Engineering Mechanics A
Engineering Mechanics A
Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Technology
EEMQ 2143 – Engineering Mechanics A
Course Description / Content
1. Introduction: Units and dimensions, laws of mechanics, vectors.
2. Forces: Vectorial representation of forces, equilibrium of forces, vector
operations of forces, coplanar forces, parallelogram and triangular law of forces,
resolution and composition of coplanar forces, resultant force.
3. Forces in space: Equilibrium of a particle in space, equivalent systems of
forces, principle of transmissibility.
4. Moments: Definition, equilibrium of moments, couples, moment of a force
about a point and about an axis, scalar components of a moment.
5. Equilibrium of rigid bodies: Free body diagram, types of supports and their
reactions, equilibrium of rigid bodies in two and three dimensions.
6. Properties of surfaces and solids: First moment of area and centroids of
sections, second moments of plane area section, parallel axis theorem and
perpendicular axis theorem, polar moments of inertia.
Chapter 2 : Forces
Vectors are the physical quantities with
both direction and magnitude.
Force, as we know, has both direction
and magnitude. Hence, we can
represent force as a vector.
Force is a vector quantity; its units are
newtons, N.
Forces
Force vectors can be added or subtracted to discover
the resultant force.
Resultant force can be characterized as a unique
force which is derived from two or more forces acting
on an object.
The methods used in finding the resultant force is
triangular or parallelogram law of vector addition or
Pythagorean Theorem and trigonometric methods.
Components of a Force/Vector
Vector Magnitude
Vector Designation
500 N
A Head
Tail
Finding Resultant Force
Graphical Approach
Triangle method (or successive triangle method)
Parallelogram method
Polygon method (good if more than one force)
Triangle Method
Place the tail of B to the head
of A. The Resultant (R) can be B
found by connecting the Tail of A
A to the Head of B. This forms
the third leg of the triangle and
the resultant vector.
A+B
Resultant
If two forces acting on a body, it can represented by two
adjacent sides of triangle with magnitude and directions and
resultant can be given by other side of triangle; which is the
statement of law of triangle.
Parallelogram Law
By drawing construction
lines parallel to the vectors,
the resultant vector goes
from the point of origin to
the intersection of the
construction lines
If two forces, acting at a point, are represented in magnitude
and direction by the two sides of a parallelogram drawn from
one of its angular points, their resultant is represented both in
magnitude and direction by the diagonal of the parallelogram
passing through that angular point.
VECTOR ADDITION USING EITHER THE
PARALLELOGRAM LAW OR TRIANGLE
Parallelogram Law:
Triangle method (always
„tip to tail‟):
Polygon Method
Polygon method is
similar to the
Successive Triangle
Method but no
intermediate
resultants are
calculated
Graphically measure length and direction
of R!!
Trigonometrical Methods
If A and B are two force vectors the
resultant force R according to triangle
law is,
The magnitude of the force can be found from
Where, θ is the angle between the force
vectors.
Horizontal component of the force vector
Vertical component of the force vector
The resultant of two vectors can be finding
by adding their corresponding components.
Resultant force vector The magnitude of the force will be
The direction of the force vector will be
Example
Consider two forces of magnitudes 5 N and 7 N acting on
a particle, with an angle of 90◦ between them. What is
the magnitude and direction of the resultant force?
(Pythagoras’ theorem. The resultant has magnitude 8.6
N at 36◦ above the positive x-axis.)
F 2 = 72 + 52 = 74 ⇒ F = √ 74 = 8.6 N (2 s.f.)
tan α = 5 / 7 ⇒ α = 36◦ (2 s.f.)
Example
Consider two forces of magnitudes 11 N and 8 N acting on a particle,
with an angle of 30◦ between them. What is the magnitude and direction
of the resultant force?
(Cosine rule - Pythagoras’ theorem cannot be used as the forces are not
perpendicular)
F 2 = 82 + 112 − 2 × 8 × 11 cos 150◦ = 337.42 F = √ 337.42 = 18.37 = 18 N (2 s.f.)
In order to calculate the required angle, α, which F makes with the positive
x-axis, the sine rule is needed.
sin α / 8 = sin 150◦ / F
∴ sin α = 8 / 18.37 sin 150◦ ⇒ α = 13◦ (2 s.f.)
Therefore, the resultant force, F, of the two forces has a magnitude of 18 N
at an angle of 13◦ to the positive x-axis.
Example
Example
Take Home
Triangle Method – Find Resultant (mag and direction)
y
30 N 50 N
45° 30° x
Determine the magnitude and direction of the resultant force.
Coplanar Forces
Coplanar forces means the forces in a
plane. When several forces act on a
body, then they are called a force
system or a system of forces.
In a system in which all the forces lie in
the same plane, it is known as coplanar
force system.
Coplanar Force System
(i) Collinear
(ii) Concurrent
(iii) Parallel
(iv) Non-concurrent, non-parallel
(or General system of forces).
Coplanar Collinear
All the forces (F1, F2 and F3) act in the
same plane and have a common line of
action (in the same line).
Coplanar Concurrent
All the forces (F1, F2 and F 3) act in the
same plane and they intersect or meet
at a common point, O.
Coplanar Parallel
All the forces (F1, F2 and F3) act in the
same plane and are parallel.
Coplanar
Non concurrent Non-parallel
All the forces act in the same plane but
the forces are neither parallel nor meet
at a common point.
Resolution of Coplanar Forces
Basically finding resultant vectors by
breaking forces up into components and
adding.
A resultant force is the single force
obtained by combining a system of forces
acting on a rigid body.
A resultant force is that it has the same
effect on the rigid body as the other
original system of forces.
• We „resolve‟ vectors into
components using the x and y
axis system.
• Each component of the vector is
shown as a magnitude and a
direction.
• The directions are based on the x and y axes. We use the
“unit vectors” i and j to designate the x and y axes.
For example,
F = Fx i + Fy j or F' = F'x i + ( F'y ) j
The x and y axis are always perpendicular to each other.
Together, they can be directed at any inclination.
ADDITION OF SEVERAL VECTORS
• Step 1 is to resolve each force
into its components.
• Step 2 is to add all the x-
components together, followed by
adding all the y components
together. These two totals are the
x and y components of the
resultant vector.
Step 3 is to find the magnitude
and angle of the resultant vector.
An example of the process:
Break the three vectors into components, then add them.
FR = F1 + F 2 + F3
= F1x i + F1y j F2x i + F2y j + F3x i F3y j
= (F1x F2x + F3x) i + (F1y + F2y F3y) j
= (FRx) i + (FRy) j
Remember! You can also represent a 2-D vector with a
magnitude and angle:
Or, Cartesian Vector Notation:
FR = (FRx) i + (FRy) j
EXAMPLE
Given: Three concurrent forces
acting on a tent post.
Find: The magnitude and
angle of the resultant
force.
Plan:
a) Resolve the forces into their x-y components.
b) Add the respective components to get the resultant vector.
c) Find magnitude and angle from the resultant components.
EXAMPLE (continued)
F1 = {0 i + 300 j } N
F2 = {– 450 cos (45°) i + 450 sin (45°) j } N
= {– 318.2 i + 318.2 j } N
F3 = { (3/5) 600 i + (4/5) 600 j } N
= { 360 i + 480 j } N
EXAMPLE
(continued)
Summing up all the i and j components respectively, we get,
FR = { (0 – 318.2 + 360) i + (300 + 318.2 + 480) j } N
= { 41.80 i + 1098 j } N
Using magnitude and direction: y
FR
FR = ((41.80)2 + (1098)2)1/2 = 1099 N
= tan-1(1098/41.80) = 87.8°
x
Given: Three concurrent
forces acting on a
bracket
Find: The magnitude and
angle of the
resultant force.
Plan:
a) Resolve the forces into their x and y components.
b) Add the respective components to get the resultant vector.
c) Find magnitude and angle from the resultant components.
F1 = { (5/13) 300 i + (12/13) 300 j } N
= { 115.4 i + 276.9 j } N
F2 = {500 cos (30°) i + 500 sin (30°) j } N
= { 433.0 i + 250 j } N
F3 = { 600 cos (45°) i 600 sin (45°) j } N
{ 424.3 i 424.3 j } N
Summing up all the i and j components respectively, we get,
FR = { (115.4 + 433.0 + 424.3) i + (276.9 + 250 – 424.3) j }N
= { 972.7 i + 102.7 j } N
y
Now find the magnitude and angle, FR
FR = ((972.7)2 + (102.7)2) ½ = 978.1 N
= tan–1( 102.7 / 972.7 ) = 6.03°
x
From Positive x axis, = 6.03°
Example