Statics: Tension or Compression?

AI Thread Summary
To determine if a member is undergoing tension or compression, one can analyze the free body diagram (FBD) and apply calculations. Intuition and rough analysis may suffice in some cases, but accurate identification often requires detailed calculations. The sign of the calculated values indicates whether the member is in tension (positive) or compression (negative). Understanding the forces acting on the member is crucial for accurate assessment. Ultimately, the calculations clarify the state of the member without needing prior knowledge of its condition.
Elfrid Payton
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When examining a member, how do I tell whether it is undergoing tension or compression?

It's more of a general question, but since a visual might help with the explanation, this could be useful:

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Elfrid Payton said:
When examining a member, how do I tell whether it is undergoing tension or compression?
You can calculate it.
Sometimes intuition and some rough analysis are sufficient, sometimes they are not.
 
mfb said:
You can calculate it.
Sometimes intuition and some rough analysis are sufficient, sometimes they are not.

The calculations are not the problem. Figuring out whether the members are undergoing tension or compression for the FBDs is what I'm having trouble with.
 
The calculations will give you negative or positive values. There is no need to know that in advance.
 

Thread 'Derivation of Hamilton's Principle: Questions'

I have recently been really interested in the derivation of Hamiltons Principle. On my research I found that with the term ##m \cdot \frac{d}{dt} (\frac{dr}{dt} \cdot \delta r) = 0## (1) one may derivate ##\delta \int (T - V) dt = 0## (2). The derivation itself I understood quiet good, but what I don't understand is where the equation (1) came from, because in my research it was just given and not derived from anywhere. Does anybody know where (1) comes from or why from it the...
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