INTRODUCTION

Mechanics may be defined as the physical science which describes and predicts the conditions of rest
or motion of bodies under the action of force systems. In other words, where there is motion or force,
there is mechanics.

In engineering, mechanics is generally based on Newton’s Laws and is often called Newtonian (or
Classical) Mechanics after the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727).

Mechanics is divided into three parts as shown below:

Mechanics

Mechanics of Rigid Mechanics of Deformable Bodies Mechanics of Fluids

Bodies

Statics
Dynamics Compressible Fluids

Kinetics Incompressible Fluids

Kinematics
Theory of Plasticity
Theory of Elasticity

Strength of Material Theory of Failure

As seen, mechanics of rigid bodies is divided into two parts as “Statics” and “Dynamics”.

Statics, is the branch of mechanics that deals with the bodies that are acted on by balanced forces.
A force system acting on a body is said to be balanced if it has no tendency to change the state of
rest or motion of the body in any way. If a body is in equilibrium, the force system acting on it
must be balanced.

Dynamics is concerned with moving bodies. It is subdivided into two parts as Kinematics and
Kinetics. Kinematics deals with the geometry of motion without taking into consideration the
loading that causes this motion. Kinetics considers the loads that cause the motion.

Kinematics is the geometry in motion. This term is used to define the motion of a particle or body
without consideration of the forces causing the motion.

Kinetics is the branch of mechanics that relates the force acting on a body to its mass and accelera-
tion.
In rigid body mechanics, it is assumed that bodies are completely rigid – nondeformable. In reality
though, no structure or machine is completely rigid and it will somewhat deform under the effect of
forces it is subjected to. However these deformations are generally extremely small and they neither
affect the body in concern nor the equilibrium conditions appreciably. On the other hand, if the fact
considered in the analysis is the amount of deformation in the member or its resistance against
failure, these deformations gain importance and in this case, such bodies become the subject of
mechanics of deformable bodies.

Fundamental Concepts

The basic concepts in mechanics are space, time, mass and force. These concepts cannot be truly
defined. They should be accepted on the basis of our intuition and experience, and used as a mental
frame of reference for our study of mechanics.

Space is the geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are described by linear or angular
measurements relative to a specific coordinate system. For three dimensional problems, three
independent coordinates are needed. For two dimensional problems only two coordinates will be
required.

Time is a concept for measuring the succession and the duration of events. Time is not directly
involved in the analysis of problems in Statics.

Mass is a measure of the translational inertia of the body, which is its resistance to a change in
velocity. Mass can also be thought of as the quantity of matter in a body. The mass of a body affects
the gravitational attraction force between it and other bodies.

The concept of mass is used to characterize and compare two bodies on the basis of certain
fundamental mechanical experiments depending on the definitions given above. For example: 1) Two
bodies of the same mass will be attracted by the Earth in the same manner. 2) They will also offer the
same resistance to a change in translational motion.

A force represents the action of one body on another. Force can be generated either by the direct
contact of bodies or by their effect at a distance. Forces always occur in pairs. Forces of a pair are
always equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Force is a vector quantity. The action of a force
is characterized by its magnitude, by the direction of its action and by its point of application. A
force tends to move a body in the direction of its action (the push – pull effect of the force). In
addition, a force tends to rotate the body about any axis which does not intersect the line of action of
the force and which is not parallel to it (the moment effect of the force).

Idealization in Mechanics: The mathematical description of a real engineering problem can become
very complex. Thus, idealization (or models) and assumptions are used in mathematics in order to
simplify the application of the theory.
 Particle is a body of negligible dimensions. In the mathematical sense, a particle is a body whose
dimensions are considered to be near zero so that we may analyze it as a mass concentrated at a point.
We often choose a particle as a differential element of the body. 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. A body considered as a particle is taken as a unique point, which is generally the mass center of
the body. A particle has mass but no shape and dimensions. In so doing, the principles of mechanics
are reduced to a rather simplified form, since the geometry of the body will not be involved in the
analysis of the problem. The line of actions of all the forces applied to the body must pass through
this point. Forces can only exert push – pull effects on a particle.

Rigid Body is an idealized body composed of a large number of particles all of which always remain
at fixed distances from each other. In addition to the tendency to move a body in the direction of its
application, a force may also tend to rotate a body about an axis. A rigid body is assumed to undergo
no deformation under the action of applied forces. Its shape and dimensions remain fixed under all
loading conditions and at all times.

Point force is an idealized force assumed to act at a point on a body. A constant force exerted on a
body by another is actually distributed over the area of contact between two bodies. If the area of
contact is relatively small, the contact force between the two bodies may be considered as a point
(concentrated) force.