CES 2104: Statics of

Rigid Bodies
Lecture 1: Introduction to Statics
What is Mechanics?
Mechanics is the science which
describes and predicts the conditions
of rest or motion of bodies under the
action of forces.

Rotate.
At rest.

In motion. Deformed.
Or simply, mechanics is…

• What happens to a body when acted by force?

• Engineering mechanics applies the principle of mechanics

to design, taking into account the effects of forces
 Branches of Mechanics

Mechanics

Rigid Bodies Deformable Bodies Fluids

Statics Dynamics Compressible Incompressible

 What is Mechanics?

• Mechanics is the foundation of most engineering

sciences and is an indispensable prerequisite to
their study.
 Basic Concepts

 Space is the geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are

described by linear and angular measurements relative to a coordinate
system.
 Time is the measure of the succession of events.
 Mass is a measure of inertia of a body, which is its resistance to a
change of velocity. It can also be thought of as the quantity of
matter in a body
 Force is the action of one body on another which tends to move a
body in the direction of its action.
 Force is characterized by:
 Magnitude
 Direction
 Point of application
Basic Concepts

 Force is the action of one body on another which tends to move a

body in the direction of its action.
 Force is characterized by:
 Magnitude
 Direction
 Point of application
T

ball

ball
W W
 Modeling
Physical Problem
Physical idealizations: particles,
rigid body, concentrated forces, etc.
Physical Model
Physical laws: Newton’s laws
Applied to each interacting body
(free body diagram)
Mathematical model
(set of equations)
Solution of equations: Using
pen+paper/own code/ canned
software like Matlab

Does answer
make sense?
No!
YES!

Happy ☺
 Physical Idealizations
Continuum: For most engineering applications assume
matter to be a continuous distribution rather than a
conglomeration of particles.
Rigid body: A continuum that does not undergo any
deformation.
Particle: No dimensions, only has mass. Important
simplifying assumption for situation where mass is
more important than exactly how it is distributed.
Point force: A body transmits force to another
through a finite area of contact. But it is sometimes
easier to assume that a finite force is transmitted
through an infinitesimal area.
 Basic Concepts

• Particle is a body of negligible dimensions. We may treat a body as a

particle when its dimensions are irrelevant to the description of its
position or the action of forces applied to it.
 Rigid body. A body is considered rigid when the change in distance
between any two of its points is negligible. A rigid body is one which
cannot deform, maintains its shape and dimensions, even if subject
to internal forces.

RIGID BODY
 Scalars and Vectors

• Scalars quantities are those with which only a magnitude is

associated (e.g. Time, Volume, Speed and Mass).

 Vector quantities possess both magnitude and direction (e.g.

Displacement, Velocity, Displacement, Force and Moment).
 Scalars and Vectors

• Working with vectors

F is a free vector.

P+Q=R

• Principle of Transmissibility
• Parallelogram Law
 Vectors

• It is usually most convenient to deal with vector components which

are mutually perpendicular; these are called rectangular
components.

Vx and Vy are the x- and y- θ = arctan (Vy/Vx)

components of V.
 Vectors

• A vector V may be expressed

mathematically multiplying its
magnitude V by unit vector n
(magnitude of one) that coincides
with V.

V=Vn
 Thus, any vector can also be
expressed in rectangular
components in terms of unit
vectors i, j, k which are in x- y- z-
coordinates.
Newton’s Laws

• Newton’s First Law: If the resultant force on a

particle is zero, the particle will remain at rest or
continue to move in a straight line.

• Newton’s Second Law: A particle will have an

acceleration proportional to a nonzero
resultant applied force.
 
F = ma
• Newton’s Third Law: The forces of action and
reaction between two particles have the same
magnitude and line of action with opposite
sense.
Law of Gravitation

• Newton’s Law of Gravitation: Two particles are

attracted with equal and opposite forces, G – Gravitational
constant
Mm GM
F =G W = mg , g = M – Mass of the earth
r2 R2 R – Radius of the earth

W
 Units

• International System of Units (SI): • U.S. Customary Units:

The basic units are length, time, and mass The basic units are length, time, and force
which are arbitrarily defined as the meter which are arbitrarily defined as the foot
(m), second (s), and kilogram (kg). Force (ft), second (s), and pound (lb). Mass is
is the derived unit, the derived unit,

F = ma F
m=
 m a
1 N = (1 kg )1 2  1 lb
 s  1slug =
1ft s
 Units

• Kinetic Units: length (m), time (s), mass (kg), and force (N).
• Three of the kinetic units, referred to as basic units, may be defined arbitrarily.
The fourth unit, referred to as a derived unit, must have a definition compatible
with Newton’s 2nd Law,
 
F = ma

SI Units g = 9.806 65 m/s2

US Units g = 32.1740 ft /s2
Accuracy, Limits and
Approximation
• The accuracy of a solution depends on 1) accuracy of the given data,
and 2) accuracy of the computations performed. The solution
cannot be more accurate than the less accurate of these two.

• The use of hand calculators and computers generally makes the accuracy
of the computations much greater than the accuracy of the data. Hence,
the solution accuracy is usually limited by the data accuracy.
Accuracy, Limits and
Approximation
• Differentials
• Higher order differentials may always be neglected compared to
lower –order differentials when the mathematical limit is
approached.
• Small angle approximation

Note: θ is in
radians

cos θ ≈ 1 → sin θ ≈ tan θ ≈ θ

 Description of Statics Problems

• We study statics to obtain a quantitative description of forces which

act on engineering structures in equilibrium.

 Mathematics establishes the relations between the various

quantities involved and enables us to predict effects of these
relations
 Method of Problem Solution
• Problem Statement:
Includes given data, specification of
what is to be determined, and a figure
showing all quantities involved.
• Free-Body Diagrams:
Create separate diagrams for each of
the bodies involved with a clear
indication of all forces acting on each
body.
• Fundamental Principles:
The fundamental principles are applied
to express the conditions of rest or
motion of each body. The rules of
algebra are applied to solve the
equations for the unknown quantities.
• Solution Check:
- Test for errors in reasoning by
verifying that the units of the
computed results are correct,
- test for errors in computation by
substituting given data and computed
results into previously unused
equations based on the six principles,
- always apply experience and physical
intuition to assess whether results seem
“reasonable”
END