U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

ENGINERING MECHANICS CLASS-3 ON 24.4.21

TOPICS

1. FORCE AND FORCE SYSTEM

2. TRIANGLE LAW, PARALLELOGRAM LAW
3. LAW/PRINCIPLE OF TRANSMISSIBILITY
4. PRINCIPLE OF SUPRPOSITION

FORCE AND FORCE SYSTEM:

The force is an important factor in the field of Mechanics, which may be broadly
Defined as an agent which produces or tends to produce, destroys or tends to destroy
motion. e.g., a horse applies force to pull a cart and to set it in motion. Force is also required
to work on a bicycle pump. In this case, the force is supplied by the muscular power of our
arms and shoulders.

Sometimes, the applied force may not be sufficient to move a body, e.g., if we try to
lift a stone weighing 2 or 3 quintals, we fail to do so. In this case we exert a force, no doubt,
but no motion is produced. This shows that a force may not necessarily produce a motion in
a body; but it may, simply, tend to do so. In a tug-of-war the two parties, when balanced,
neutralize each other’s force. But the moment one party gets weaker, the other party pulls
off, in spite of first party’s best effort to destroy motion.

EFFECTS OF A FORCE: A force may produce the following effects in a body, on which it
acts :

1. It may change the motion of a body. i.e. if a body is at rest, the force may set it in motion.
And if the body is already in motion, the force may accelerate it.

2. It may retard the motion of a body.

3. It may retard the forces, already acting on a body, thus bringing it to rest or in
equilibrium.

4. It may give rise to the internal stresses in the body, on which it acts.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A FORCE: In order to determine the effects of a force, acting on a

body, we must know the following characteristics of a force :

1. Magnitude of the force (i.e., 100 N, 50 N, 20 kN, 5 kN, etc.)

2. The direction of the line, along which the force acts (i.e., along OX, OY, at 30° North of
East etc.). It is also known as line of action of the force.

3. Nature of the force (i.e., whether the force is push or pull). This is denoted by placing an
arrow head on the line of action of the force.

4. The point at which (or through which) the force acts on the body

PRINCIPLE OF PHYSICAL INDEPENDENCE OF FORCES: It states, “If a number of forces

are simultaneously acting on a particle, then the resultant of these forces will have the same
effect as produced by all the forces.”

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 1

 U18CE105 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PRINCIPLE OF TRANSMISSIBILITY OF FORCES:

It states, “If a force acts at any point on a rigid body, it may also be considered to act at any
other point on its line of action, provided this point is rigidly connected with the body.”

SYSTEM OF FORCES:

When two or more forces act on a body, they are called to form a system of forces.
Following systems of forces are important from the subject point of view :

1. Coplanar forces. The forces, whose lines of action lie on the same plane, are known as
coplanar forces.

2. Collinear forces. The forces, whose lines of action lie on the same line, are known as
collinear forces

3. Concurrent forces. The forces, which meet at one point, are known as concurrent forces.
The concurrent forces may or may not be collinear.

4. Coplanar concurrent forces. The forces, which meet at one point and their lines of action
also lie on the same plane, are known as coplanar concurrent forces.

5. Coplanar non-concurrent forces. The forces, which do not meet at one point, but their
lines of action lie on the same plane, are known as coplanar non-concurrent forces.

6. Non-coplanar concurrent forces. The forces, which meet at one point, but their lines of
action do not lie on the same plane, are known as non-coplanar concurrent forces.

7. Non-coplanar non-concurrent forces. The forces, which do not meet at one point and their
lines of action do not lie on the same plane, are called non-coplanar non-concurrent forces.

RESULTANT FORCE:

If a number of forces, P, Q, R ... etc. are acting simultaneously on a particle, then it is

possible to find out a single force which could replace them i.e., which would produce the
same effect as produced by all the given forces. This single force is called resultant force and
the given forces R ... etc. are called component forces. P5

P1 P4

P2 P4

LAW OF SUPERPOSITION: P3

According to the law of superposition of forces, when two or more forces act on a rigid
body, the net effect caused by the sum of individual forces on the rigid body is equal to the
effect caused by a single force of magnitude equal to the sum of individual forces.

P Q

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 2

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PARALLELOGRAM LAW OF FORCES:

According to parallelogram law of forces, when two coplanar concurrent forces

acting on a rigid body are represented as two adjacent sides of a parallelogram both in
magnitude and direction, then the diagonal passing through the intersection of these two
forces represent the resultant both in magnitude and direction.

Let P and Q are the forces acting on the rigid body

Then R2 = P2 + Q2 + 2PQ Cosθ

Where P, Q are the forces acting on the rigid body, R is the resultant and θ is the angle made
in between two forces

If is the angle made by the resultant then Q R

Tan = QSinθ θ
(P+QCosθ) P

TRIANGLE LAW OF FORCES:

If two forces acting at a point are represented in magnitude and direction by the two
adjacent sides of a triangle taken in order, then the closing side of the triangle taken in the
reversed order represents the resultant of the forces in magnitude and direction

NEWTONS LAWS OF MOTION AND GRAVITATION

NEWTON’S FIRST LAW:

Newton’s first law states that, if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight
line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by
An external agency.

This external agency is termed as force. THIS LAW HELPS US DEFINE “FORCE”

This postulate is known as the law of inertia. The law of inertia was first formulated by Galileo
Galilei for horizontal motion on Earth and was later generalized by René Descartes. Before Galileo it
had been thought that all horizontal motion required a direct cause, but Galileo deduced from his
experiments that a body in motion would remain in motion unless a force (such as friction) caused it
to come to rest.

NEWTON’S SECOND LAW:

Newton’s second law is a quantitative description of the changes that a force can produce on
the motion of a body.

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 3

 U18CE105 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

It states that the time rate of change of the momentum of a body is equal in both magnitude
and direction to the force imposed on it. The momentum of a body is equal to the product of its mass
and its velocity. Momentum, like velocity, is a vector quantity, having both magnitude and direction.

A force applied to a body can change the magnitude of the momentum, or its direction, or
both. Newton’s second law is one of the most important in all of physics. For a body whose mass m is
constant, it can be written in the form

F = ma

Where F (force) and a (acceleration) are both vector quantities.

If a body has net force acting on it, it is accelerated in accordance with the equation. Conversely, if a
body is not accelerated, there is no net force acting on it.

NEWTON’S THIRD LAW:

Newton’s third law states that when two bodies interact, they apply forces to one another that are
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

The third law is also known as the law of action and reaction.

This law is important in analyzing problems of static equilibrium, where all forces are balanced, but it
also applies to bodies in uniform or accelerated motion. The forces it describes are real ones, not mere
bookkeeping devices. For example, a book resting on a table applies a downward force equal to its
weight on the table. According to the third law, the table applies an equal and opposite force to the
book. This force occurs because the weight of the book causes the table to deform slightly so that it
pushes back on the book like a coiled spring.

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 4

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS
TOPICS:

1. CONCEPT OF EQUILIBRIUM
2. CONCEPT OF RESULTANT OF SEVERAL FORCES
3. LAMI’S THEOREM
4. FREE BODY DIAGRAM
5. PROBLEMS

1. CONCEPT OF EQUILIBRIUM:

If a body is subjected to number of forces and they keep it in a state of rest, then the
whole system is said to be in Equilibrium. This is called as Static Equilibrium.

When a rigid body is in motion and a system of forces acting on it does not alter the
motion of rigid body, it may be called as Dynamic Equilibrium.

Example: Two red balls balanced on a horizontal plank

State of in-equilibrium: weighing balance with unequal weights or displacement

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page5

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

Example of Equilibrium: Tug of War

5N

5N RIGID BODY 10N

5N

5N

Algebraic sum of forces is equal to ZERO +5+5+5-10-5=0

Sign Convention:
1. All the forces acting in the forward direction or in the direction of positive X axis are
taken as positive
2. All the forces acting in the backward direction or in the direction of negative X axis
are taken as negative
3. All the forces acting in the upward direction or in the direction of positive Y axis are
taken as positive
4. All the forces acting in the downward direction or in the direction of negative Y axis
are taken as negative.

****CONDITIONS OF EQUILIBRIUM:
A rigid body under the action of several forces is said to be in the state of static or dynamic
equilibrium if:

1. Algebraic sum of all the forces and their components acting along horizontal
direction is equal to zero
i. e; ∑Fx =0
2. Algebraic sum of all the forces and their components acting along vertical direction is
equal to zero
i. e; ∑Fy =0

3. Algebraic sum of moments of forces acting on a rigid body at any point(moment

centre) is equal to zero i.e; ∑Mc =0

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 6

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

II. CONCEPT OF RESULTANT OF SEVERAL FORCES:

If a system of forces are acting on a body, the net effect caused by all the forces
can e replaced with a single force which has same effect as that of all the forces,
which is called as Resultant

Or Combined Effect of group of forces acting on a rigid body is termed as

resultant.

Direction of Resultant: when a group of forces acting on a body in different

directions has a resultant, the direction along which the resultant acts is called as
direction of resultant.

F1

F2

F3 R Direction of resultant

Resultant of Several Forces:

S.No Representation Explanation

1 If a single force is acting on a body, the resultant
will be in the same direction and the magnitude of
F R resultant will be equal to the force applied.

2 When two coplanar concurrent forces are acting

R on a rigid body, then the resultant will be passing
P through the intersection of those two forces, or
can be determined by Parallelogram law of forces.

3 When several forces are acting on a rigid body the

resultant can be found by resolving the forces into
components and applying the formula:
R= √((∑Fx2) +(∑Fy2))
Where ∑F x and ∑Fy are the algebraic sum of all the
forces and their components acting along X and Y
directions respectively.

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 7

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

III. LAMI’S THEOREM: (Sine Rule)

According to Lami’s Theorem when three coplanar concurrent forces acting on a

rigid body are maintaining it in the state of equilibrium then the ratio of magnitude
of Force to the sine of opposite angle between other two forces are equal or
proportional.

IV. FREE BODY DIAGRAM: When a body is subjected to a system of forces, to

analyze or study the state of equilibrium, a free body diagram is drawn.

A free body diagram is a sketch or diagram which represents the externally acting
forces and reactions replaced in place of supports.

To draw the free body, isolate the rigid body from the supports like walls, contact
surfaces, and in place of supports place the reactions.

TBC TAC

W=15N

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 8

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PROBLEMS for practice

PROBLEM-1:

A boat in a river is being pulled by two persons standing on either banks, the force
applied by the first person is P=120 N and Second person Q=100 N, the ropes are
tied to the boat at O, the angle between the ropes OP and OQ is 80˚ find the
Magnitude and direction of the resultant.
 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PROBLEM-2:

Two forces P = 200 N and Q=100N are acting on a rigid body as shown in the figure,
determine the resultant and angle which it acts.

80˚
Q
 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PROBLEM-3:

Two forces P=150 N and Q are acting on a rigid body and the angle between them is
135˚ the resultant of these two forces P and Q is R which acts perpendicular to P,
determine the magnitude of Q and R. Q R

135˚

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 11

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

PROBLEM-4: Two forces one of which is double the other is 260N, if the direction of
the larger force is reversed then the resultant is 180N, determine the magnitude and
angle between the forces.

PROBLEMS ON LAMIS THEOREM

PROBLEM-5: A weight 1000N is suspended from two strings OA and OB of length

1m and 3m as shown in the figure, determine the forces in the strings OA and OB

A B

30

90

1000N

PROBLEM-6: A Sphere of weight 1000N resting on a groove as shown in the figure,

determine the reactions at the points of contact.

1000N

60˚ 45˚

PROBLEM-7: A sphere of weight 200 N and radius 40 cm is maintained in

equilibrium by a 20 cm block as shown in figure, determine the reactions at the
points of contact.

200N

30˚

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 12

 U18CE205 ENGINEERING MECHANICS

ROBLEM-8: A string ABCD, attached to fixed points A and D has two equal weights of
1000 N attached to it at B and C. The weights rest with the portions AB and CD inclined at
angles as shown in Fig.

PROBLEM-9 A light string ABCDE whose extremity A is fixed, has weights W1 and W2
attached to it at B and C. It passes round a small smooth peg at D carrying a weight of 300 N
at the free end E as shown in Fig.

PROBLEM-10: A smooth sphere of weight W=100N is supported by a string fastened to a

point A on the smooth vertical wall with a string making an angle 30˚, the other end is in
contact with point B on the wall as shown in Figure. Determine the reactions at B and
tension in the string AO

SRUJAN VARMA KAITHOJU Page 13