MECH2413

Engineering Mechanics
 Teachers and TAs

• Statics:
Dr. Y. Chen (yuechen@hku.hk)

• Dynamics:
Dr. W. L. Ko (matchko@hku.hk)
Materials Modeling – Introduction to my research

DFT

MD

Understand Material Properties

Predict Material Behaviors

Website: http://web.hku.hk/~yuechen/ Engineer

 Assessment

• One semester
• Marking
Part Contribution
Written exam 70%
Quiz 15%
Practical work (one lab 15%
session on statics)
 References

a) F.P.Beer, Mechanics of Materials,

McGraw-Hill, 2015
b) B.P.Benham, R.J.Crawford &
C.G.Armstrong, Mechanics of
Engineering Materials, Longman, 1996
c) C. Hartsuijker, Engineering Machanics,
Springer 2007 (ebook available at HKU
library)
 Contents of the course

• Statics
1) Basic concepts
2) Force & moment resultants
3) Stress and strain
4) Thin-walled pressure vessels
5) Bending of beams
6) Deflection of beams
7) Torsion of shafts
 Content of this chapter

• Statics is the study of forces acting on bodies

that are in equilibrium. To investigate statics
problems, it is necessary to be familiar with
some basic terms, formulas, and work principles,
including
1) Method of sections
2) Law of action and reaction
3) Free-body diagram
Basic concepts
 Basic concepts
• Before learning the details about stress & strain,
you need to have the basic concept in the following
terms.
Free body Action &
Force Rigid body
diagram reaction

System of
Equilibrium Moment Centroid
force

Support Trusses
 Force
• Force is a bound vector, in Cartesian coordinates,
the force vector can be represented using the unit
vectors, ex, ey, ez
 Rigid body
• A body is called a rigid body if it does not deform
under the influence of forces.
 Classification of Forces
• A single force with a line of action and a point of
application, called a concentrated force, body is
loaded over a thin wire or a needlepoint.
 Classification of Forces
• A volume force is a force that is
distributed over the volume of a body
or a portion thereof.
• Area forces occur in the regions
where two bodies are in contact.
• Line force comprises forces that are
continuously distributed along a line.
 Free-body diagram
• It shows the forces acting on the body
instead of the geometrical constraints
through the supports.
 Free-body diagram
• Internal forces act between the parts of a system
can be visualized only by imaginary cutting or
sectioning of the body.
 Law of Action and Reaction
• The forces that two bodies exert upon each other
are of the same magnitude but of opposite
directions and they lie on the same line of action.
 Parallelogram law of forces
• The construction of the parallelogram is the
geometrical representation of the summation of the
vectors.
 Coplanar system of concurrent
forces
• Force polygon
 Decomposition of Forces
• Cartesian coordinate system
 Decomposition of Forces
• If the forces Fi are represented by their components
Fix, Fiy, and Fiz
 Equilibrium
• If the resultant is the zero vector
 Moment
• A couple consists of two forces having equal magnitude,
parallel action lines and opposite directions which generate
a sense of rotation. The effect of a couple on a rigid body is
unambiguously determined by its moment. Similar idea can
be also applied to acting a force about a hinge point.

M = hF
 Moment
• Static equilibrium is achieved when σ 𝑀𝑖 = 0
Systems of Coplanar Forces
 Equilibrium Conditions
• A rigid body under the action of a general system
of coplanar forces is in equilibrium if two force
conditions and one moment condition are satisfied:

• Or one force condition and two moment conditions:

• Or three moment conditions

 Equilibrium Conditions
• One can always reduce the system to one of the
following four cases:
Dimensions and Units
 Solution of Statics Problems
1) Formulation of the engineering problem.
2) Establishing a mechanical model that maps all of
the essential characteristics of the real system.
3) Identification of the given and the unknown
quantities.
4) Drawing of the free-body diagram
5) Formulation of the mechanical equations, e.g. the
equilibrium conditions.
6) Formulation of the geometrical relationships (if
needed).
7) Solving the equations for the unknowns.
 General Systems of Forces

• If a body in space is subjected to several couple

moments Mi, the resultant moment is
 General Systems of Forces
• The moment may come from the following
decomposition.

• The moment equilibrium condition is

 Center of force
• Given a system of spatial parallel forces with a
resultant force R, provided If we introduce the force
H = −R, which collinear with R, then system is in
equilibrium. The corresponding point C (an arbitrary
point on the action line of H) is called the center of
forces.
 Center of force
• For continuously distributed loads.
 Center of force
• Example

;
 Center of Gravity/Mass
• In the case of parallel body forces f(x, y, z)
(dimension: force per unit volume) that act on rigid
bodies.
 Center of Gravity/mass
• If the body force is given by

where is the density of the material of the body and

g is the gravitational acceleration. For homogenous
rigid body under uniform and parallel gravitational
field, the weight can be considered to be
concentrated at the center of gravity with the
coordinates:
 CG of an Asymmetric Beam
• The Rectangular Partition Method:
• Multiply the x,y-coordinate of each rectangular centroid by the
area of its corresponding rectangle. Add the numbers and
divide by the total area of the figure. This new number is the
x,y-coordinate of the figure's center of mass.

36
CG of a I Beam

37
CG of a C Beam

38
CG of a L Beam

39
 Center of
Gravity/mass/volume
• The center of mass/volume (Centroids) coincides
with the center of gravity if the gravitational field is
assumed to be uniform and parallel.
 Centroid of an area & line
• Consider a plane area & a line, the centroid are
 Bar/rod/beam/arch/frames
• A slender structural element (cross sectional
dimensions much smaller than its length) that is
loaded solely in the axial direction (tension or
compression) is called a bar or a rod.
• If the same geometrical object is subjected to a load
perpendicular to its axis, it is called a beam.
• A curved beam is usually designated as an arch.
• Structures consisting of inclined, rigidly joined beams
are called frames.
 Disk/ plate/ Shell
• A plane structure with a thickness much smaller than
its characteristic in-plane length is called a disk if it is
solely loaded in its plane, e.g., by in-plane forces.
• If the same geometrical structure is loaded
perpendicularly to its mid-plane it is called a plate.
• If such a structure is curved it is a shell.
 Support
• Structures are connected to their surroundings by
supports whose main purpose is to fix the structure
in space in a specific position.
• Supports transmit forces from the environment onto
the structure called support reactions.
• Different types of supports can be classify by the
number of support reactions involved.
1) One single reaction (r=1)
2) Two reactions (r=2)
3) Three reactions (r=3)
• Supports (restraints) reduce the degrees of freedom
to f = 3- r
 Support: one single reaction
• E.g. roller support, simple support and support by
a strut.

Sliding hinge
Ball

Roller Strut
 Support: two reactions
• E.g. hinged support, support by two struts.

Simple hinge

Bounded
Multiple strut
ball/roller
 Support: two reactions
• Parallel motion and the sliding sleeve:
• One force and one couple moment can be transmitted.
• Displacement in one single direction is possible.
 Support: three reactions
• E.g. Support by three struts,
clamped support, fixed support.
• Can transmit a reaction force A
of arbitrary magnitude and
direction (or AH and AV ) and a
couple moment MA.
 Statically determinate
• A structure is called statically determinate if the
support reactions can be calculated from the three
equilibrium conditions. It is solely dependent on the
supports and not on the loading.
• In the case of a plane problem, a structure is
supported statically determinate and kinematically
determinate if it is immobile and exactly three
support reactions appear. These may be
1) Three forces which are not all parallel and not
central,
2) Two nonparallel forces and one moment.
Statically determinate
 Kinematically indeterminate
• A structure that may undergo finite or infinitesimal
displacements is called kinematically indeterminate.

The action lines of the reaction

forces intersect at point P,
 Statically indeterminate
• If additional supports are attached to a statically
determinate structure, more than three support
reactions exist, which can no longer be
determined solely from the three equilibrium
conditions. Such a structure is called statically
indeterminate.
• A structure is statically indeterminate with a
degree x of statical indeterminacy if the number
of unknown support reactions exceeds the
number of available equilibrium conditions by x.
Statically indeterminate

one degree of static

indeterminacy

Two degrees of static

indeterminacy
 Spatial structure
• In 3D-space, a body has six degrees of freedom:
three translations in x-, y- and z-direction and three
rotations about the three axes.

Strut Hinge

R=1 R=3
 Spatial structure

Fixed support or clamping Sliding sleeve

R=6 R=4
 Multi-Part Structures
• Structures often consist not only of one single part
but of a number of rigid bodies that are
appropriately connected.
• The connecting members transfer forces and
moments. The connecting member between two
rigid bodies of a structure can be, for example.
a) a strut S
b) a hinge G
c) a parallel motion P
 Multi-Part Structures
• Let v be the number of joint reaction.

v=1

v=2

v=2
 Reaction summary
Support type
Support: Summary
Reaction force Reaction moment
Ball, roller, point, sliding  None
hinge, single strut

Bounded ball/roller, multiple → None

strut, simple hinge
Vertical sliding on wall → 
Clamped on wall with  
horizontal sliding
Fixed on wall → 
Open end None None
Connection type Reaction force Reaction moment
Strut → None
Hinge → None
Rectangular hinge → 