Text/Reference Books

R. C. Hibbler, Engineering Mechanics: Principles of Statics and Dynamics,

Pearson Press, .

I. H. Shames, Engineering Mechanics: Statics and dynamics, 4th Ed, PHI, 2002.
 Engineering Mechanics
Mechanics: Oldest of the Physical Sciences

Archimedes (287-212 BC): Principles of Lever and Buoyancy!

Mechanics is a branch of the physical sciences that is concerned with the

state of rest or motion of bodies subjected to the action of forces.
Mechanics has two parts
Statics: Studies bodies at rest
Dynamics: Studies bodies In motion
Engineering
Mechanics
Rigid-body Mechanics
A rigid body does not deform under load!
Engineering Mechanics
Rigid-body Mechanics
Statics: deals with equilibrium of bodies under
action of forces (bodies may be either at rest or
move with a constant velocity).
 Engineering
Mechanics
Rigid-body Mechanics
• Dynamics: deals with motion of bodies (accelerated
motion)
Mechanics: Fundamental Concepts
Length (Space): needed to locate position of a point in space, &
describe size of the physical system Distances, Geometric
Properties

Time: measure of succession of events basic quantity in

Dynamics

Mass: quantity of matter in a body measure of inertia of a body

(its resistance to change in velocity)

Force: represents the action of one body on another

characterized by its magnitude, direction of its action, and its point
of application

Force is a Vector quantity.

Mechanics: Fundamental Concepts
Newtonian Mechanics

Length, Time, and Mass are absolute concepts

independent of each other

Force is a derived concept

not independent of the other fundamental concepts.
Force acting on a body is related to the mass of the body
and the variation of its velocity with time.

Force can also occur between bodies that are physically

separated (Ex: gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces)
Mechanics: Fundamental Concepts
Remember:
•Mass is a property of matter that does not
change from one location to another.
•Weight refers to the gravitational attraction of
the earth on a body or quantity of mass. Its
magnitude depends upon the elevation at
which the mass is located
• Weight of a body is the gravitational force acting on it.
Mechanics: Idealizations
To simplify application of the theory
Particle: A body with mass but with dimensions
that can be neglected

Size of earth is insignificant

compared to the size of its
orbit. Earth can be modeled
as a particle when studying its
orbital motion
 Mechanics: Idealizations
Concentrated Force: Effect of a loading which
is assumed to act at a point (CG) on a body.
•Provided the area over which the load is applied
is very small compared to the overall size of the
body.
Ex: Contact Force
between a wheel
and ground.

40 kN 160 kN
Mechanics: Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
Basis of formulation of rigid body mechanics.
First Law: A particle originally at rest, or moving in a straight
line with constant velocity, tends to remain in this state
provided the particle is not subjected to an unbalanced force.

First law contains the principle of

the equilibrium of forces. It is the
main topic of concern in Statics
Mechanics: Newton’s Three Laws of
Motion
Second Law: A particle of mass “m” acted upon by an
unbalanced force “F” experiences an acceleration “a” that
has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is
directly proportional to the force.

m F = ma

Second Law forms the basis for most

of the analysis in Dynamics
Mechanics: Newton’s Three Laws of
Motion
Third Law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between
two particles are equal, opposite, and collinear.

Third law is basic to our understanding of Force € Forces always

occur in pairs of equal and opposite forces.
 Mechanics: Newton’s Law of Gravitational Attraction
Weight of a body (gravitational force acting on a body) is required to be
computed in Statics as well as Dynamics.
This law governs the gravitational attraction between any two particles.

m1m2
F=G
2
r
F = mutual force of attraction between two particles
G = universal constant of gravitation
G = 6.673x10-11 m3/(kg.s2)
Rotation of Earth is not taken into account
m1, m2 = masses of two particles
r = distance between two particles
Gravitational Attraction of the Earth
Weight of a Body: If a particle is located at or near the surface of
the earth, the only significant gravitational force is that between
the earth and the particle
Weight of a particle having mass m1 = m :
Assuming earth to be a non- rotating
sphere of constant density and
having mass m2 = Me

mMe
W=G r = distance between the earth’s
2
r center and the particle
Let g = G Me /r2 = acceleration due to
W = mg
gravity (9.81m/s2)
 Mechanics: Units
Four Fundamental Quantities
Quantity Dimension SI UNIT
al Unit Symbol
Symbol
Mass M Kilogram Kg Basic
Length L Meter M Unit
Time T Second s
Force F Newton N

F = ma N = kg.m/s2
1 Newton is the force
required to give a mass of 1
kg an acceleration of 1 m/s2
W = mg N = kg.m/s2
Mechanics: Units Prefixes
Scalars and Vectors
Scalars: only magnitude is associated.
Ex: time, volume, density, speed, energy, mass
Vectors: possess direction as well as magnitude, and must obey the
parallelogram law of addition (and the triangle law).
Ex: displacement, velocity,
acceleration, force, moment,
momentum

Equivalent Vector: V = V1 + V2 (Vector Sum)

Speed is the magnitude of

velocity.
Vectors
A Vector V can be written as: V = Vn V
= magnitude of V
n = unit vector whose magnitude is one and whose direction
coincides with that of V
Unit vector can be formed by dividing any vector, such as the geometric
position vector, by its length or magnitude
Vectors represented by Bold and Non-Italic letters (V)

Magnitude of vectors represented by Non-Bold, Italic letters (V)

y j
x i i, j, k – unit vectors

z k
 Vectors
Free Vector: whose action is not confined to or
associated with a unique line in space
Ex: Movement of a body without rotation.

Sliding Vector: has a unique line

of action in space but not a
unique point of application
Ex: External force on a rigid body
Principle of Transmissibility
Important in Rigid Body Mechanics

Fixed Vector: for which a unique point

of application is specified
Ex: Action of a force on deformable body
 Vector Addition: Procedure for Analysis
Parallelogram Law
(Graphical) Resultant Force
(diagonal) Components
(sides of parallelogram)

Algebraic Solution
Using the coordinate system

Trigonometry (Geometry)
Resultant Force and Components
from Law of Cosines and Law of
Sines
Force Systems
Force: Magnitude (P), direction (arrow) and point of application (point A) is
important
Change in any of the three specifications will alter the effect on the bracket.

Force is a Fixed Vector

In case of rigid bodies, line of action of force is important (not its point of
application if we are interested in only the resultant external effects of the
force), we will treat most forces as
External effect: Forces applied (applied
force); Forces exerted by bracket, bolts,
Foundation (reactive force)

Internal effect: Deformation, strain pattern

– permanent strain; depends on material
Cable Tension properties of bracket, bolts, etc.
P
 Force Systems
Concurrent force:
Forces are said to be concurrent at a point if their lines of action
intersect at that point
F1, F2 are concurrent forces; R will be on same plane; R = F1+F2

F2 F2
R = F1+F2
R
F2
R R F2
A A
F1 A F1
F1 F1
Plane

Forces act at same point Triangle Law

Forces act at different point
(Apply Principle of Transmissibility)
Components and Projections of Force
Components of a Force are not necessarily equal to the Projections
of the Force unless the axes on which the forces are projected are
orthogonal (perpendicular to each other).

F1 and F2 are components of R. R = F1 + F2

Fa and Fb are perpendicular projections on

axes a and b, respectively.

R ≠ Fa + Fb unless a and b are perpendicular

to each other
 Components of Force

Examples
Vector
 Components of Force
Example 1:
Determine the x and y
scalar components of
F1, F2, and F3 acting
at point A of the bracket
 Components of Force
Solution
:
 Components of Force
Alternative Solution
 Components of Force
Alternative
Solution
Components of Force
Components of Force
Example 3:Tension in cable BC is 725-N, determine the resultant of the three
forces exerted at point B of beam AB.

Solution:
• Resolve each force into rectangular
components.

• Determine the components of the

resultant by adding the
corresponding force components.

• Calculate the magnitude and

direction of the resultant.
Components of Force
Resolve each force into rectangular components

Magnitude (N) X-component (N) Y-component (N)

725 -525 500
500 -300 -400
780 720 -300

Calculate the magnitude and direction

 Components of Force
Alternate solution

Calculate the magnitude and direction

Rectangular Components
 Unit Vectors
Unit Vector: a vector having magnitude of 1.
Cartesian Unit Vectors

Unit Vectors in Coordinate Directions:

Cartesian Vector Representation
Magnitude
α, β, and γ are the
coordinate direction
angles.
These are the angles
between A and the
reference axes.
The cosines of these
angels are called the
direction cosines.
Direction Cosines
Important Relationship
 Addition and
Subtraction of Cartesian
Vectors
 Addition and
Subtraction of Cartesian
Vectors
 Rectangular Components in Space

• Resolve Fh
• The vector is • Resolve Finto into
F horizontal and vertical
contained in the rectangular
plane OBAC. components. components
Fy = F cosθ y sin φθycosφ
Fx ==FFh cos

Fh = F sinθ y Fz = Fh sin φ
= F sin θ y sin
φ
Rectangular Components in Space
Rectangular Components in Space
Direction of the force is defined by the location of two points
 Force Vector Directed Along a Line
We can formulate F as a Cartesian vector by realizing that it
has the same direction and sense as the position vector r
directed from point A to point B on the cord.This common
direction is specified by the unit vector
. Hence,
Rectangular Components in Space
Example: The tension in the guy
wire is 2500 N. Determine: SOLUTION:

a) components Fx, Fy, Fz of the • Based on the relative locations of the

force acting on the bolt at A, points A and B, determine the unit
vector pointing from A towards B.
b) the angles qx, qy, qz defining the
• Apply the unit vector to determine
direction of the force
the components of the force acting
on A.
• Noting that the components of the
unit vector are the direction cosines
for the vector, calculate the
corresponding angles.
 Rectangular Components in Space
Solution
Determine the unit vector pointing from A
towards B.

Determine the components of the force.

Rectangular Components in Space
Solution
Noting that the components of the unit
vector are the direction cosines for the
vector, calculate the corresponding
angles.

θ x=
115.1o

θ y = 32.0o

θ z = 71.5o
 Vector Products
Dot Product

Applications:
to determine the angle between two vectors
to determine the projection of a vector in a specified direction
A.B = B.A (commutative)
A.(B+C) = A.B+A.C (distributive operation)
dot product( two important applications)

The angle formed between two vectors or intersecting lines.

The components of a vector parallel and perpendicular to a line.

Aa = A cos Ɵua = A •ua
A1 = A sin Ɵ
 Vector Products
Cross
Product:

Cartesian Vector
 Practice problems
All examples and all fundamental problems
 Objectives
1. To introduce the concept of the free-body diagram for a
particle.
2. To show how to solve particle equilibrium problems
using the equations of equilibrium.