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Torque and angle of rotation in linked shafts

This applet should help you to understand how to:
  • use either outward or inward arrows to define a "positive torque" in accordance with the right-handed rule,
  • draw graphs showing the variation of torque and twist along a shaft
  • use superposition to combine the torques and twists due to external torques applied at two different locations (B, C).
Remember
  • the RH rule only defines what a torque vector (arrow) means; as with any mechanics problem, it is up to you to draw a diagram with arrows showing what you have chosen as the positive direction for each force or torque vector.
  • "arrows outward": positive torque makes the shaft twist such that, looking along it, the angle of twist is increasingly clockwise as one looks further away. This torque would unscrew a conventional nut and bolt.
  • "arrows inwards": positive torque makes the shaft twist such that, looking along it, the angle of twist is increasingly anti-clockwise as one looks further away. This torque would tighten up a nut and bolt.