter-clockwise, we are talking about compression. If T is the "tension" in that beam than T must be negative.

So, can you now solve for T?

Yeah just T = -FP*L/(L*sin(60)) which is correct according the site.

Thank you very much for all the help I really feel like I understand this now and can apply it all in the future so thank you very much.