Engineering

Mechanics
Bharat Bhagwat Waghode
BE (Mech.), ME (Machine Design), PhD (Pursuing)
Asst. Professor, ACE, Mumbai.
Examination Scheme
 Syllabus

Module Detailed Content Hrs.

1 1.1 System of Coplaner Forces 6

1.2 Resultant
2 Centroid 3
3 3.1 Equilibrium of System of Coplaner Forces 4
3.2 Equilibrium of Beams 3
4 Friction
5 Kinematics of Particle 4
6 Kinematics of Rigid Body 3
7 7.1 Kinetics of a Particle 4
7.2 Kinetics of a Particle: Work and Energy 4
7.3 Kinetics of a Particle: Impulse and Momentum 3
 Introduction to Mechanics
Mechanics

• The branch of applied physics dealing with motion and

forces producing motion.
OR
• Mechanics is the science which describes and predicts
the conditions of rest or motion of bodies under the
action of forces.
Classification of Mechanics
Classification of Mechanics
 STATICS

• It is that branch of Engineering Mechanics,

which deals with the forces and their effects,
while acting upon the bodies at rest.
 DYNAMICS

• It is that branch of Engineering Mechanics, which deals

with the forces and their effects, while acting upon the
bodies in motion.
The subject of Dynamics may be further sub-divided into the
following two branches :
1. Kinetics, and 2. Kinematics.
 KINETICS

• It is the branch of Dynamics, which deals with the bodies in motion due
to the application of forces.

KINEMATICS
• It is that branch of Dynamics, which deals with the bodies in motion,
without any reference to the forces which are responsible for the motion.
 Basic Terms
• Rigid body: the relative movement between its parts are negligible
• Dynamics: dealing with a rigid-body in motion
• Length: applied to the linear dimension of a strait line or curved line
• Area: the two dimensional size of shape or surface
• Volume: the three dimensional size of the space occupied by substance
• Force: the action of one body on another whether it’s a push or a pull
force
• Mass: the amount of matter in a body
• Weight: the force with which a body is attracted toward the centre of the
Earth
• Particle: a body of negligible dimension
 Mass and Weight

• “Mass is the quantity of matter contained in a body”.

• “Weight is the force with which any mass containing body is attracted
towards the center of the earth due to gravity”.
•W=m*g (g = 9.81 m/s2)
• W- Weight,
m- Mass,
g- Gravitational Pull (always downward)
 Momentum
Momentum is defined as a measure of the motion of a moving body.
 Rigid body & Deformable body

• Rigid body : A body in which deformation is negligible or

equivalent to zero under the action of forces.
• Deformable body : A physical body that can deformed
when force is applied.
• Deformation may cause permanent/temporary, or
instantaneous/continuous.
 Force

Characteristics of Force
-Magnitude
-Point of application
-Line of action
-Direction
e.g.- Man hitting a nail.
Batsman hitting a ball.
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Newton’s First Law
 Newton’s Second Law
• The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the
magnitude of the resultant unbalanced force acting on the
body and in the direction of resultant force.
Fαa
F = ma
Where, F - Resultant Force
m - mass of the body
a - acceleration
 Newton’s Third Law
• To every action there is always an equal, opposite and
simultaneous reaction.
Newton’s Third Law
 Law of Transmissibility of Forces
• “If the point of application of force acting on a rigid body is
transmitted to act at any other point along its line of action, the state
of rest or motion of rigid body will remain unchanged”.
 Classification of Force System

• Based on the planes, Force System may be classified

as:
• Coplanar force system: The force vectors are all in the
same plane.
• Non-coplanar force system: The forces are not all in
the same plane.
 System of Coplanar Forces
• Coplanar force System
• Coplanar force systems have all the forces acting in in one plane. They
may be concurrent, parallel, non-concurrent or non-parallel (General).

1) Concurrent Force System 2) Parallel Force System 3) General Force System

 Coplanar force System

Concurrent Forces – Parallel Forces – Non-concurrent Forces –

forces that pass through forces that have lines of action forces that do not intersect at a
a common point. that never intersect each other single point can create rotation

Parallel Forces Non-concurrent Forces

SI Units
 Parallelogram Law of Vector Addition
• Statement of Parallelogram Law 

• If two vectors acting simultaneously at a point can be

represented both in magnitude and direction by the adjacent
sides of a parallelogram drawn from a point, then the
resultant vector is represented both in magnitude and
direction by the diagonal of the parallelogram passing
through that point.
Let P and Q be two vectors acting simultaneously at a point
and represented both in magnitude and direction by two
adjacent sides OA and OD of a parallelogram OABD as
shown in figure.
So,
                  R = P + Q
Magnitude of resultant:

Direction of resultant:
Triangle Law of Vector Addition

Statement of Triangle Law 

• If 2 vectors acting simultaneously on a body are
represented both in magnitude and direction by 2 sides
of a triangle taken in an order then the resultant(both
magnitude and direction) of these vectors is given by
3rd side of that triangle taken in opposite order.
Consider two vectors P and Q acting on a body and represented both in magnitude
and direction by sides OA and AB respectively of a triangle OAB. Let θ be the
angle between P and Q. Let R be the resultant of vectors P and Q. Then, according
to triangle law of vector addition, side OB represents the resultant of P and Q.
B
So,
 R = P + Q
Magnitude of resultant:

Direction of resultant:
Polygon Law of Vector Addition

Statement of Polygon Law

•  If a number of vectors can be represented in magnitude

and direction by the sides of a polygon taken in the
same order, then their resultant is represented in
magnitude and direction by the closing side of the
polygon taken in the opposite order.
Let us find the resultant of four vectors 

Resultant of four vectors

 Couples
A couple is two equal forces which act in opposite directs on an object but not through the same point so they produce a turning effect.

• The moment (or torque) of a couple is calculated by

multiplying the size of one of the force (F) by the perpendicular
distance between the two forces (s).
• E.g. a steering wheel in a car;
• Moment of Couple = Fs
Moments
The moment (or torque) of a force about a turning point is the force
multiplied by the perpendicular distance to the force from the turning point.

• Moments are measured in newton metres (Nm).

Moment = F d
• F = the force in newtons (N)
• d = perpendicular distance in metres (m)
 Example; 
A 10N force acts at a perpendicular distance of 0.50m
from the turning point. What is the moment of the force?

Moment = F*d
= 10 x 0.50
= 5.0 Nm
 The Principle of Moments
“ When an object is in equilibrium the sum of the anticlockwise
moments about a turning point must be equal to the sum of the
clockwise moments.”
• sum of anticlockwise moments = sum clockwise moments
• Example;

• F1 x d1 = F2 x d2 F1 x d1 =  (F2 x d2) +  (F3 x d3)

Moment of Force
 Resolution of Forces
Any force can be resolved into the addition of two mutually
perpendicular forces which are called components of force.

The components of force are resolved along the x-axis and the y-axis of a
given coordinate system.
x-component: 

y-component: 
 Types of Load

POINT LOAD

• Point load is that load which acts over a small distance.

Because of concentration over small distance this load can may
be considered as acting on a point. Point load is denoted
by P and symbol of point load is arrow heading downward (↓).
 DISTRIBUTED LOAD

UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED LOAD (UDL)

• Distributed load is that acts over a considerable length or you

can say “over a length which is measurable. Distributed load is
measured as per unit length.
 UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED LOAD (UDL)

A uniformly distributed load is that whose magnitude remains uniform

throughout the length.

• For example, a 10 kN/m load is acting on a beam of length 5m, then it

can be said that a 50 kN load is acting throughout the length of 5m.
• Total UDL can be converted into a point load, acting at center o
• eg. For a 10m long beam with a UDL of 5kN/m, it can be counted as a
50kN point load 5m from the ends.f UDL.
• Equivalent Concentrated Load = UDL intensity(W) x Loading Length
 TRIANGULAR LOAD

• Triangular load is that whose magnitude is zero at one end of

span and increases constantly till the 2nd end of the span. As
shown in the diagram;
 TRIANGULAR LOAD

Equivalent Concentrated Load = 1/2 x TL intensity(W) x Loading Length

Acting on the length = 2/3 x Total loading length (from the left end)

• Total load is equal to the area of the triangle and this total
load is assumed to be acting at the C.G. of the triangle that
is, at the distance of 2/3rd of total length of beam from the
left end.
 TRAPEZOIDAL LOAD

The beam AB in Fig. P-238 supports a load which varies an intensity of 220 N/m to
890 N/m. Calculate the magnitude and position of the resultant load.
 

F1=6(220)=1320  Rd = 3F1+4F2
F2=1/2(6)(670)=2010 N
3330 d = 3(1320)+4(2010)
R=F1+F2=1320+2010
3330 d = 12000
R=3330 N
d=3.6 m

Thus, R = 3330 N downward at 3.6 m to the left of A.

 Resultant of Coplanar Concurrent Force
System
The line of action of each forces in coplanar concurrent force system are on the same
plane. All of these forces meet at a common point, thus concurrent. In x-y plane, the
resultant can be found by the following formulas:

Rx=ΣFx
Ry=Σfy
R=

tan θ = Ry/Rx
 Equivalent Force System

System A System B
Summation of Horizontal Forces 20 + 30 = 50 N 50 N
Summation of Vertical Forces -10 N -10 N
Summation of Moment about about pt A -10(3) + 30 (2) = 30 Nm 50(2) -70 = 30 Nm
Summation of Moment about about pt B -20 (2) -10 (3) = -70 Nm -70 Nm
Summation of Moment about about pt C -20 (2) = -40 Nm 10 (3) – 70 = -40Nm
Summation of Moment about about pt D 30(2) =60 Nm 10 (3) +50 (2) – 70 = 60
Nm
Example 1: Two tugboats are towing a cargo ship as shown below. Tugboat A exerts a
force of 15,000 N at a 30° angle while tugboat B exerts a force of 20,000 N at a 50°
angle. Determine the magnitude and direction of the resultant force acting on the cargo
ship.

Solution –
we resolve the force exerted by each tugboat into its x and y components as shown below
Resultant,

The direction of the force resultant, q ,

Since q is measured
positive in the counter
clockwise direction
from x axis, the force
resultant is, therefore,
directed below the x
axis as shown below.
Example 2: This example is a variant of the problem considered in Example 1. In
this case, tugboat A is exerting a force of 15,000 N at 30° angle. We are interested in
knowing the magnitude and direction of the force exerted by tugboat B on the cargo
ship such that the resultant towing force is 30,000 N in the horizontal direction, as
shown in the figure.
 The force equations in x and y directions are used to find the components of 

Rx = 30,000 N & Ry = 0

Rx = 30,000 N & Ry = 0

With the two components of force  known, we can solve for its magnitude and direction
as

Therefore, tugboat B should apply a force of 18,590 N at an angle of 24° below the x axis.
Find the Resultant of the given force system
Find the Resultant and direction wrt P of the given force system as
Forces P, Q,S are acting on 120 degree with each other.
Find the magnitude and direction of Force F1 & F2 when resultant of the
given force system is found to be 800N along positive X-axis.
Four Concurrent forces act at a point as shown, Find their
resultant.
Determine the resultant of the forces acting as given in fig.
Find the angle which the resultant makes with the +ve X-axis
A ring is pulled by three forces as shown in fig. Find the force
F and angle if resultant of these three forces is 100N acting in
Vertical direction.
Three concurrent force system having F1, F2,F3 act at the origin.
The resultant of the three forces is 80N as shown in fig. Two of the
three forces are given in fig. Find the magnitude and direction of
F3.
Two concurrent forces P and Q acts at O such that resultant acts
along X-axis. Determine the magnitude of Q and hence
resultant.
Find the force F4, so as to give resultant of the force
system shown below.
 Varignon's Theorem
Moment of a force about any point is equal to the sum of the
moments of the components of that force about the same point.

ΣMo = MoR
ΣMo = R * d
(F1*d1) + (F2*d2) = (R*d)
 General Force System
(Non concurrent - Non parallel force system)
 A bar ABC carrying forces 20N at A downward, 30N at B upward, 40N at C downward. Compute the resultant
force and locate its position from A. if AB=6m and BC=8m

Procedure to solve

1. Draw FBD w.r.t. given parameter.

2. Calculate Resultant.
3. Calculate moment about A
4. Apply Varignons Theorem
5. Calculate position of Resultant from A
1. Consider the parallel force System acting on the rod AD.
(i) Find the resultant of the given parallel force system
(ii) Convert the given force system into a force couple system at
pointA
(iii) Replace the given force system into two parallel components
at B and C
Find the resultant force and its point of application
A member ABC is loaded by distributed load and pure moment as shown in
fig. Find The magnitude and position along AC of the resultant.
Replace the parallel force system by a force couple system at
point B.
 Centroid

• Centroid is a geometric centre of the body

Centre of Mass
• It is a point where the entire mass of the body can be
assumed to be concentrated.
Centroid
Centroid
Centroid
Centroid
Centroid
 Centroid of Standard Figure.

• 1. If the area has an axis of symmetry then the centroid has

to lie on the axis of symmetry
• 2. If the area has two axes of symmetry then the centroid is
the point of intersection of these two axes.
• 3. If the X-axis is the axis of symmetry of the area then, Y=0
• 4. If the Y-axis is the axis of symmetry of the area then, X=0
 Centroid
Part Ai Xi Yi Ai Xi AiYi
(mm2) (mm) (mm) (mm3) (mm3)

Rectangle
Quarter
Circle
Semicircle
Triangle
Circle
ΣAi= ΣAiXi= ΣAiYi=
 Equilibrium System of Coplaner Forces
An object is said to be in equilibrium if the resultant force
and the resultant couple acting on the object is zero
• Equation of Equilibrium
• Hence for any object in equilibrium we have,
• 1. Σ Fx =0
• 2. Σ Fy =0
• 3. Σ Ma =0
Types of Supports and Reactions
 Lami’s Theorem
Statement – If three forces acting at a point are in equilibrium, the ratio of any of
the forces to the sine of the angle between the remaining two forces is the same.