It is of interest to interpret the parallel axis theorem in terms of force systems. Figure
A,
l
la shows (in side elevation) a plane figure
of
area
A
(represented in side elevation by
the line segment
EF),
with centroid C, acted upon by a linearly varying pressure. The
total pressure block EFGH may be regarded as a block of uniform pressure
(EFKL)
plus
a couple represented by
HLKG,
The uniform pressure block has a resultant
W
=
wIy LA
(Equation
A.1
1) acting at the centroid. The figure
HLKG
is a couple of moment
M
=
w1
I,
(Equation A. 15).
K
M
X'
Fipre
A.
l l
The force
W
and the couple
M
may be replaced by a single resultant force
R
at a
distance
M/
W
from
C
(see Chapter
4,
Section
4.5).
In this case:
The total moment of the pressure system about axis
x
is:
M+ Wy;:
=
w,Ixx
+
w,AyL2
which
is
the same as Equation A.26. The significance of the
two
terms on the right-hand
side of this equation may be seen from Figure
A.
1
1
b
in which the axis of zero load moves
nearer to the centroid
C,
and Figure A.
l
IC in which this axis coincides with
C.
Clearly
the moment of the uniform pressure block,
w1
(Ay
L2)
diminishes
as
y
decreases, while
the mom~nt of the couple
w,Ixx
remains constant. The distance from the centroid to the
position of the resultant force increases as Wbecomes smaller. In the limit, as
y;:
tends
to zero, this distance tends to infinity, since the resultant force is now zero.
The Parallel Axis Theorem could be used to find the second moment
of
area
of
the
rectangle of Figure
A.8
about an axis
xx
through the centroid and parallel to
M.
The
axis
xx
is D/2 from
M.
From Equation A.26:
The
figures,
bd
(&l)@
3
4
bd
"
-
-
-
--
-
12
theorem is particularly useful for finding the second moment of composite
a very common problem in engineering.