Lever

Block Lever It is a mechanical lever in its general form. The scheme of application of forces is shown in the diagram below.

The lever equations are given for a negligible angular deviation from the initial position.:

where

The above equations are obtained under the assumption that the lever sums up the forces and displacements in the node . This assumption is arbitrary and does not impose any restrictions on how forces or displacements are applied to the lever. In other words, any of the lever nodes can be an input or output node, depending on the magnitude of the force. Moreover, any of the nodes of the block can be connected to a reference point, thus turning a lever with three nodes into a lever of the first kind (with a fulcrum in the middle) or a lever of the second kind (with a fulcrum at one of the ends).

The following figure shows a diagram of a lever of the first kind with a fulcrum in the middle.

It is described by the following equations:

The following figure shows a diagram of a lever of the second kind with a fulcrum in the node .

It is described by the following equations:

Absolute node offsets are assumed to be positive if they correspond to a globally defined positive direction.