We saw in the preceding chapter that the external forces acting on a rigid body can be reduced to a force-couple system at some arbitrary point O. When the force and the couple are both equal to zero, the external forces form a system equivalent to zero, and the rigid body is said to be in equilibrium.

The necessary and sufficient conditions for the equilibrium of a rigid body, therefore, can be obtained by setting R and M^R_O equal to zero in the relations (3.52) of Sec. 3.17:

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In order to write the equations of equilibrium for a rigid body, it is essential to first identify all of the forces acting on that body and then to draw the corresponding free-body diagram. In this chapter we first consider the equilibrium of two-dimensional structures subjected to forces contained in their planes and learn how to draw their free-body diagrams. In addition to the forces applied to a structure, the reactions exerted on the structure by its supports will be considered. A specific reaction will be associated with each type of support. You will learn how to determine whether the structure is properly supported, so that you can know in advance whether the equations of equilibrium can be solved for the unknown forces and reactions.

Later in the chapter, the equilibrium of three-dimensional structures will be considered, and the same kind of analysis will be given to these structures and their supports.