Chapter Six

Area Moments of Inertia

Content of This Chapter
 Introduction
 Polar moment of inertia
 The parallel axes Theorem (Transfer Axes)
 Radius of Gyration
 Composite Areas
 Products of Inertia
 Transfer of axis
 Rotation of Axis
 Mohr’s Circle of Inertia
 Chapter 6 - Cont.......
Introduction
 Area moment of inertia, also known as the second moment of area
or plane moment of inertia.
 It is a property of a two-dimensional shape that measures how its
points are distributed around an axis.
 It's a key factor in determining how a shape will behave under
specific loads, and is used in many fields, including:
 Structural engineering: Used to calculate a beam's deflection and
resistance to bending.
 Machine design: Used to determine the stiffness of a structural
member
 Fluid mechanics: Used to determine how pressure affects a
submerged surface
 Chapter 6 - Cont.......
 Area moment of inertia is represented by the letter (I) when the axis
is in the plane, and (J) when the axis is perpendicular to the plane
 The unit is as meters to the fourth power (m4)
 The area moment of inertia of a shape is greater for parts that are
farther from the axis, and less for parts that are closer.
 cont…

 Both the terms “second moment of area” and “area moment of

inertia” are used.
 Second moment of area is often preferred to avoid any confusion
with the moment of inertia.
 cont…
Formula for moment of inertia
 cont…
 The term ∫y2dA is called second moment of area
or area moment of inertia of the cross-section.

 The location of the center of mass is always facilitated by the

observation of symmetry when it exists.
 cont…
Polar moment of inertia
 it is the area moment of inertia for an axis that is perpendicular to
the cross-section.
 It is ussully denoted by the symbole J or Iz.

 The polar moment of inertia is calculated based on the distribution

of the area of the cross-section relative to a twisting axis ( in the
image above)
 cont…
 Polar moment of inertia about an axis passing through a specific
point on the cross-section is equal to the sum of the area moments
of inertia for two perpendicular axes that pass through the same
point.
 This is called the perpendicular axis theorem.

 The derivation for this equation is avalable on handout

 cont…
The parallel axes Theorem (Transfer Axes)
 The parallel axis theorem is a really useful theorem that makes it
easy to calculate I for different bending axes without having to
derive the equation.

 The derivation of the equation is avalable on handout.

 cont…
 Parallel axes theorem provides relationship between centroid
moments of inertia and moments of inertia about parallel axes.
To use Parallel axes theorem
Two things to note are;
i/ The axes should be parallel
ii/ One of the axes should be centroid
 cont…
Radius of Gyration
 The radius of gyration is an alternate way of expressing
the distribution of area away from an axis
 It combines the effects of the moments of inertia and
cross sectional area.
 The radius of gyration with respect to the x and y axes and the
origin are given by these formulas.

 In engineering design, the radius of gyration is used to determine

the stiffness of structural columns and estimate the critical load
which will initiate column buckling.
 cont…
Composite Areas
 The moment of inertia of a composite area about a particular axis
is simply the sum of the moments of inertia of its component parts
about the same axis.
 It is often convenient to regard a composite area as being
composed of positive and negative parts.
 cont…
Products of Inertia
 The rectangular moments of inertia are always positive.
 The product of inertia may be either positive, negative, or zero
 The result manily depending on the object’s shape and the
orientation of the coordinate axes.
 The product of inertia is zero whenever either one of the
reference axes is an axis of symmetry.

 product moment of inretia for parallel axis

 cont…
Rotation of Axes
 The product of inertia is useful when we need to calculate the
moment of inertia of an area about inclined axes.
 cont…
In a similar manner the product of inertia about
the inclined axes as

The axis of minimum moment of inertia and

maximum moment of inertia are called principal
axis
 cont…
Mohr’s Circle of Inertia
 Mohr's circle is a powerful graphical method used to visualise and
analyze the stress state at a single point within a body.
 It allows you to determine the moment of inertia and product
moment of inertia components for different orientations of the
solid object.
 Mohr’s circle can be used to, for example:
 Easily determine the maximum and minimum moment of inrtia at
a single point.
 Determine the principal moment of inertia and the orientation of
the principal moment of inertia at a single point.
 cont…
Sign convention Mohr’s Circle
 Moment of inertias are usually considered to be positive or
negative based on the following sign convention:
 Polar moment of inertia are positive if they tend to rotate the
object counter-clockwise, and are negative if they tend to rotate it
clockwise.
 Moment of inertias are positive if they tend to rotate the object
counter-clockwise, and are negative if they tend to rotate it
clockwise.
 cont…
 On Mohr’s circle the polar moment of inertia component is shown
on on the vertical axis and the area moment of inertia component
is shown he horizontal axis .
Thank u !
Thank u !
Thank u !
Thank u !
Thank u !