MIET2097

ENGINEERING MECHANICS - STATICS

Statics is a fundamental subject in
engineering. It underpins much of the
design
and analysis you will conduct in later for L
example….
T D
W
• aircraft structures
• cars
• robotics
Above –a 2D free body diagram of an F/A-18 in
steady flight
Image courtesy of Australian Defence Department.

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 Introduction to staff
MIET2097 - Statics:

Lecturers:
Dr. A. Kootsookos (weeks 1-6)
Email: alex.kootsookos@ems.rmit.edu.au

Tutors:
Ferry
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 Course Overview
1 (Introduction and Fundamentals)
2D Forces and Moments
2 2D Equilibrium
3D Forces and Moments
Class Test #1
3 Method of Joints A laboratory will
Method of Sections also be scheduled
Class Test #2 for Week 5 and 6
4 Frames and Machines
Friction
5 Belt Friction
Class Test #3
6 Centroids
7 Lectures in Dynamics
Revision for Statics during Tutorial
8 Statics Exam Monday 28th April 9.30am
Storey Hall
Lectures and Tutorials continue in Dynamics
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 Breakdown of Statics Assessment
Assessment Total value* Comments
Tests 30% 3 tests held in lecture
time of Weeks 3, 5, 6
Laboratory 10% Worksheet submitted
during lab
Final exam 60% Week 8
Closed Book

*Within the Statics part of the course MIET2097

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 Course information
Prescribed textbook
– R.C. Hibbeler, ‘Engineering mechanics – statics and
dynamics’, 10th edition.
– Available at the RMIT Bookshop,
http://www.rmitbookshop.com.au/

Online classroom
• www.rmit.edu.au/online
– Semester schedule (including topic guides for each week)
– Other learning resources

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 Learning Resources
Lectures
– Review and discuss the key concepts
– Notes available online
– Review these before class
Tutorials
– To discuss any problems in the homework reading and
exercises
– Worked examples
– Extra worksheets (sometimes)

Attendance is optional – but then so is passing the course!!

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 What is statics?
Newton’s First Law
“An object in static equilibrium:
• has ZERO resultant (net) force acting on it
• experiences zero acceleration – that is a change in speed or
direction of motion”

In the statics part of this course we analyse objects in static equilibrium.

Newton’s Second Law

STATICS DYNAMICS
F=ma=0 F=ma0
EQUILIBRIUM ACCELERATION
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 Basic Concepts: Today’s topics
• Units (Homework)
• Significant Figures, Rounding, Prefixes (Homework)
• Revision: Vectors and Scalars
• Revision: Cartesian Notation
• Revision: Forces as vectors
• The unit vector
• The position vector

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 Revision 1
Vectors and scalars
Vector quantities specify a magnitude and direction
Scalars quantities specify only magnitude

The following quantities are often used in engineering analysis.

Which are vectors and which are scalars?
a) Mass e) Force
b) Velocity f) Acceleration
c) Weight g) Length
h) Displacement
d) Area
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 Revision 2
Cartesian Coordinates
In two dimensions we use the x and y (Cartesian) axes.
y i and j are unit vectors along the x and y
V axes respectively.
They are dimensionless and have a
j i magnitude of one.
x
They are used to specify the sense of a
vector in Cartesian coordinates.

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 Revision 3
Components of a vector
Vectors can be resolved (or ‘split’) into components
along perpendicular axes.
For example, the x and y components of V are Vx = 6
units and Vy = 5 units.
Now V can be expressed in Cartesian vector notation:
y

V
V = 6i + 5j
Vy
Vx Vy
x
Vx
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 Revision 4
Vectors – Example 1
Given that F1 =2.5 i+4.3j, find the magnitude of F1 and the angle between this vector and the horizontal (x) axis.

y
F1

F2

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 Revision 5
Vectors – Example 2
Find the scalar components of F2 parallel to the horizontal (x) and
vertical (y) axes. Use these scalar components to express F2
in Cartesian vector form.
y

F2=10N F1
60°

x
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 Revision 6
Vector addition
To find the sum (or resultant) of two vectors, their x and
y scalar components are added as follows:

V1=V1xi+V1yj V2=V2xi+V2yj

V1+V2=(V1x+V2x)i+(V1y+V2y)j

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 Revision 7
Example 3
Example 4: Find the resultant force, F, of F1 and F2.
Given that F1= 2.5 i+4.3j and F2= -8.7i + 5 j
State the magnitude and orientation of F.
y

F
F2
F1

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 Position vectors – Example 4
The position vector defines one point in space with respect to
another and is usually represented as r.
y
Example 4: find the position
vector from point A to point B.

x
B
A

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 Unit vectors

The unit vector is a vector with a magnitude of 1.

For example, i and j are unit vectors along the x and y
axes.

The unit vector expresses the orientation of a vector.

It is found by dividing the vector by its magnitude:

uF = F / F
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 Unit vectors – Example 5

Find the unit vector for V = 6i + 5j.

u x

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 Vectors – Example 6
The cable AB exerts a tension force of T=200N on the power
pole. Express T in cartesian vector notation.
y

A: (-1, -1)

B: (-5, -3)

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 Homework from this lecture
Whenever you see the picture, you know you have a
minimum amount of work to do… Yes, that’s right, I will
only be suggesting a *minimum* most of you will have to
do more than this.

Homework Problems Tutorial Problems

Read “Lecture Zero”
2.1, 2.7, 2.31, 3.24, 3.32 2.14, 2.33, 2.87
4.5, 4.9, 4.10, 4.7, 4.99, 4.119 4.22, 4.75, 4.101, 4.114

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