– states that the external effect

of a force on a body is the same for all points of application along

its line of action, whereas its internal effect is dependent of the
point of application of the force.
• To introduce the student to the engineering applications of
Mechanics
• Engineering is defined as the application of the
mathematical and physical sciences (physics, chemistry and
biology) to the design and manufacture of items that
benefit humanity.
• Difference of an engineer from a scientist: engineers
design

• when a body has more than one force acting.

• Scientists develop theories to understand the nature, and
engineers apply that knowledge to solve real world
problems
• Engineers have to consider the financial effects of their
work, though scientists are not concerned about them
• Engineers usually belong to the professional category,
whereas scientists often belong to academic category

• The study of the action of forces on bodies that are

assumed to be rigid and are at rest.
• It is a branch of Mechanics and Mechanics is a branch of •
Physics o When all forces acting on a body lie on the same
SOME COMMONLY USED TERMS plane.

– a definite amount of matter the parts of

which are fixed in position relative to each other. They are
assumed to not deform although in reality, bodies are never
rigid.
– that which changes or tends to change the state
of motion of a body (external effect) or produce stress
and deformation of a body (internal effect). It is the Colinear Force System
product (multiplication) of mass of the particle and its • When the lines of action of all the forces of a system
acceleration. act along the same line, this force system is called
collinear force system.
1. Magnitude
2. position of it’s a line of action
3. direction or sense in which the force acts along its
line of action
Parallel Force System

Coplanar and non-concurrent force system

•
o When the line of action of all the forces do
not lie in one plane.

Concurrent Force System

• The forces when extended pass through a single

point and the point is called point of concurrency. The
lines of actions of all forces meet at the point of
concurrency. Concurrent forces may or may not be
• A sketch of the isolated body showing only the
coplanar.
external forces acting on the body.
Non-concurrent Force System • The body is shown completely separated from al
other bodies.
• When the forces of a system do not meet at a
• The action on the body of each body removed in the
common point of concurrency, this type of force
isolating process is shown as a force or forces on
system is called non-concurrent force system. Parallel
the diagram.
forces are the example of this type of force system.
Non-concurrent forces may be coplanar or non- Scalar and Vector Quantities
coplanar.
• The scalar quantity is only one dimensional and vector
Coplanar and concurrent force system quantity is multi-dimensional.
• force system in which all the forces lie in a single • Scalar quantity changes if its magnitude changes,
plane and meet at one point. but vector quantity changes when magnitude or
direction or both changes.
 • There are normal algebra rules for the scalar quantity
and also for vector quantity their
separate vector algebra.

• - Scalar quantities often refer to time; the

measurement of years, months, weeks, days, hours,
minutes, seconds, and even milliseconds.
• - Scalar quantity can refer to the volume of the
medium, as in how much of the medium is present.
Everything from tons to ounces to grams, mi liliters and
micrograms are al scalar quantities, as long as they are
• If 2 vectors acting simultaneously on a body are
applied to the medium being measured and not the
represented both in magnitude and direction by 2 sides of
movement of the medium.
a triangle taken in an order then the resultant (both
• - Two more commonly used
magnitude and direction) of these vectors is given by
scalar quantities in physical calculations are speed and 3rd side of that triangle taken in opposite order.
temperature. As long as they are not associated with a
• In the figure, the forces are P and Q, then place tail
directional movement, they remain scalar quantities. For
to tip to form the sides of a triangle. The third side R
instance, the measurement of speed in miles or
is then the resultant of the two forces P and Q.
kilometers-per-hour or the measurement of the
temperature of the medium both remain scalar quantities
as long as they aren't associated with the direction of the
medium's travel.

• - The
measurement of the medium's temperature is a scalar
quantity; the measurement of the increase or decrease in
the medium's temperature is a vector quantity.
• - The measurement of the rate at which an
object changes position is a vector quantity.

• If two vectors acting simultaneously at a point can be

represented both in magnitude and direction by the
adjacent sides of a parallelogram drawn from a point, then
the resultant vector is represented both in magnitude and
direction by the diagonal of the parallelogram passing
through that point.
• In the figure, A and B are the forces used to draw
the parallel side of the parallelogram. The diagonal of
the parallelogram is then the resultant of the two
forces A and B.
 Resultant of Coplanar Concurrent Force System

The components of the force vector can also be arranged this way,
forming a right triangle as in the figure.

• If it points to the right, it is positive.

• If it points to the left, it is negative.

• If it points up, it is positive.

• If it points down, it is negative
 • The moment of a Force about any axis is equal to the sum
of the moments of its components about that axis
• This means that resolving or replacing forces with their
resultant force will not affect the moment on the object
being analyzed
• The tendency of a force to rotate a rigid body about
any defined axis.
• The moment, M, of a force about a point provides a
measure of the tendency for rotation (sometimes
called a torque).

• The moment, M, of a force about a point provides a

– Note the different signs on the terms!
measure of the tendency for rotation (sometimes
The typical sign convention for a moment in 2 D is that
called a torque).
counterclockwise is considered positive.
M=F*d
• We can determine the direction of rotation by imagining
d = the perpendicular distance from point O to the line of
the body pinned at O and deciding which way the body
action of the force.
would rotate because of the force.

• The units of a Moment are:

N·m in the SI system
ft·lbs or in·lbs in the US Customary system

❖ Moments not only have a magnitude, but they also have a

sense to them.
❖ The sense of a moment is clockwise or counterclockwise
depending on which way it will tend to make the object
rotate
❖ The sense of a Moment is defined by the direction it is
acting on the Axis and can be found using Right Hand Rule.
 • A couple refers to two parallel forces that are equal in
magnitude, opposite in sense and do not share a line of
action.
• A better term is force couple or pure moment.
• Its effect is to create rotation without translation or,
more generally, without any acceleration of the centre of
mass.

• Couple is independent of the moment center, thus, the

effect is unchanged in the following conditions:
o The couple is rotated through any angle in its • is defined as the condition of a body, which is subjected to
plane. a force system whose resultant force is equal to zero. It
o The couple is shifted to any other position in its means the effect of the given force system is zero and
plane. the particle or rigid body is said to be in equilibrium.
o The couple is shifted to a parallel plane. For example, a particle subjected to two forces will be in
equilibrium when the two forces are equal in magnitude,
opposite in direction and act along the same line of action as
shown.

• The resultant of a concurrent, coplanar force system is a

single force through the point of concurrence. When the
resultant force is zero, the body on which the force
Resultant of Non-Concurrent Force System
system acts in equilibrium.
• Consider the force system as shown in figure:
• If the sum of the x components of the forces of the
system is equal to zero, the resultant can act only along
the y axis.
• If in addition, the sum of the y components of the forces
of the system is equal to zero, the resultant must be zero.
Consequently, one complete set of equations of equilibrium
for a concurrent, coplanar force system is
• A rectangular coordinate system is said to be right- handed
if the thumb of the right hand points in the direction of
the positive z axis when the right-hand fingers are curled
about this axis and directed from the positive x towards
the positive y axis.

• In three dimensions, the set of Cartesian unit vectors, i,j,k,

is used to designate the directions of the x,y,z axes
respectively.
• The arrowhead of these vectors will be represented
analytically by a plus or minus signes whether they are
directed along the positive or negative x, y or z axes.
 - the magnitude of A is equal to the positive square root of
the sum of the squares of its components

-
regardless of where A is directed, each of these angles will be
between 0-180 degrees

If the magnitude and coordinate direction angles of A are known, • A position vector r is defined as a fixed vector which
then A may be expressed in Cartesian vector form as locates a point in space relative to another point.
Three-Dimensional Force Systems

• A truss is a structure that consists of

o All straight members
o Connected together with pin joints
o Connected only at the ends of the members
o All external forces (loads & reactions) must be
applied only at the joints
o Every member of the truss is a 2 force member
o Trusses are assumed to be a negligible weight
(compared to the loads they carry)
 Frames are structures with at least one multi-force member,

• i.e. atleast one member that has 3 or more forces acting

on it at different points.
• a non-axial member that is not simply in tension or
compression.
• If forces are applied to more than two positions on the
member, it is three-force member.
• Frames are pin-connected structures with some, or all
members are three-force members.
• To analyze a frame, we can disconnect the three-force
member from the structure and draw the free-body
diagram of the member.
• This approach is called the method of members.

• Where we find the internal forces only in a few specific

members of a truss
• Cable is a funicular structure.
o Funicular structure could be said to be a
structure which can achieve equilibrium state by
adopting a mechanism of a 'right' form
(shape/geometry) corresponding to the applied
loads. This 'right' form is referred to as the
'funicular' geometry.
• A cable may be defined as the structure in pure tension
having the funicular shape of the load.

• Cables are mainly used to support suspension roofs,

bridges and cable car system.
• They are also used in electrical transmission lines and for
structures supporting radio antennas.
• It is easy to visualize that a cable hung from two supports
subjected to external load must be in tension.
• Cables are flexible. They do not resist shear force and
bending moment.
• The forces are always acting tangential to the cable at any
point along the length.
• If the weight of the cable is negligible as compared with
the externally applied loads, then its self-weight is
neglected in the analysis.

- The stiffened deck prevents the supporting cable from

changing its shape by distributing the live load moving over
it, for a longer length of cable. In such cases, cable is
assumed to be uniformly loaded.
• Cables are used to support the dead weight and live loads
of the bridge decks having long spans. The bridge decks
are suspended from the cable using the hangers.

• Locates the resultant weight of a system of particles

• Consider system of n particles fixed within a region of
space
• The weights of the particles can be replaced by a single
(equivalent) resultant weight having defined point G of
application

• Centroid is a point at which the entire area of an object is

assumed to be acting or concentrated.
• It is also defined as a point of geometric center of a
composite area or an object.
• The centroid is noted by C.G or G.
• The position of the centroid can be defined by the shape
of object.
• For centroid for surface area of an object, such as plate
and shell, subdivide the area into differential elements dA.

• If the geometry of the object takes the form of a line,

the balance of moments of differential elements dL about
each of the coordinate system yields
 • The moment of inertia about any point or axis is the
product of the area and the square of its perpendicular
distance between a reference axis and the center of
gravity of the area. It is also called second moment of area.
• In case of a rigid body, mass is considered, and it is called
second moment of mass.
• Second moment of area = Moment of Inertia
• Second moment of mass = Mass Moment of Inertia
• Denoted by MI or MOI

• Divide the body or object into a finite number of composite Moment of inertia is not a physical quantity, but it enables ease of
parts that have simpler shapes calculation such as the bending of a bar, torsion of a shaft and in
• Treat the hole in composite as an additional composite part the determination of stresses in any cross section of a machine
having negative weight or size element or an engineering structure.

• Establish the coordinate axes and determine the

coordinates of the center of gravity or centroid of each
part