Unit 1

Introduction to Civil Engineering:

Engineering: It is a profession of converting scientific knowledge into useful practical applications,
where the materials & forces in nature are effectively used for the benefit of mankind. An Engineer is
a person who plays a key role in such activities.
Civil Engineering: It is the oldest branch of professional engineering, where the civil engineers are
concerned with projects for the public or civilians.
The role of civil engineers is seen in every walk of life or infrastructure development activity such as
follows:-
1. Providing shelter to people in the form of low cost houses to high rise apartments.
2. Laying ordinary village roads to express highways.
3. Constructing irrigation tanks, multipurpose dams & canals for supplying water to agricultural
fields.
4. Supplying safe and potable water for public & industrial uses.
5. Protecting our environment by adopting sewage treatment & solid waste disposal techniques.
6. Constructing hydro-electric & thermal-power plants for generating electricity.
7. Providing other means of transportation such as railways, harbour & airports.
8. Constructing bridges across streams, rivers and also across seas.
9. Tunneling across mountains & also under water to connect places easily & reduce distance.
As seen above, civil engineering is a very broad discipline that incorporates many activates in various
fields. However, civil engineers specialize themselves in one field of civil engineering. The different
fields of civil engineering and the scope of each can be briefly discussed as follows.

1. Surveying: It is a science and art of determining the relative position of points on the earth’s
surface by measuring distances, directions and vertical heights directly or indirectly.
Surveying helps in preparing maps and plans, which help in project implementation. (setting
out the alignment for a road or railway track or canal, deciding the location for a dam or
airport or harbour) The cost of the project can also be estimated before implementing the
project. Now-a-days, using data from remote sensing satellites is helping to prepare maps &
plans & thus cut down the cost of surveying.

2. Geo-Technical Engineering (Soil Mechanics): Any building, bridge, dam, retaining wall etc.
consist of components like foundations. The foundation is laid from a certain depth below
the ground surface till a hard layer is reached. The soil should be thoroughly checked for its
suitability for construction purposes. The study dealing with the properties & behaviour of
soil under loads & changes in environmental conditions is called geo-technical engineering.
The knowledge of the geology of an area is also very much necessary.

3. Structural Engineering: A building or a bridge or a dam consists of various elements like

foundations, columns, beams, slabs etc. These components are always subjected to forces.
 It becomes important to determine the magnitude & direction the nature of the forces and
acting all the time. Depending upon the materials available or that can be used for
construction, the components or the parts of the building should be safely & economically
designed. A structured engineer is involved in such designing activity. The use of computers
in designing the members, is reducing the time and also to maintain accuracy.

4. Transportation Engineering: The transport system includes roadways, railways, air &
waterways. Here the role of civil engineers is to construct facilities related to each one.
Sometimes crucial sections of railways & roads should be improved. Roads to remote places
should be developed. Ports & harbours should be designed to accommodate, all sizes of
vehicles. For an airport, the runway & other facilities such as taxiways, terminal buildings,
control towers etc. should be properly designed.

5. Irrigation & Water resources engineering (Hydraulics Engineering): Irrigation is the process
of supplying water by artificial means to agricultural fields for raising crops. Since rainfall in
an area is insufficient or unpredictable in an area, water flowing in a river can be stored by
constructing dams and diverting the water into the canals & conveyed to the agricultural
fields. Apart from dams & canals other associated structures like canals regulators, aqua
ducts, weirs, barrages etc. are also necessary. Hydro electric power generation facilities are
also included under this aspect.

6. Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering (Environmental Engineering): People in every

village, town & city need potable water. The water available (surface water & ground water)
may not be fit for direct consumption. In such cases, the water should be purified and then
supplied to the public. For water purification, sedimentation tanks, filter beds, etc. should
be designed. If the treatment plants are for away from the town or city, suitable pipelines
for conveying water & distributing it should also be designed. In a town or city, a part of the
water supplied returns as sewage. This sewage should be systematically collected and then
disposed into the natural environment after providing suitable treatment. The solid waster
that is generated in a town or locality should be systematically collected and disposed off
suitably. Before disposal, segregation of materials should be done so that any material can
be recycled & we can conserve our natural resources.

7. Building Materials & Construction Technology: Any engineering structure requires a wide
range of materials known as building materials. The choice of the materials is wide & open.
It becomes important for any construction engineer to be well versed with the properties &
applications of the different materials. Any construction project involves many activities and
also required many materials, manpower, machinery & money. The different activities should
be planned properly; the manpower, materials & machinery should be optimally utilized, so
that the construction is completed in time and in an economical manner. In case of large
construction projects management techniques of preparing bar charts & network diagrams,
help in completing the project orderly in time.
Types of infrastructures :

Effects of Infrastructure development on the Socio-economic development of a country:

The term infrastructure is widely used to denote the facilities available for the socio-economic
development of a region. The infrastructure facilities to be provided for the public include:

1. Transport facilities

2. Drinking water and sanitation facilities

3. Irrigation facilities

4. Power generation & transmission facilities

5. Education facilities

6. Health care facilities

7. Housing facilities

8. Recreation facilities

Effects of infrastructure and economic development of country

The well being of a nation is dependent on the quality & the quantity of the above services that are
provided to the public. Development of infrastructure has number of good effects which can be listed
as follows.

1. It is a basic necessity for any country or state.

2. It forms a part of business, research & education.

3. It improves health care & Cultural activities.

4. It provides housing & means of communication to people.

5. It provides direct employment to many number of skilled, semiskilled & unskilled laborers.

6. It leads to the growth of associated industries like cement, steel, glass, timber, plastics, paints,
electrical goods etc.

7. It helps in increasing food production & protection from famine.

8. Exporting agricultural goods can fetch foreign currency.

Some ill effects of infrastructure development can also be listed as follows:

1. Exploitation of natural resources can lead to environmental disasters.

2. Migration of people from villages to towns & cities in search of job takes place.

3. Slums are created in cities.

4. It becomes a huge financial burden on the government and tax prayers.

Introduction to Engineering Mechanics

Particle: A particle is a body of infinitely small volume and the entire mass of the body is assumed to
be concentrated at a point.

Rigid body: It is one, which does not alter its shape, or size or the distance between any two points
on the body does not change on the application of external forces.

Deformable body: It is one, which alters its shape, or size or the distance between any two points on
the body changes on the application of external forces.

. .
F A B F
In the above example, the body considered is rigid as long as the distance between the points A and
B remains the same before and after application of forces, or else it is considered as a deformable
body.

Force: According to Newton’s I law, force is defined as an action or agent, which changes or tends to
change the state of rest or of uniform motion of a body in a straight line.

Units of force: The gravitational (MKS) unit of force is the kilogram force and is denoted as ‘kgf’. The
absolute (SI) unit of force is the Newton and is denoted as ‘N’.

These are ones, which help in understanding a force completely, representing a force and also
distinguishing one force from one another.

A force is a vector quantity. It has four important characteristics, which can be listed as follows.

1) Magnitude: It can be denoted as 10 kgf or 100 N.

2) Point of application: It indicates the point on the body on which the force acts.

3) Line of action: The arrowhead placed on the line representing the direction represents it.

4) Direction: It is represented by a co-ordinate or cardinal system.

Classification of force systems: Depending upon their relative positions, points of applications and
lines of actions, the different force systems can be classified as follows.

1) Collinear forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces have the same line of action.

.
. .. Line of action

F1 F 2

Ex.: Forces in a rope in a tug of war.

.
.
2) Coplanar parallel forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the same plane
and have parallel lines of action.

Y
 X

Ex.: The forces or loads and the support reactions in case of beams.

3) Coplanar Concurrent forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the same plane
and lines of action meet a single point.

Ex.: The forces in the rope and pulley arrangement.

4) Coplanar non-concurrent forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the same
plane but lines of action do not meet a single point.

Ex.: Forces on a ladder and reactions from floor and wall, when a ladder rests on a floor and leans
against a wall.
5) Non- coplanar parallel forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the different
planes and still have parallel lines of action.

Ex: The forces acting and the reactions at the points of contact of bench with floor in a classroom.

6) Non- coplanar concurrent forces It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the
different planes and still have common point of action.

Ex.: The forces acting on a tripod when a camera is mounted on a tripod.

7) Non- coplanar non-concurrent forces: It is a force system, in which all the forces are lying in the
different planes and also do not meet a single point.
 Y

Ex.: Forces acting on a building frame.

2.3 Fundamental Laws in Mechanics

Following are considered as the fundamental laws in Mechanics.

1) Newton’s I law

2) Newton’s II law

3) Newton’s III law

4) Principle or Law of transmissibility of forces

5) Parallelogram law of forces.

1) Newton’s I law: It states, “Every body continues in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a
straight line, unless it is compelled to do so by force acting on it.”

This law helps in defining a force.

2) Newton’s II law: It states, “The rate of change of momentum is directly proportional to the
applied force and takes place in the direction of the impressed force.”

This law helps in defining a unit force as one which produces a unit acceleration in a body of unit
mass, thus deriving the relationship F = m . a

3) Newton’s III law: It states, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

The significance of this law can be understood from the following figure.
Consider a body weighing W resting on a plane. The body exerts a force W on the plane and in turn
the plane exerts an equal and opposite reaction on the body.

4) Principle or Law of transmissibility of forces: It states, “The state of rest or of

Uniform motion of a rigid body is unaltered if the point of application of the force is

Transmitted to any other point along the line of action of the force.”

Body

A B A B

F F

Line of action

From the above two figures we see that the effect of the force F on the body remains the same when
the force is transmitted through any other point on the line of action of the force.

This law has a limitation that it is applicable to rigid bodies only.

Principle of superposition of forces:

It states that “the effect of given forces of system of forces on a rigid body is not changed by adding
or subtracting another system of forces in equilibrium.

For example, consider a body acted by force F1 on both the sides the body is in equilibrium under
two forces. If another system of forces of F2 is acted upon the same body. The body still remains in
equilibrium.
COMPOSITION OF COPLANAR NONCONCURRENT FORCE SYSTEM

If two or more forces are acting in a single plane, but not passing through the single point, such a
force system is known as coplanar non concurrent force system.

Moment of Force:
It is defined as the rotational effect caused by a force on a body. Mathematically Moment is defined
as the product of the magnitude of the force and perpendicular distance of the point from the line of
action of the force from the point.

Let “ F” be a force acting in a plane. Let” O” be a point or particle in the same plane. Let “d ” be the
perpendicular distance of the line of action of the force from the point “O” . Thus the moment of the
force about the point “O” is given as

Mo= F x d

Moment or rotational effect of a force is a physical quantity dependent on the units for force and
distance. Hence the units for moment can be “Nm” or “KNm” or “ N mm” etc.

The moment produced by a force about differences points in a plane is different. This can be
understood from the following figures.
Let “ F” be a force in a plane and O1, O2, and O3 be different points in the same plane

Let moment of the force “ F” about point O1 is Mo,

Mo1= F x d1

Let moment of the force “ F” about point O2 is Mo,

Mo2= F x d2

Let moment of the force “ F” about point O3 is Mo,

Mo= 0x F

The given force produces a clockwise moment about point O1 and anticlockwise moment about O2 .
A clockwise moment ( ) is treated as positive and an anticlockwise moment

( ) is treated as negative.

Note; The points O1, O2, O3 about which the moments are calculated can also be called as moment
centre.

Couple
Two forces of same magnitude separated by a definite distance, (acting parallely) in aopposite
direction are said to form a couple.

A couple has a tendency to rotate a body or can produce a moment about the body. As such the
moment due to a couple is also denoted as M.

Let us consider a point O about which a couple acts. Let S be the distance separating the couple. Let
d1 & d2 be the perpendicular distance of the lines of action of the forces from the point o.

Thus the magnitude of the moment due to the couple is given a s

Mo = (Fx d1 ) + (F x d2 )

Mo = F x d

i.e The magnitude of a moment due to a couple is the product of force constituting the couple &
the distance separating the couple . Hence the units for magnitude of a couple can be N m, kN m , N
mm etc.

Characteristics of couple:

The algebraic sum of the forces, having the couple, is zero.

2. The algebraic sum of moment of the forces, constituting couple, about any point is the same, and
equal to the moment of couple itself.

3. A couple can't be balanced by a single force, but can be balanced only by a couple, however of
opposite sense.

4. Any number of coplanar couples can be reduced to single couple, whose magnitude will be equal
to algebraic sum of moments of all the couples.
Moment of the Couple

The tendency of a force is to rotate a body. It is measured by the moment of the force. The product
of one of the two forces of a Couple and the perpendicular distance between their lines of action
(called the arm of the Couple) is called the Moment of Couple.
Equivalent Force Couple systems

Any set of forces on a body can be replaced by a single force and a single couple acting that is
statically equivalent to the original set of forces and moments. This set of an equivalent force and a
couple is known as the equivalent force couple system. to find the equivalent force couple system,
you simply need to follow the steps below.
Resultant Force:

Whenever a number of forces are acting on a body, it is possible to find a single force, which can
produce the same effect as that produced by the given forces acting together. Such a single force is
called as resultant force or resultant.

F1 F2

O F3

In the above figure R can be called as the resultant of the given forces F1, F2 and F3.

The process of determining the resultant force of a given force system is known as Composition of
forces.

The resultant force of a given force system can be determining by Graphical and Analytical methods.
In analytical methods two different principles namely: Parallelogram law of forces and Method of
Resolution of forces are adopted.
Principle of resolved parts:
Parallelogram law of forces: This law is applicable to determine the resultant of two coplanar
concurrent forces only. This law states “If two forces acting at a point are represented both in
magnitude and direction by the two adjacent sides of a parallelogram, then the resultant of the two
forces is represented both in magnitude and direction by the diagonal of the parallelogram passing
through the same point.”

B C

R
F2 F2sin
F2

 

D
O F1 F2cos

Let F1 and F2 be two forces acting at a point O and  be the angle between them. Let OA and OB
represent forces F1 and F2 respectively both in magnitude and direction. The resultant R of F1 and F2
can be obtained by completing a parallelogram with OA and OB as the adjacent sides of the
parallelogram. The diagonal OC of the parallelogram represents the resultant R both magnitude and
direction.

From the figure OC = OD2 + CD2

= (OA + AD)2 + CD2

= ( F1 + F2 cos)2 + (F2 sin  )2

i.e R =  F12 + F2 2 + 2. F1. F2.cos --------- 1

Let  be the inclination of the resultant with the direction of the F1, then

 = tan-l F2 sin ------- 2

 F1 + F2.cos

Equation 1 gives the magnitude of the resultant and Equation 2 gives the direction of the resultant.

Different cases of parallelogram law:

For different values of , we can have different cases such as follows:

Case 1: When  = 900:

R
 R
F2 F2
 

F1 F1

R =  F12 + F22

 = tan-l F2

F1


Case 2: When  = 1800:
.
R = [ F1 - F2 ] F2 O F1

 = 00

.
Case 3: When  = 00:

O F1 F2

R = [ F1 + F2 ]

 = 00
Composition of forces by method of Resolution

3.1 Introduction

If two or more forces are acting in a single plane and passing through a single point , such a force
system is known as a

F2 R

F1

θ2 α
θ1
θ3 θ4

F4

F3

coplanar concurrent force system

Let F1, F2, F3 , F4 represent a coplanar concurrent force system. It is required to determine the
resultant of this force system.

It can be done by first resolving or splitting each force into its component forces in each direction are
then algebraically added to get the sum of component forces.

These two sums are then combines using parallelogram law to get the resultant of the force systems.

In the ∑fig, let fx1, fx2, fx3, fx4 be the components of Fx1, Fx2, Fx3, Fx4 be the forces in the X-direction.

Let ∑ Fx be the algebraic sum of component forces in an x-direction

∑ Fx = fx1+ fx2+ fx3+ fx4

Similarly,

∑ Fy = fy1+ fy2+ fy3+ fy4

By parallelogram law,

∑ Fy
R

∑ Fx

The magnitude os the resultant is given as

R= √(∑ Fx)2 +(∑ Fy)2

The direction of resultant can be obtained if the angle α made by the resultant with x direction is
determined here,

∑ Fy
α = tan-1( ∑ Fx)

The steps to solve the problems in the coplanar concurrent force system are, therefore as follows.

1. Calculate the algebraic sum of all the forces acting in the x- direction (ie. ∑ Fx) and
also in the y- direction ( ie. ∑ Fy)

2. Determine the direction of the resultant using the formula

R= √(∑ Fx)2 +(∑ Fy)2

3. Determine the direction of the resultant using the formula

∑ Fy
α = tan-1( ∑ Fx)