Engineering Mechanics

Son Dao, PhD

[email protected]
 Administrative Details
• Syllabus will be posted on the web

• Lecture attendance
– Web will be used for announcements but not all
important announcements given in class may be posted
on the web
– Bring books to class for example problems
• Sample problems will be an integral part of lecture
• Lecture behavior
– Class size requires professional conduct

Lecture 1 2
 Administrative Details cont.
• Exams
– Dates set and given on syllabus
• first test date set for 100% refund drop date
– Format
• closed book, closed notes, calculator
– Excused absences: See syllabus
– Philosophy
• Most problems like HW; some problems conceptually
same as HW but somewhat different

Lecture 1 3
 Administrative Details cont.
• Homework & quizzes
– solutions will be posted
– all or partial problems will be graded
– lecture quizzes used as “scrimmages”
• quizzes in the last 15-20 minutes of lecture
• similar to assigned homework
• generally announced - some unannounced

Lecture 1 4
Administrative Details cont.
Questions??

Lecture 1 5
 ENGINEERING…
The Future and the
Challenges…..??

Lecture 1 6
 Problem Solving Strategy
1 - Modeling of physical problem (free body diagram)
2 - Expressing the governing physical laws in
mathematical form
3 - Solving the governing equations

4 - Interpretation of the results

Lecture 1 7
 Mechanics Reform
• Textbook offers a departure from past standards
– recognizes the power of computer software in solving
problems
• MathCAD, MatLab, Maple, Mathmatica, VB, etc.
• calculators may be effectively utilized as well

– before using the software, the problem must be

properly posed
• posing the problem will be emphasized in this class

Lecture 1 8
 Mechanics Reform cont.
• Software helps us with:
– trigonometry
– units conversion
– systems of equations
– iterative problems for design purposes

• Software does not help with:

– envisioning the forces
– applying the proper laws of physics

Lecture 1 9
 Mechanics
• Broadly defined as the study of bodies that
are acted upon by forces.
• Types of bodies
– particles (considered rigid bodies)
– rigid bodies - relative distance between any two
points remains constant throughout motion
– deformable bodies
– fluids

Lecture 1 10
 Mechanics Overview
Statics Rigid Static

Mech Matl Deformable Static

Dynamics Rigid Dynamic

Fluid Dyn Deformable Dynamic

Lecture 1 11
 And now ...

Statics
Lecture 1 12
Chapter 1: Measurement
•Newton’s Laws of Motion
•Space and Events
•Vectors and Scalars
•SI Units (Metric)
•U.S. Customary Units
•Unit Conversion
•Scientific Notation
•Significant Figures
Lecture 1 13
 Basics: Newton’s Laws
•Every body or particle continues in a state of rest or of
uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled
to change that state by forces acting upon it.
(Law of Inertia)

•The change of motion of a body is proportional to the

net force imposed on the body and is in the direction of
the net force.
F=ma

•If one body exerts a force on a second body, then the

second body exerts a force on the first that is equal in
magnitude, opposite in direction, and collinear.
Lecture 1 14
•Law of Universal Gravitation:
Any two particles are attracted to each other with a
force whose magnitude is proportional to the
products of their gravitational masses and inversely
proportional to the square between them.

F=Gm1m2/r2

where G = 66.73 x 10-12 m3/kg-s2

Lecture 1 15
 Basics
• Space -- we need to know the position of particles

y mi

x
z

• Event -- position at a given time

Lecture 1 16
 Basics cont.
• Two broad quantities
– scalars have no direction associated with them
• e.g., temperature, mass, speed, angle
– vectors must have direction specified
• e.g., velocity, force, acceleration
• Mass -- a scalar that characterizes a body’s
resistance to motion
• Force -- (vector) the action of one body on
another through contact or acting at a distance

Lecture 1 17
International System of Units:The SI system
Length meters m

Time seconds s

Mass kilogram kg

Force Newton N 1 kg m/s2

See table 1-1 for prefixes

Compound units
Remember: Speed = distance/time
so in SI units, speed is measured in m/s

Lecture 1 18
 U.S. Customary Units
Length foot ft

Time seconds s

Mass slug slug

Force pound lb slug ft/s2

*Remember: W= mg

where g = 32.17 ft/s2

Lecture 1 19
 Numerical Answers
• Significant figures
– Use 3 significant digits
– If first digit is 1, then use next 3

• Rounding off the last significant digit

– less than 5: all digits after it are dropped
– equal 5: then all digits after it are dropped
– greater than 5 or equal 5 followed by a nonzero
digit: round up

Lecture 1 20
 Vectors; Vector Addition
• Define scalars and vectors
• Vector addition, scalar multiplication
• 2-D trigonometry
• Vector components
• Law of cosines
• Law of sines
• Problems

Lecture 2 21
 Scalars and Vectors
• Scalar is a quantity that is represented by a
single number
– examples: mass, temperature, angle
• Vectors have both magnitude and direction
– Examples: velocity, acceleration, force
– Acceleration due to gravity is down not up!

Lecture 2 22
 VECTORS

Line of Action

Magnitude
y
Vector
A or A

 Direction
x

Lecture 2 23
 Vectors
• Vectors are equal when they have the same
magnitude and direction
A B
=

• Vectors add by the parallelogram rule

B
A A
B C
+ =

Lecture 2 24
 More on Vectors
• Vectors are communative
A+B=B+A B
A
A
C
B
• Vectors are associative
(A + B) + C = A + (B + C)

Lecture 2 25
 Subtraction of Vectors
In order to subtract vectors, first we must understand that if we
multiply a vector by (-1) we get a vector equal in length but exactly
opposite in direction.

A -A

Then we see that B - A = B + (-A) B

A
So if we have D = B - A
D
This looks like this:
-A

Lecture 2 26
Adding More Than Two Vectors

B
A A
A+B C

B

D
C

D = A+B+C

Lecture 2 27
 Law of Cosines
This will be used often in balancing forces

a + b2+
g
b

a
2c
b
a

Lecture 2 28
 Law of Sines
Again, used throughout this and other classes
Start with the same triangle:

g
b
a
a b
c

Lecture 2 29
 Example
Determine by trigonometry the
magnitude and direction of the
resultant of the two forces shown

Note: resultant of two

25o 45o 300 lb forces is the vectorial
200 lb sum of the two vectors

Lecture 2 30
200 lb 155o 200 lb  = 90o+25o-a
25o
25o 110o a

R R
45o
300 lb 300 lb

Lecture 3 31
 Scalar Multiplication of Vectors
Multiplication of a vector by a scalar simply
scales the magnitude with the direction
unchanged
Line of action Line of action
stays the same

A 0.5 x A

Lecture 3 32
 Forces
• Review definition
• Shear and normal forces
• Resultant of coplanar forces
• Problems

Lecture 3 33
 Characteristics of a Force
• Its magnitude
– denoted by |F|
• Its direction

• Its point of application

– important when we discuss moments later

Lecture 3 34
 Further Categorizing Forces
• Internal or external
– external forces applied outside body
P
P
Cut plane through body

• A section of the body exposes internal body

P
Internal
tension

Lecture 3 35
 Shear and Oblique
• Shear internal force has line of action
contained in cutting plane
P
Intenal
shear
forces

Lecture 3 36
 Oblique Internal Forces
• Oblique cutting planes have both normal
and shear components

N P

Where N + S = P

Lecture 3 37
 Transmissibility
• A force can be replaced by a force of equal
magnitude provided it has the same line of
action and does not disturb equilibrium
B

Lecture 3 38
 Weight is a Force
• Weight is the force due to gravity
– W = mg
• where m is mass and g is gravity constant
• g = 32.2 ft/s2 = 9.81 m/s2

• English and metric

– Weight lb or N
– Mass slugs or kg

Lecture 3 39
 Resultant of Coplanar Forces
A body’s motion depends on the resultant of all the
forces acting on it
In 2-D, we can use the Laws of Sines and Cosines to
determine the resultant force vector

In 3-D, this is not practical and vector components

must be utilized
• more on this in the future

Lecture 3 40
 Perpendicular Vectors

y y
Ax
A A
Ay
y
Ay y Ay
x
x

Ax Ax

x x

Ax is the component of vector A in the x-direction

Ay is the component of vector A in the y-direction
Lecture 3 41
 Vector Components
Vector components are a powerful way to
represent vectors in terms of coordinates.
where
y y Ay Ax = |A| cos x
A
y Ay = |A| cos y
= |A| sin x
x
Ax
Ax
A=
Ay
x x

Lecture 3 42
 Vector Components (continued)
Ax = |A| cos x cos x = Ax / |A| = x
Ay = |A| cos y cos y = Ay / |A| = y
= |A| sin x

x and y are called direction cosines

x2 + y2 = 1

Note: To apply this rule the two axes must be orthogonal

Lecture 3 43
 Summary
• External forces give rise to
– tension and compression internal forces
– normal and shear internal forces
• Forces can translate along their line of
action without disturbing equilibrium
• The resultant force on a particle is the vector
sum of the individual applied forces

Lecture 3 44
THANK YOU!

Lecture 1 45