I have been trying to come up with the optimal way to calculate the force required for an actuator to be able to lift a bridge 90 degrees. (A drawbridge) The actuator is placed as follows: (The bridge is red, its rotation point is denoted as the black dot and the actuator is pink). On the left is the starting point, and on the right - the endpoint.
My question is how can I calculate the force required for the actuator to lift the bridge up? Also, would the force be always the same or not, as I assume once it starts lifting, the force required to continue the movement becomes smaller and smaller. What about the position of the actuator? Does its movement come into play when calculating the force or not?