Engineering Mechanics

Lecture # 01
Engr. Waqar Ahmad
M. Sc Structural Engineering
CONTENTS OF PRESENTATION:

▪ Marks Breakup/ Distribution

▪ Course Outline
▪ Reference Books
▪ Basic Concepts of Engineering Mechanics
MARKS DISTRIBUTION:

Theory Parts
Class Quizzes 10 %
Class Participation (Assignments,
Presentation & Attendance) 10%

Mid-Term Exam: 30 %
Final-Term Exam: 50 %
Final grades are assigned according to the approved policy.
CONTENTS OF SUBJECT:

▪ Basic concepts of space, time, mass, velocity, acceleration and force.

▪ Scalar and vector quantities. Newton's laws of motion, law of gravitation.
▪ Units of measurement for space, time, mass and force. SI and FPS systems of
units.
▪ Resultant and resolution of co-planer forces using parallelogram, triangle and
polygon law and funicular polygon. Simple cases of resultant and resolution
of forces in space.
▪ Conditions of equilibrium of co-planar forces, analytical and graphical
formulations.
▪ Free body concept, conditions of support and attachment to other bodies.
CONTENTS OF SUBJECT CONTINUED:

▪ Free body concept, conditions of support and attachment to other bodies.

▪ Degree of restraint and static determinacy. Statically determinate
problems especially of civil engineering importance. Work, energy and
power.
▪ Virtual work formulation of equilibrium of coplanar force. Potential
energy, energy criterion for equilibrium, stability of equilibrium,
application to simple cases. Geometrical properties of plane areas, first
moment of area, centroid, second moment of area, principal axes, polar
second moment of area and radius of gyration.
▪ Friction, Coulomb's theory of friction. Problems involving friction on flat
and curved surfaces.
REFERENCE BOOKS:

▪ Hibbeler, R. C. Engineering Mechanics- Statics and Dynamics, Prentice

Hall. (10th Edition), 2003
▪ Ferdinand P. Beer and E. Russel Johnston Jr. “Vector Mechanics for
Engineers”, 7 th Edition, 2008
▪ F. L. Singer, Engineering Mechanics, 4th ed, Harper and Row Publisher,
1987.
▪ J. L. Mariam & L. G. Kraige; Engineering Mechanics Statics and Dynamics;
John Wiley & Sons, 6th Edition, 2007
ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Engineering Mechanics may be defined as the physical science which

describes and predicts the conditions of rest or motion of bodies under the
action of forces.
OR
▪ Branch of applied sciences which deals with the laws and principles of
Mechanics along with their application to Engineering problems.
▪ In other words, where there is motion or force, there is mechanics.
▪ In Engineering, Mechanics is generally based on Newton’s Laws and is often
called Newtonian (or Classical) Mechanics after the English scientist Sir Isaac
Newton (1642-1727).
IDEALIZATION IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Assumptions in Mechanics: The mathematical description of a real

engineering problem can become very complex. Thus, idealization (or
models) and assumptions are used in mathematics in order to simplify the
application of the theory.
▪ Particle, is a body whose dimensions are considered to be near zero so that
we may analyze it as a mass concentrated at a point. We may treat a body as a
particle when its dimensions are irrelevant to the description of its position
or the action of forces applied to it. A body considered as a particle is taken as
a unique point, which is generally the mass center of the body. By doing so,
the principles of mechanics are reduced to a rather simplified form, since the
geometry of the body will not be involved in the analysis of the problem. The
line of actions of all the forces applied to the body must pass through this
point.
IDEALIZATION IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Rigid Body, is an idealized body composed of a large number of particles

all of which always remain at fixed distances from each other.
▪ A rigid body is assumed to undergo no deformation under the action of
applied forces.
▪ Its shape and dimensions remain fixed under all loading conditions and at
all times
IDEALIZATION IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Point Force, is an idealized force assumed to act at a point on a body.

▪ A constant force exerted on a body by another is actually distributed over
the area of contact between two bodies.
▪ If the area of contact is relatively small, the contact force between the two
bodies may be considered as a point (concentrated) force.
ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Engineering Mechanics is usually studied for three types of bodies:

Mechanics

Rigid Deformable
Fluids
Bodies Bodies
MECHANICS OF RIGID BODIES:

▪ Statics deals with the forces and their effects

on bodies, while acting upon the bodies at Rigid Bodies
rest.
▪ Dynamics deals with the forces and their
effects on bodies, while acting upon the Statics Dynamics
bodies in motion.
▪ Kinematics is the branch of Dynamics, which
deals with the bodies in motion, without any Kinetics Kinematics
reference to the forces which are responsible for
the motion.
▪ Kinetics is the branch of Dynamics, which
deals with the bodies in motion due to the
application of forces.
MECHANICS OF DEFORMABLE BODIES:

▪ In Rigid Body Mechanics, it is assumed that

bodies are completely rigid. In reality, no
structure or machine is completely rigid and
it will somewhat deform under the effect of Deformable
applied forces. However, these deformations Bodies
are generally extremely small and they
neither affect the body nor the equilibrium
conditions appreciably.
▪ However, if the amount of deformation or Theory of Theory of Theory of
resistance against failure is considered in a Elasticity Plasticity Failure
member under applied loads, these
deformations gain importance. In this
particular case, such bodies become the
subject of Mechanics of Deformable bodies.
MECHANICS OF FLUIDS:

▪ Mechanics of Fluids is concerned with

liquids and gases at rest or in motion.
▪ In-Compressible fluids have constant
density. Fluids
▪ Density of Compressible fluids is not
constant.

Compressible Incompressible
Fluids Fluids
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Space is the geometric region occupied

by bodies whose positions are
described by linear or angular
measurements relative to a specific
coordinate system. For three
dimensional problems, three
independent coordinates are needed.
For two dimensional problems only two
coordinates will be required.
▪ In Civil Engineering, Concept of space
is used to locate the position of a body
or point from a reference point/ mark.
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Time, is a concept for measuring the succession and the duration of events. Time
is not directly involved in the analysis of problems in Statics.
▪ Mass, is the quantity of matter in a body. Technically speaking, mass is a
measure of the translational inertia of the body, which is its resistance to a
change in velocity. The mass of a body affects the gravitational attraction force
between it and other bodies.
▪ The concept of mass is used to characterize and compare two bodies on the basis
of certain fundamental mechanical experiments depending on the definitions
given above. For example:
i. Two bodies of the same mass will be attracted by the Earth in the same
manner.
ii. They will also offer the same resistance to a change in translational
motion.
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

▪ Force, represents the action of one body on another. Force can be

generated either by the direct contact of bodies or by their effect at a
distance.
▪ Forces always occur in pairs. Forces of a pair are always equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction.
▪ Force is a vector quantity. The action of a force is characterized by its
magnitude, by the direction of its action and by its point of application.
▪ A force tends to move a body in the direction of its action (the push-pull
effect of the force). In addition, a force tends to rotate the body about any
axis which does not intersect the line of action of the force and which is
not parallel to it (the moment effect of the force).
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

FIRST LAW OF MOTION:

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with
the same speed and in the same direction unless an external force acts on it.
In other words, if the resultant force acting on a particle is zero, then the
particle is in equilibrium.

Mathematically,
Σ𝐹 = 0
Where Σ𝐹 is the vector sum (Resultant) of all the forces acting on the body.
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

SECOND LAW OF MOTION:

When a force F is applied on a body, an acceleration is produced which is
directly proportional to the Force applied, F and inversely proportional to the
mass, m of body.
Mathematically,
𝑎 ∝𝐹
1
𝑎 ∝
𝑚
Simplifying above equations we get,
𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

THIRD LAW OF MOTION:

The forces of action and reaction
between interacting bodies are equal in
magnitude, opposite in direction and
collinear.
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

LAW OF GRAVITATION:
Gravitational force of attraction Fg between two bodies of Masses M1 and M2
is given by the expression.
Where d => centroidal distance between bodies
G => universal constant of gravitation (6.673x10-11m3/kg. s2)
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING MECHANICS:

A particular case of great importance is that of the attraction of the Earth

on a body located at its surface. The force F exerted by the Earth on the
particle is then defined as the weight W of the particle.
Mathematically,
𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔
Where
m is the mass of the body.
g is the gravitational acceleration of earth.
FUNDAMENTAL UNITS AND DERIVED UNITS:

FUNDAMENTAL UNITS:
The measurement of physical quantities is one of the most important
operations in engineering. Every quantity is measured in terms of some
arbitrary, but internationally accepted units, called fundamental units.
All the physical quantities, met with in Engineering Mechanics, are expressed
in terms of three fundamental quantities, length, mass & time.
DERIVED UNITS:
Sometimes, the units are also expressed in other units (which are derived from
fundamental units) known as derived units e.g. units of area, velocity,
acceleration, pressure etc.
SYSTEMS OF UNITS:

▪ There are only four systems of units, which are commonly used and
universally recognized. These are known as:
i. S.I. Units ii. C.G.S Units iii. F.P.S Units iv. M.K.S Units
S.I. UNITS (INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS):

In this system of units, the fundamental units are meter (m), kilogram (kg) and
second (s) respectively. We will use following derived units in this subject:

Density (Mass density) Kg/m3

Force N (Newton)
Pressure N/mm2 or N/m2
Work Done (in Joules) J = N-m
Power in watts W = J/s
SYSTEMS OF UNITS:

F.P.S UNITS (INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS):

In this system of units, the fundamental units are foot (f), pound (lb) and
second (s) respectively. We will use following derived units in this subject:
Density (Mass density) lb/ft3
Force lb-f
Pressure lb/ft2
PREFIXES:
BASIC RULES FOR S.I. UNITS:

1. A dash is to be used to separate units, which are multiplied together. For

example, a newton-meter is written as N-m. It should no be confused with
mN, which stands for millinewton.
2. For numbers having 5 or more digits, the digits should be placed in groups
of three separated by spaces (instead of *commas) counting both to the left
and right of the decimal point.
3. In a four digit number, the space is not required unless the four digit number
is used in a column of numbers with 5 or more digits.