Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES

Nabua, Camarines Sur

FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS

ERLY O. CELIZ, RCE

 OUTLINE
OBJECTIVES
1. Introduction
2. Fundamental Concepts and Definitions  Define various terms related to
3. Force Systems principles of statics.
4. Axioms of Mechanics  Use the concepts of force systems
and engineering mechanics in the
5. Introduction to Free-Body Diagrams
analysis of problems.
6. Scalar and Vector Quantities
 Apply concepts of engineering
7. Parallelogram Law mechanics in structural related
8. Triangle Law subjects.
 Understand the laws and axioms of
mechanics.

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 INTRODUCTION
ENGINEERING MECHANICS – is the branch of science which deals with the behavior
of a body with the state of rest or motion under the action of forces.
Statics – consider the effects
and distribution of forces on ENGINEERING MECHANICS
rigid bodies which are and
remain at rest.
Dynamics – consider the
motion of rigid bodies caused Mechanics of Mechanics of
by the forces acting upon Solids Fluids
them.
Deformable Viscous Compressible
Rigid Bodies Ideal Fluids
Bodies Fluids Fluids

Strength
Statics Dynamics Theory of Theory of
of
Elasticity Plasticity Kinematics – deals with the
Materials pure motion of rigid bodies.
Kinetics – relates the motion
Kinematics Kinetics to the applied forces.

Outline of Engineering Mechanics

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 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Rigid Body – defined as a definite amount of matter the parts of which are fixed in position
relative to each other.
The study of Strength of Materials is based on the deformation (however small) of
such bodies.
Force – defined as that which changes, or tends to change, the state of motion of a body.

Effect of Force

External Effect Internal Effect

External Effects – effect of forces considered in the study of engineering mechanics.

Internal Effects – effect of forces that produces stress and deformation, and considered in
the study of strength of materials.

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 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Characteristics of a Force:
1. Magnitude;
2. Position of its line of action;
3. Direction (or sense) in which the force acts along its line of action.

Principle of Transmissibility of a force – states that the

external effect of a force on a body is the same for all
points of application along its line of action.
The internal effect of force, however, is definitely
dependent on its point of application.

Unit of Force commonly used:

1. SI (Metric) System – Newton (N); gram (g) and kilogram (kg) are also used, but should
be multiplied by the amount of acceleration due to gravity (9.81 𝑚/𝑠 2 ).
2. English System – Pound (lb), multiples of pound such as kip (1000 𝑙𝑏) or ton (2000 𝑙𝑏).
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 FORCE SYSTEMS
Force System – is any arrangement where two or more forces act on a body or on a group of
related bodies.
Different Kinds of Force Systems
According to plane it lies:
Coplanar – when the lines of action of all the
forces in the system lie in one plane, i.e., 2D.
Non-coplanar - when the lines of action of all the
forces in the system lie in two plane, i.e., 3D.

(a) Coplanar Force System (b) Non-coplanar Force System According to the line of action:
Concurrent – forces whose line of action
pass through a common point.
Parallel – forces whose line of action are
parallel.
Non-concurrent – forces whose line of
action neither are parallel nor intersect in
a common point.
(c) Concurrent Force System (d) Parallel Force System (e) Non-concurrent
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 AXIOMS OF MECHANICS
The principles of mechanics are postulated upon several more or less self-evident facts which
cannot be proved mathematically but can only be demonstrated to be true.
1. Parallelogram Law: The resultant of two forces is the diagonal of the parallelogram formed
on the vectors of these forces.
2. Two forces are in equilibrium only when equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and
collinear in action.
3. A set of forces in equilibrium may be added to any system of forces without changing the
effect of the original system.
4. Action and reaction forces are equal but oppositely directed.

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 INTRODUCTION TO FREE-BODY DIAGRAMS

Free-Body Diagram – a sketch of the isolated body

which shows only the forces acting on upon the body.
Action or Applied Forces – forces acting on the free
body.
Reaction Forces – forces exerted by the free body upon
other bodies.

Free-Body Diagram

SCALAR AND VECTOR QUANTITIES

Scalar – quantities which possess magnitude only and can be added arithmetically.
Vectors – quantities which possess direction as well as magnitude, and can be combined
only by geometric addition.

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 PARALLELOGRAM LAW

Parallelogram Law is stated as:

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔
𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔. “

Resultant – the single effect where two or

more forces are added.

Experiment proving the Parallelogram Law

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 TRIANGLE LAW
Triangle Law is stated as:
"𝑰𝒇 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆
𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓. "

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 SEATWORK 1
I. Identify the force system according to line of action and plane it lies:

1. 2. 3.

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4. 5. 6.
II. Give the free-body diagram of the following problems/illustrations.
3. Two Blocks in Contact. A force
1. A sled is pulled by force P at an angle is applied to two blocks in
of 30°. contact. Be sure to consider
Newton’s Third Law at the
interface where the two blocks
touch.

4. Coupled Blocks. A blocks rests

2. Two blocks on an inclined plane. on the table. A light rope is
Construct the free-body diagram for attached to it and runs over a
object A and B. pulley. The other end of the
rope is attached to second
block. The two blocks are said
to be coupled. Block 𝑚2 exerts
a force due to its weight, which
causes the system (two blocks
and a string) to accelerate.

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