APL 100 Engineering Mechanics

Department of Applied Mechanics

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Semester II, 2016-17

Lecture 1 summary

The focus of the first part of this class is on the dynamics of rigid bodies. The term dynamics
refers to the analysis of bodies in motion. The emphasis of the second part of this class is on
statics which is related to the analysis of bodies at rest. The geometrical aspects of motion,
referred to as the kinematics, are considered first, followed by the kinetics, the analysis of
relationship between the forces acting on the body and the motion of the body.
A coordinate system needs to be chosen to describe the kinematical quantities, such as the
position vector, velocity and acceleration of a body.

Cartesian coordinates
In the cartesian coordinate system, the position of a particle is described in terms of the (x, y, z)
coordinates aligned along the unit vectors, (i, j, k).
Thus, the vectors related to the position r,
velocity v and acceleration a are given by,

r = xi + yj + z k
(1)
dr
v = r = = xi + yj + z k

dt
d2 r
a = r = 2 = x i + yj + zk
dt

Note that the x denotes the first derivative of x with respect to time. The relationship between
velocity and acceleration vectors is given as, a = v = v xi + v yj + v z k.
Example 1: Consider a car moving at an acceleration, a = f (t)i (given as a function of time),
along a straight road. The velocity and position of the car are to be found. The initial position
and velocity vectors are ro = (xo , yo , zo ) and vo = (vox , voy , voz ), respectively.
From the definition of the acceleration, Rt dv/dt = a = f (t)i. Thus, dvx /dt = f (t), for which
the solution is given as, vx (t) = vox + 0 f (t )dt0 = vox + F (t), where F (t) is simply the integral
0

of the given function f (t). The variable, vox , denotes the xcomponent of the initial velocity
vector, vo . The other two components of velocity satisfy, dvy /dt = dvz /dt = 0, thus, vy (t) = voy
and vz (t) = voz (voy and voz are the y and z components of the initial velocity vector).
Rt
The position of the car is described by the equation, dr/dt = v. Thus, r(t) = ro + 0 v(t0 )dt0 .
By substituting
R t the expressions for the velocity vector components obtained above, r(t) =
ro + (vox t + 0 F (t )dt0 )i + voy tj + voz tk.
0
Suppose that the acceleration is given as a function of the position of the car, a = g(x)i.
In this case, it is observed that the x component of acceleration, ax = g(x) = dvx /dt =
d
(dvx /dx)(dx/dt) = vx dvx /dx. Thus, ax = g(x) = dx (vx2 /2), the velocity is obtained as a
x 0 0
function of x, given by the relation, vx2 = vox 2 +
R
0 g(x )dx . The position vector is given by the
equation, dr/dt = v. The equation, dx/dt = vx , is solved by substituting the expression for vx .
The expression for the xcomponentq of position is given implicitly as a function of time by,
R x dx0 Rx
0 = t, where vx (x) =
xo vx (x )
2
v +
ox 0 g(x0 )dx0 . Thus, r(t) = x(t)i + (yo + voy t)j + (zo + voz t)k.

1
Cylindrical polar coordinates
In the cylindrical polar coordinates, the position of a particle is described in terms of its radial,
azimuthal and axial coordinates (r, , z), in terms of unit vectors, ( er , e The expressions
, k).
relating the unit vectors in cylindrical polar coordinates to the cartesian unit vectors are given
by,

r = cos i + sin j
e (2)
= sin i + cos j
e

The directions of the radial and azimuthal unit vectors are dependent on the coordinate,
which in general changes as the body moves in time. Thus, the time rate of change of the radial
unit vector is given as, d sin i + cos j) =
er /dt = ( e . Similarily, the rate of change of the
azimuthal unit vector is given as, de /dt = (cos i + sin j) =
er . Thus, the velocity and
acceleration vectors in cylindrical coordinate system are given by,

r = r
er + z k (3)
v = r = r e + z k
er + r
r r2 )
a = r = ( er + (r + 2r )
e + zk

2
particle path
Position vector in cylindrical coordinates