Engineering

Mechanics – Statics
CIE 0221
Chapter 1
Introduction & Course Syllabus
Prof. Mohammed Al-Odat

Warm welcome to everybody

Grading and Course Materials
• Grads:
• Assignments 20%
• Midterm exam 30%
• Final exam 50%
• Course Materials
• Lecture notes
• Power points slides
• Handout sheets
• Textbooks
• Engineering Mechanics: Statics 14th edition by R.C. Hibbeler
Instructional Objectives
• After completing the course, you should be able to:
• Analyze forces and find out the resultant forces in two and three
dimension
• Differentiate between various type of supports and draw free-
body-diagram
• Compute the reaction force, internal forces and bending moment
at a specific point on a simple structure (beam, frame, truss)
• Draw bending moment and shear force diagram to a simple
structure.
• Obtain centre of mass and centroid for deferent engineering
shapes & moment of inertia for deferent sections
Course Topics:
1. Introduction to 6. Structural Analysis
Engineering Mechanics - 7. Internal Forces
Statics
8. Friction
2. Force Vectors
9. Center of Gravity and
3. Equilibrium of a Particle Centroid
4. Force System
10. Moment of Inertia
Resultants
5. Equilibrium of a Rigid
Body
 Chapter 1
General Principles

Engineering Mechanics: Statics

Chapter Objectives
• To provide an introduction to the basic quantities and
idealizations of mechanics.
• To give a statement of Newton’s Laws of Motion and
Gravitation.
• To review the principles for applying the SI system of units.
• To examine the standard procedures for performing
numerical calculations.
• To present a general guide for solving problems.
Chapter Outline
• Mechanics
• Fundamental Concepts
• Units of Measurement
• The International System of Units
• Numerical Calculation and Significant
digits
• General Procedure for Analysis
1.1 Mechanics
Mechanics – can be defined as that branch of the physical
sciences concerned with the state of rest or motion of
bodies that are subjected to the action of forces

Deformable-body
Rigid Body Mechanics Fluid mechanics
mechanics

Statics – deals with the Dynamics – concerned with the

equilibrium of bodies, that are accelerated motion of bodies
either at rest or move with a
constant velocity
Introduction to Mechanics
 What is mechanics?
Physical science deals with the
state of rest or motion of
bodies under the action of
Mechanics
force

Statics Dynamics
 Why we study mechanics?
This science form the
groundwork for further study Kinematics
in the design and analysis of
structures Kinatics
Subdivisions of Mechanics
 Basic Terms
• Essential basic terms to be understood
• Statics: dealing with the equilibrium of a rigid-body at rest
• Rigid body: the relative movement between its parts are negligible
• Dynamics: dealing with a rigid-body in motion
• Length: applied to the linear dimension of a strait line or curved line
• Area: the two dimensional size of shape or surface
• Volume: the three dimensional size of the space occupied by
substance
• Force: the action of one body on another whether it’s a push or a pull
force
• Mass: the amount of matter in a body
• Weight: the force with which a body is attracted toward the centre of
the Earth
• Particle: a body of negligible dimension
1.2 Fundamental Concepts (Basic
Quantities)
 Units of Measurement
• Four fundamental quantities in mechanics
• Mass
• Length
• Time (Dynamics)
• Force
• Two different systems of units we dealing with during the course
• U.S. Customary or British System of Units (FPS)
• Length in feet (ft)
• Time in Seconds (sec)
• Force in Pounds (lb)
• International System of Units or Metric Units (SI)
• Length in metre (m)
• Time in Seconds (s)
• Force in Newton (N)
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts

Basic Quantities
• Length
– Locate position and describe size of physical system
– Define distance and geometric properties of a body
• Mass
– Comparison of action of one body against another
– Measure of resistance of matter to a change in velocity
Basic Quantities
• Time
– Conceive as succession of events
• Force
– “push” or “pull” exerted by one body on another
– Occur due to direct contact between bodies
Eg: Person pushing against the wall
– Occur through a distance without direct contact Eg:
Gravitational, electrical and magnetic forces
1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Idealizations
• Particles
– Consider mass but neglect size
Eg: Size of Earth insignificant compared to its size of
orbit

• Rigid Body
– Combination of large number of particles
– Neglect material properties
Eg: Deformations in structures, machines and
mechanism
1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Idealizations
• Concentrated Force
– Effect of loading, assumed to act at a point on a
body
– Represented by a concentrated force, provided
loading area is small compared to overall size
Eg: Contact force between wheel and ground
1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Idealizations
1. Particles
- has a mass and size can be neglected

2. Rigid Body
- a combination of a large number of particles

3. Concentrated Force
- the effect of a loading
1.2 Fundamental Concepts
(Idealizations)
1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• First Law
“A particle originally at rest, or moving in a straight line
with constant velocity, will remain in this state provided
that the particle is not subjected to an unbalanced force”
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• Second Law
“A particle 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”
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• Third Law
“The mutual forces of action and reaction between two
particles are equal and, opposite and collinear”
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Law of Gravitational Attraction

F = force of gravitation between two particles

G = universal constant of gravitation
m1,m2 = mass of each of the two particles
r = distance between the two particles
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Weight

Letting yields

• At the standard location, g = 9.806 65 m/s2

• For calculations, we use g = 9.81 m/s2
• Thus, W = mg (g = 9.81m/s2)
• Hence, a body of mass 1 kg has a weight of 9.81 N,
a 2 kg body weighs 19.62 N
 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts

Comparing F = mg with F = ma
• g is the acceleration due to gravity
• Since g is dependent on r, weight of a body is not an
absolute quantity
• Magnitude is determined from where the
measurement is taken
• For most engineering calculations, g is determined at
sea level and at a latitude of 45°
1.3 Units of Measurement and
Dimensions
• Dimension is the physical quantity, and we have
basic or fundamental and derived quantities
• Basic or fundamental quantities: Length, mass and
time (LMT)
• Units: Assign numerical values for the dimensions
1.3 Units of Measurement
SI Units [Système International d’Unités]

F = ma is maintained only if
– Three of the units, called base units, are arbitrarily
defined
– Fourth unit is derived from the equation
• SI system specifies length in meters (m), time in seconds
(s) and mass in kilograms (kg)
• Unit of force, called Newton (N) is derived from F = ma
 Units of Measurement
• Metric System (SI)
• SI System offers major advantages relative to the FPS system
• Widely used throughout the world
• Use one basic unit for length  meter; while FPS uses many basic units  inch, foot,
yard, mile
• SI based on multiples of 10, which makes it easier to use & learn whereas FPS is
complicated, for example
• SI system 1 meter = 100 centimeters, 1 kilometer = 1000 meters, etc
• FPS system 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 yard = 3 feet, 1 mile = 5280 feet, etc

• Metric System (SI)

• Newton’s second law F = m.a
• Thus the force (N) = mass (kg)  acceleration (m/s2)
• Therefore 1 Newton is the force required to give a mass of 1 kg an
acceleration of 1 m/s2
 1.3 Units of Measurement

Name Length Time Mass Force

International Meter Second Kilogram Newton

Systems of (m) (s) (kg) (N)
Units (SI)
 Units of Measurement
•Summery of the four fundamental quantities in the
two system

US Units SI Units
Quantity
Symbol Unit Symbol Unit

- slug kg kilogram Mass

ft foot m meter Length

sec second s second Time

lb pound N newton Force

Units of Measurement
• U.S. Customary System (FPS)
• Force (lb) = mass (slugs)  acceleration (ft/sec2 )
• Thus (slugs) = lb.sec2/ft
• Therefore 1 slug is the mass which is given an acceleration of 1 ft/sec 2 when acted
upon by a force of 1 lb
• Conversion of Units
• Converting from one system of unit to another;
SI Equals FPS Quantity
4.448 N 1 lb Force
14.593 kg 1 slug Mass
0.304 m 1 ft Length
• The standard value of g (gravitational acceleration)
• SI units g = 9.806 m/s2
• FPS units g = 32.174 ft/sec2
 1.3 Units of Measurement
• At the standard location,
g = 9.806 65 m/s2
• For calculations, we use
g = 9.81 m/s2
• Thus,
W = mg (g = 9.81m/s2)
• Hence, a body of mass 1 kg has a weight of 9.81 N, a 2
kg body weighs 19.62 N
1.4 The International System of Units
Prefixes
• For a very large or small numerical quantity, units
can be modified by using a prefix

• Each represent a multiple or sub-multiple of a unit

Eg: 4,000,000 N = 4000 kN (kilo-newton)
= 4 MN (mega- newton)
0.005m = 5 mm (milli-meter)
1.4 The International System of Units
1.5 Numerical Calculations
1.5 Numerical Calculations
• Numerical work in engineering practice is most often
performed by using handheld calculators and computers.
• It is important, however, that the answers to any problem
be reported with justifiable accuracy using appropriate
significant figures.
• Dimensional Homogeneity. Dimensional Homogeneity
• Each term must be expressed in the same units
• Regardless of how the equation is evaluated, it maintains its
dimensional homogeneity
• All terms can be replaced by a consistent set of units
Significant Figures
Significant Figures
• Accuracy of a number is specified by the number
of significant figures it contains
• A significant figure is any digit including zero
e.g. 5604 and 34.52 have four significant numbers
• When numbers begin or end with zero, we make
use of prefixes to clarify the number of significant
figures
e.g. 400 as one significant figure would be
0.4(103)
Significant Figures.
• Significant Figures. The number of significant figures contained in
any number determines the accuracy of the number.
• All numbers are significant except zero
• If the zero is used for decimal position it is non-significant
• For instance, the number 4981 contains four significant figures.
• However, if zeros occur at the end of a whole number, it may be
unclear as to how many significant figures the number represents.
• If zeros occur at the beginning of a number that is less than one,
then the zeros are not significant
• 1.00, 0.000015,000.00010
• 400000 has one significant digit
Rounding Off Numbers
Rounding Off Numbers
• Accuracy obtained would never be better than the
accuracy of the problem data
• Calculators or computers involve more figures in
the answer than the number of significant figures
in the data
• Calculated results should always be “rounded off”
to an appropriate number of significant figures
Rounding Off Numbers
• Rounding Off Numbers. Rounding off a number is
necessary so that the accuracy of the result will be
the same as that of the problem data.
• 9.25753
• 9.258
•9
• Two digits after decimal
• Use maximum three significant digits
• Round off final answers to three significant figures
 1.5 Numerical Calculations
Examples
Example 1.1
Evaluate each of the following and express with SI
units having an approximate prefix:
(a) (50 mN)(6 GN)
(b) (400 mm)(0.6 MN)2,
(c) 45 MN3/900 Gg

Solution
First convert to base units, perform indicated
operations and choose an appropriate prefix
 1.5 Numerical Calculations

• 

(50𝑚𝑁 )(6 𝐺𝑁 )
(a)
 1.5 Numerical Calculations

(b) • 

2
(400𝑚𝑚)(0.6 𝑀𝑁 )
 1.5 Numerical Calculations
(c) • 

3
45𝑀𝑁 /900𝐺𝑔
Example 2:
Convert to 2 km/h to m/s.

Solution

Remember to round off the final answer to three significant figures.

1.6 General Procedure for Analysis

• To solve problems, it is important to present work in a

logical and orderly way as suggested:
1. Correlate actual physical situation with theory
2. Draw any diagrams and tabulate the problem data
3. Apply principles in mathematics forms
4. Solve equations which are
dimensionally homogenous
5. Report the answer with
significance figures
6. Technical judgment
and common sense
1.6 General Procedure for Analysis

1. Read the problem carefully and try to correlate the actual

physical situation with the theory studied.
2. Tabulate the problem data and draw to a large scale any
necessary diagrams.
3. Apply the relevant principles, generally in mathematical form.
When writing any equations, be sure they are dimensionally
homogeneous.
4. Solve the necessary equations, and report the answer with no
more than three significant figures.
5. Study the answer with technical judgment and common sense
to determine whether or not it seems reasonable.