MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATIONS

KABUL UNIVERSITY
ENGINEERING FACULTY
CIVIL DEPARTMENT
ENGINEERING STATICS

ENGINEERING STATICS

General Principles
Chapter 1

1 By: Wahidullah H.
 Chapter Outline

 What is Mechanics.
 Fundamental Concepts
 Units of Measurement
 International System of Units
 Numerical Calculations
 General Procedure for Analysis

2 By: Wahidullah H.
 What is Mechanics:

Mechanics is a branch of the physical sciences that is concerned with

the state of rest or motion of bodies that are subjected to the action of
forces.

 Rigid-body mechanics
 Deformable-body mechanics
 Fluid mechanics

Rigid-body mechanics is divided into two areas:

 Statics
 Dynamics

Statics deals with the equilibrium of bodies, that is, those that are either at
rest or move with a constant velocity.

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 Fundamental Concepts:
Before we begin our study of engineering mechanics, it is important to
understand the meaning of certain fundamental concepts and
principles.

 Length : is used to locate the position of a point in space and

thereby describe the size of a physical system.

 Time : is conceived as a succession of events. Although the

principles of statics are time independent.

 Mass : is a measure of a quantity of matter that is used to

compare the action of one body with that of another.

 Force : In general, force is considered as a “push” or “pull”

exerted by one body on another.

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 Fundamental Concepts…

Idealizations. 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.

 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.
 Concentrated Force. A concentrated force represents the
effect of a loading which is assumed to act at a point on a body.

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 Fundamental Concepts…
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion.

First Law: A particle originally at rest, or moving in a straight line with

constant velocity, tends to remain in this state provided the particle is not
subjected to an unbalanced force.

Second Law: A particle acted upon by an unbalanced force F

experiences an acceleration a that has the same direction as the force.

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 Fundamental Concepts…
Third Law. The mutual forces of action and reaction between two
particles are equal, opposite, and collinear.

Newton’s Law of Gravitational Attraction.

Shortly after formulating his three laws of motion, Newton postulated a
law governing the gravitational attraction between any two particles.

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 Fundamental Concepts…

F = force of gravitation between the two particles

G = universal constant of gravitation; according to experimental
evidence, G = 66.73(10-12 m3/(Kg .s2)
m1, m2 = mass of each of the two particles
r = distance between the two particles

Weight. According to Eq. 1–2 , any two particles or bodies have a

mutual attractive (gravitational) force acting between them.

Letting g = GMe / r2 yields

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 Units of Measurement :
Primary quantities, such as length, L, time, T, mass, M, and
temperature. Secondary quantities, such as area=L2 ,Velocity = LT-1.

The units is used to measure these quantities

TABLE 1–1 Systems of Units
Name Length Time Mass Force
International Meter Second Kilogram newton*
System of N
Units
SI m s Kg 𝐾𝑔. 𝑚
𝑆2
Us Foot Second slug* Pound
Customary
FPS ft s 𝑙𝑏. 𝑆 2 lb
𝑓𝑡
*Derived Unit
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 Units of Measurement …

Conversion of Units.

TABLE 1–2 Conversion Factors

Quantity Unit of Equals Unit of
Measurement Measurement
(FPS) (SI)

Force lb 4.448 N
Mass Slug 14.59 kg
Length foot 0.3048 m

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 The International System of Units:

Prefixes. When a numerical quantity is either very large or very

small, the units used to define its size may be modified by using a
prefix.

Prefix SI Symbol Exponential Form

giga G 109= 1,000,000,000

mega M 106= 1,000 000

kilo K 103= 1,000

milli M 10-3= 0.001

micro μ 10-6= 0.000,001

nano n 10-9= 0.000 000 001

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 The International System of Units…
Rules for Use. Here are a few of the important rules that describe the
proper use of the various SI symbols:
 Quantities defined by several units which are multiples of one another
are separated by a dot to avoid confusion with prefix notation, as
indicated by N= kg . m/sec2
 The exponential power on a unit having a prefix refers to both the unit
and its prefix. For example, μN2=(μN)2 = μN.μN
 With the exception of the base unit the kilogram, in general avoid the
use of a prefix in the denominator of composite units. For example, do
not write N/mm, but rather kN/m.
 When performing calculations, represent the numbers in terms of their
base or derived units by converting all prefixes to powers of 10. The
final result should then be expressed using a single prefix.

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 Numerical Calculations:
Dimensional Homogeneity. The terms of any equation used to
describe a physical process must be dimensionally homogeneous; that
is, each term must be expressed in the same units.
For example:
V = V0 + at
LT-1 = LT-1 + LT-2 T
Significant Figures. The number of significant figures contained in
any number determines the accuracy of the number.
 All digit unlike zero is significant number. For instance 456 contains
three significant number
 if zeros occur at the end of a whole number, it may be unclear as to
how many significant figures the number represents.
 If zeros occur at the beginning of a number that is less than one, then
the zeros are not significant.

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 Numerical Calculations…
Rounding Off Numbers. Rounding off a number is necessary so
that the accuracy of the result will be the same as that of the problem
data.
 Any numerical figure ending in a number greater than five is rounded
up and a number less than five is not rounded up.
 There is a special case for any number that ends in a 5. If the digit
preceding the 5 is an even, then this digit is not rounded up
 If the digit preceding the 5 is an odd number, then it is rounded up.

Calculations. do not round off calculations until expressing the final

result. This procedure maintains precision throughout the series of steps
to the final solution.

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 General Procedure for Analysis:

 Read the problem carefully and try to correlate the actual physical
situation with the theory studied.
 Tabulate the problem data and draw to a large scale any necessary
diagrams.
 Apply the relevant principles, generally in mathematical form. When
writing any equations, be sure they are dimensionally homogeneous.
 Solve the necessary equations, and report the answer with no more
than three significant figures.
 Study the answer with technical judgment and common sense to
determine whether or not it seems reasonable.

15 By: Wahidullah H.
 General Procedure for Analysis…

EXAMPLE 1.1: Convert 2 km/h to m/s How many ft /s is this ?

2 𝑘𝑚 1000 𝑚 1ℎ 2000𝑚
2 K mΤℎ = ( )( )= = 0.556 𝑚/𝑠
ℎ 𝑘𝑚 3600𝑠 3600𝑠

From Table 1–2 , 1 ft = 0.3048 m. Thus,

0.556 𝑚 1𝑓𝑡
0.556 m/s = = 1.82ft/sec
𝑠 0.3048 𝑚

NOTE: Remember to round off the final answer to three significant figures.

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 Assignment

Problems: (1.3.5.7.9.11.13.15.17. 19.21)

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 Thank You

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By: Wahidullah H. LOGO