Bahir Dar Institute of Technology

Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering

Structural Engineering Chair

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction to Statics
1.1 Introduction and History of Mechanics

What is Engineering Mechanics?

Statics and dynamics are among the first engineering topics encountered by most students which have a
collective name known as mechanics. Mechanics is the oldest of all physical sciences which is concerned with
motion of bodies due to the effect of a given force. In general terms, physics is the science that relates the
properties of matter and energy, excluding biological and chemical effects.

Fig. Branches of Physics

Archimedes (287–212 B.C.) was the first on the discovery of principle of the lever and the principle of buoyancy.
However, Flemish mathematician and engineer Simon Stevinus (1548–1620) demonstrated the resolution of
forces, thereby establishing the foundation of modern statics. The first investigation of a dynamics problem,
however, is credited to Galileo (1564–1642) for his experiments with falling stones. Newton later formulates
laws of motion who also derived the idea of infinitesimal in mathematical analysis. Da Vinci, Varignon, Euler,
D’Alembert, Lagrange, Laplace etc. are among the credited scientists for contribution of mechanics. Hence
engineering mechanics deals with the application for vibration, stability, spacecraft design, rocket, robotics and
strength of structures.
Newton’s work on mechanics dealt primarily with celestial mechanics and was thus limited to particle motion.
Another two hundred or so years elapsed before rigid-body dynamics, fluid mechanics, and the mechanics of
deformable bodies were developed. Each of these areas required new axioms before it could
assume a usable form.
Nevertheless, Newton’s work is the foundation of classical, or Newtonian, mechanics. His efforts have even
influenced two other branches of mechanics, born at the beginning of the twentieth century: relativistic and
quantum mechanics. Relativistic mechanics addresses phenomena that occur on a cosmic scale (velocities
approaching the speed of light, strong gravitational fields, etc.). It removes two of the most objectionable
postulates of Newtonian mechanics: the existence of a fixed or inertial reference frame and the assumption that
time is an absolute variable, “running” at the same rate in all parts of the universe. (There is evidence that Newton
himself was bothered by these two postulates.) Quantum mechanics is concerned with particles on the atomic or
subatomic scale.
It also removes two cherished concepts of classical mechanics: determinism and continuity. Quantum mechanics
is essentially a probabilistic theory; instead of predicting an event, it determines the likelihood that an event will
occur. Moreover, according to this theory, the events occur in discrete steps (called quanta) rather than in a
continuous manner

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair

Relativistic and quantum mechanics, however, have by no means invalidated the principles of Newtonian
mechanics. In the analysis of the motion of bodies encountered in our everyday experience, both theories
converge on the equations of Newtonian mechanics. Thus, the more esoteric theories actually reinforce the
validity of Newton’s laws of motion.

Fig. Branches of Mechanics

1.2 Fundamental Concepts in Engineering mechanics

The following terms and concepts are basic for understanding the fundamental philosophies in which
the quantities will be used in the entire mechanics.
Space. It is the geometric region occupied by a body whose location determined based on the specified
coordinate system.

Time. It is the measure of succession of events whose implication is more vivid in dynamics. Principle
of statics is independent of time, yet.

Mass. It is measure of inertia or quantity of a body which is used to compare one body with another. This
property manifests itself as a gravitational attraction between two bodies and provides a measure of the
resistance of matter to a change in velocity.

Force. It can be defined as an act of pushing or pulling of a body by another body. Having both magnitude
and direction, force is one of vector physics quantities which will be discussed in chapter 2 briefly.

Idealization: Models or idealizations are used in mechanics in order to simplify application of the theory. Here
we will consider three important idealizations.
Particle. A particle has a mass, but a size that can be neglected. For example, the size of the earth is
insignificant compared to the size of its orbit and hence earth can be considered as a particle when
studying its orbital motion.

Rigid Body. A rigid body can be considered as a combination of a large number of particles in which all
the particles remain at a fixed distance from one another, both before and after applying a load.

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair

Concentrated Force. A concentrated force represents the effect of a loading which is assumed to act at
a point on a body. We can represent a load by a concentrated force, provided the area over which the load
is applied is very small compared to the overall size of the body. An example would be the contact force
between a wheel and the ground.

Free Body Diagram (FBD) it is a diagrammatic representation of a portion of body/bodies completely

isolated from other bodies showing the forces applied by all other bodies that are assumed to be removed
on the one being considered.

1.3. Scalars and Vectors

Mechanics deals with two kinds of quantities, scalars and vectors. All physical quantities in engineering
mechanics are measured using either scalars or vectors.
Scalar. A scalar is any positive or negative physical quantity that can be completely associated with specified
magnitude only. Examples of scalar quantities include length, mass, and time.

Vector. A vector is any physical quantity that represented with both a magnitude and a direction for its complete
description. They also obey parallelogram method of addition. Examples of vectors encountered in statics are
force, position, and moment. A vector is shown graphically by an arrow. The length of the arrow represents the
magnitude of the vector, and the angle between the vector and a fixed axis defines the direction of its line of
action. There are three types of vectors:
i) Free vector: - one whose action is not confined to or associated with a unique line / line of action in
specified space.
e.g., If a body moves without rotation, we may represent the displacement of such a body by a free
vector.
ii) Sliding vector: - A vector having a unique line in space but without any unique point of application.
e.g. When we deal with the external action of a force on a rigid body, the force may be applied at any
point along its line of action without changing its effect on the body as a whole (the so-called
principle of transmissibility) and hence may be considered a sliding vector.
iii) Fixed vector: - one for which a unique point of application is specified, and therefore the
vector occupies a particular position in space.
e.g. The action of a force on a deformable or non-rigid body must be specified by a fixed vector at the
point of application of the force. In this problem the forces and deformations internal to the body
will be dependent on the point of application of the force, as well as its magnitude and line of
action.

-A vector quantity V is represented by a line segment, having the

direction of the vector and having an arrow  head to indicate the sense.
V -The length of the directed line segment represents to some convenient
scale the magnitude | V | of the vector.

-V (V) + - (V) = 0 (since the vectors are equal in magnitude and opposite
in direction their sum is equivalent to zero.)

The direction of the vector V may be measured by an angle  from some known reference direction as
indicated above.

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair

Vector Addition and Subtraction

Vector Addition

Parallelogram Law Triangle Law

The parallelogram states that the resultant of two vectors can be obtained by drawing an equivalent diagonal line
between the middle of the vectors to the opposite end which is shown in the above figure.

Vector Subtraction

Triangle Law
The following proof shows the process of finding the resultant passing through the middle using cosine law.
V2’

V1 R V1’ V1’ sin(θ)

α
γ θ
V2’ V1’cos(θ)
R2 = (V2’+V1’cos θ)2+(V1’sin θ)2
With some rearrangement the following output can be obtained.

R = √𝑉12 + 𝑉22 + 2𝑉1 𝑉2 cos θ ------------------------------------ Where V1 =V1’ and V2= V2’
The only change made when using triangle law is the vectors will be connected head to tail and the angle
between them.
R = √𝑉12 + 𝑉22 − 2𝑉1 𝑉2 cos β --- where the angle 𝛽 is the angel between the vectors when they are connected
head to tail as shown below.

R V1

β
V2 using the parallelogram method and triangle method the
following decision can be made.
1. θ + β =1800
2. α + γ = θ

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair

Sine law on the other hand requires the sine of the angles and their opposite vectors.

Adding number of forces

Force addition requires number of steps. Since parallelogram low requires two vectors, the process of combining
the vectors will be performed two at a time. The sequential way of adding vectors is shown in the figure below.

Components of a Vector
Any two or more vectors whose sum equals a certain vector V are said to be the components of that vector.
y
E.g. i/ y’ ii/ R
V
Vy’ Vy

x’  x
Vx’ Vx
Vx’ - the component of V in the direction of x’

Vy’- the component of V in the direction of y’

Vx and Vy are x and y components of V respectively.

Vx and Vy are called rectangular components (vector components that are mutually perpendicular). On
the other hand,  is the direction of the vector V with respect to the x-axis.

 = tan-¹ | Vy | = tan-¹ Vy / Vx Vx = Rcos & Vy = Rsin

| Vx |

Unit Vector
A unit vector in the direction of a vector V is defined as a vector whose magnitude is one and whose direction
coincides with that of V. It only possesses direction and used to clarify the arrangement of the given
magnitude.
Unit vector+ Magnitude = Vector.

E.g., unit vectors i, j, and k in the x, y, and z directions respectively, with magnitudes of unity.

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair

V
V = Vxi + Vyj + Vzk
Vzk y
z Vx = Vcosx, Vy = Vcosy, Vz = Vcosz
Vyj
x cosx, cosy and cosz are the direction cosines.
Vxi

The magnitude of the vector V is; 𝑉 = √ (Vx2 + Vy2 + Vz2)

(cosx)2 + (cosy)2 + (cosz)2 = 1

-The unit vector in the direction of the vector V is; n = V / | V |

If n is a unit vector in the  direction, the moment M of F about any axis  through O is expressed by;
M = Mo. n = (r X F. n) --- which is the scalar magnitude.
Or
M = (Mo. n) n = (r X F. n) n ----vector expression for the moment of F about an axis  through O.

1.4. Newtonian Mechanics

Newton’s 1st Law: - “if the resultant force acting on a particle is zero, the particle will remain at rest
(if originally at rest) or will move with constant speed (if originally in motion).”

Newton’s 2nd Law: - “if the resultant force acting on a particle is not zero, the particle will have an
acceleration proportional to the magnitude of the resultant and in the direction of this resultant force.”
F=ma
Newton’s 3 Law:-“the forces of action and reaction b/n bodies in contact have the same magnitude,
rd

same line of action, and opposite sense.

Newton’s first law contains the principle of the equilibrium of forces, which is the main topic of concern in
statics. This law is actually a consequence of the second law, since there is no acceleration when the force is
zero, and the particle either is at rest or is moving with a uniform velocity. The first law adds nothing new to the
description of motion but is included here because it was part of Newton’s classical statements.

The third law is basic to our understanding of force. It states that forces always occur in pairs of equal and
opposite forces. Thus, the downward force exerted on the desk by the pencil is accompanied by an upward force

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 Bahir Dar Institute of Technology
Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering Chair
of equal magnitude exerted on the pencil by the desk. This principle holds for all forces, variable or constant,
regardless of their source, and holds at every instant of time during which the forces are applied. Lack of careful
attention to this basic law is the cause of frequent error by the beginner.

1.6. Law of Gravitation

weight of a body, which is the gravitational force acting on it can be obtained by the following formula.
𝒎𝟏 𝒎 𝟐
𝑭=𝑮
𝒓𝟐
Where: F= mutual force of attraction between two forces
G = constant of gravitation (6.673x10-11) m3/ (kg. S2)
m1, m2 = mass of the two particles
r = distance between center of the two particles

1.5. Free Body Diagram

In investigating a problem involving the forces acting on a body, it is essential that the body in question be
isolated from all other bodies so that all faces acting on it are shown. The diagram of such an isolated
body showing all the external faces acting in the body is called a free-body diagram (FBD). Free-body diagram
should always be drawn for every problem since it is the key to understanding of mechanics.




Fig. showing a Frame & its Free-Body Diagram

In drawing the FBD, only external forces are to be considered. However, if a body is cut and the
particle is isolated from the rest of the body, the internal forces acting at the cut surfaces become
external forces and are included in the FBD.

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