Introduction

The major objective of our study of Mechanics is the formulation and solution of initial-
boundary-value problems that model as realistically as possible a physical phenomenon.
There are two equally attractive approaches to Mechanics. One is the ad-hoc approach,
which takes up specific problems, and devises problem-dependent methods of solution,
introducing simplifying assumptions as needed. (This approach is used in Strength of
Materials where problems of bending, torsion, pressure vessel are individually set up
under varying assumptions and then solved.) The other is the general approach, which
explores the general features of a concept or a theory and considers specific applications
at a later stage. By and large, the latter is the quicker way to learn about an entire field,
but the former is more concrete and sometimes more easily understood. We will study the
general approach in this course.

What is Mechanics?

Mechanics is the study of the motion of matter and the forces required to cause its
motion. Mechanics is based on the concepts of time, space, force, energy, and matter. A
knowledge of mechanics is needed for the study of all branches of physics, chemistry,
biology and engineering.

The consideration of all aspects of mechanics would be too large a task for us. Instead, in
this course, we shall study only the classical mechanics of non-polar continua. (A
nonpolar continuum is one whose material particles have only three translational degrees
of freedom.) We shall concern ourselves with the basic principles common to fluids and
solids.

Continuum Mechanics

Matter is formed of molecules which in turn consist of atoms and subatomic particles.
Thus matter is not continuous. However, there are many aspects of everyday experience
regarding the behavior of materials, such as the amount of lengthening of a steel bar
under the action of given forces, the rate of discharge of water in a pipe under a given
pressure difference or the drag force experienced by a body moving in air etc., which can
be described and predicted with theories that pay no attention to the molecular structure
of materials. The theory which describes relationships between gross phenomena,
neglecting the structure of materials on a smaller scale, is known as the continuum
theory. The continuum theory regards matter as indefinitely divisible. Thus, within the
theory, one accepts the idea of an infinitesimal volume of material referred to as a particle
in the continuum, and in every neighborhood of a particle there are always infinitely
many particles present. Whether the continuum theory is justified or not depends upon
the given situation. For example, the molecular dimension of water is about 1 Aº (10-8
cm.); hence, if we are concerned about the liquid water in a problem in which we never
have to consider dimensions less than say cm, we are safe to treat water as a
continuum. The mean free path of the molecules of air on the surface of the earth at room
temperature is about 5 × 10-6 cm; hence, if we consider the flow of air about an airplane,
we may treat air as a continuum. The diameter of a red blood cell in our body is about
8.5 × 10-4 cm; hence, we can treat our blood as a continuum if we consider the flow in
arteries of diameter say 0.5 mm.

Thus the concept of a material continuum as a mathematical idealization of the real world
is applicable to problems in which the fine structure of the matter can be ignored. When
the consideration of fine structure is important, we should use principles of particle
physics, statistical mechanics, or a theory of micropolar continuum.

An example of an ad-hoc approach.

Consider the problem of the bending of a beam usually studied in the first course on
Mechanics of Deforms. This is generally based on the following assumptions:

i) The beam is initially straight.

ii) The cross-section is uniform.
iii) The beam is made of a homogeneous and isotropic material which obeys Hooke's
law.
iv) Plane sections remain plane.
v) The beam is subjected to a pure bending moment applied at the ends.

Under these assumptions, one can derive the formula

(1.3.1)

in which is the longitudinal bending stress, y the distance from the neutral axis which
passes through the centroid of the cross-section and I the moment of inertia of the cross-
section about the neutral axis. The derivation of (1.3.1) makes no reference to other
components of stress acting at a point. Of course, if the beam were initially curved or
were one interested in finding the transverse shear stress at a point, one would start
essentially from scratch.

Continuum Mechanics

In Continuum Mechanics, we first establish principles which are applicable to all media,
both fluids and solids, under all kinds of loading conditions. We then study constitutive
equations which define classes of idealized materials. Finally specific problems are
analyzed, and results are compared with experimental observations.
 Mathematical Preliminaries
Summation Convention, Dummy Indices

Consider the sum

(2.1.1)
We can write it in a compact form as

(2.1.2)

It is obvious that the index i , j or in eqn. (2.1.2) is dummy in the sense that the sum is
independent of the letter used. This is analogous to the dummy variable in an integral of a
function over a finite interval.

We can further simplify the writing of eqn. (2.1.2) by adopting the following convention,
sometimes known as Einstein's summation convention. Whenever an index is repeated
once in the same term, it implies summation over the specified range of the index.

Using the summation convention, eqn. (2.1.2) shortens to s = ai xi = aj xj = ak xk

Note that expressions such as ai bi xi are not defined within this convention. That is, an
index should never be repeated more than once in the same term for the summation
convention to be used. Therefore, an expression of the form

must retain its summation sign.

In the following, unless otherwise specified, we shall always take to be 3 so that, for
example,

The summation convention can obviously be used to express a double sum, a triple sum,
etc. For example, we can write
simply as aij xi xj . This expression equals the sum of nine terms:

3 3 3
Similarly, the triple sum ∑∑∑ a b c x x x
i =1 j =1 k =1
i j k i j k will simply be written as ai b j ck xi x j xk , and

it represents the sum of 27 terms.

We emphasize again that expressions such as aii xi x j x j or aij xi x j xi x j are not defined in
the summation convention.

Exercise: Given

Evaluate (a) aii, (b) aij aij, and (c) ajk akj.

Free Indices

Consider the following system of three equations:

(2.2.1)

These can be shortened to

(2.2.2)
An index which appears only once in each term of an equation such as the index in
eqn. (2.2.2) is called a ``free index''. A free index takes on the integral number 1,2, or 3
one at a time. Thus eqn. (2.2.2) is a short way of writing three equations each having the
sum of three terms on its right-hand side.

Note that the free index appearing in every term of an equation must be the same. Thus
is a meaningless equation. However, the following equations are meaningful.

If there are two free indices appearing in an equation such as

(2.2.3)
then it is a short way of writing 9 equations. For example, eqn. (2.2.3) represents 9
equations; each one has the sum of 3 terms on the right-hand side. In fact

Again, equations such as

are meaningless.

Kronecker Delta.

The Kronecker Delta, denoted by δij, is defined as

That is,

In other words, the matrix

is the identity matrix

We note the following relations

 (a)

(b)

Or, in general

Similarly, one can show that

In particular,

Index Notation

Usually, rectangular Cartesian coordinates of a point are denoted by (x, y, z) and the unit
vectors along x, y and -axes by i, j and k respectively. In this coordinate system, the
components of a vector along x , y and axes are denoted by ux, uy and uz. The vector
has the representation

This notation does not lend itself to any abbreviation. Therefore, instead of denoting the
coordinate axes by x, y, z we will denote them by x1, x2, x3. Also we will denote unit
vectors

along x1, x2 and x3 axes by e1, e2 and e3 respectively. Naturally then components of a
vector along x1, x2 and x3 axes will be indicated by u1, u2 and u3 respectively. Hence
we can write
 (2.4.1)

Similarly,

The dot product can simply be written as

(2.4.2)
Since e1, e2 and e3 are mutually orthogonal unit vectors, therefore,

These equations can be summarized as

(2.4.3)

Exercise. Using the index notation, write expressions for

(1) the magnitude of a vector ,

(2) cos θ , θ being the angle between vectors and .

As another illustration of the use of the index notation, consider a line element with
components dx1, dx2, dx3. The square of the length, , of the line element is given by

Finally, we note that the differential of a function f(x1, x2, x3 ) can be written as

Permutation Symbol

The permutation symbol, denoted by εijk , is defined by

 (2.5.1)
if form
That is,

We note that

If e1, e2 and e3 form a right-handed triad, then

which can be written as

(2.5.2)
Now, if u = ui ei , v = vi ei then

(2.5.3)

Exercise. Using the index notation write an expression for; | sinθ | being the angle
between vectors and .

Exercise. Show that

The following useful identity, which can be verified by long-hand calculations should be
memorized.

(2.5.4)
Now by using this identity let us prove the vector identity

Proof: Let v × w = a. Then a = εijk vj wk , and

 use

use

Exercise. Show that

(a) If εijk Tjk = 0, then Tij = Tji

(b)
,
(c) If
, then .

We now write det (Aij) in the index notation.

Example. Show that

.
Manipulations with the Indicial Notations

(a) Substitution : If

(2.6.1)
and
(2.6.2)
then, in order to substitute for bi's from (2.6.2) into (2.6.1) we first change the dummy
index from to some other letter, say and then the free index in (2.6.2) from to ,
so that
(2.6.3)
Now (2.6.1) and (2.6.3) give
(2.6.4)
Note that (2.6.4) represents three equations each having the sum of nine terms on its
right-hand side.

(b) Multiplication

(2.6.5)

(2.6.6)

(2.6.7)
It is important to note that pq ≠ ambmcmdm . In fact the right-hand side of this expression
is not even defined in the summation convention and further it is obvious that

(c) Factoring : If

(2.6.8)
then, using the Kronecker delta, we can write
(2.6.9)
so that (2.6.8) becomes

Thus
(d) Contraction :The operation of identifying two indices and so summing on them is
known as contraction. For example, Tii is the contraction of Tij,

and Tijj is a contraction of Tijk,

If

then

Exercise. Given that

, , show that

Translation and Rotation of Coordinate Axes

Consider two sets of rectangular Cartesian frames of reference O – x1 x2 and O′ – x′1 x′2
in a plane. If the frame of reference O′ – x′1 x′2 is obtained from O – x1 x2 by a shift of
the origin without a change in orientation, then, the transformation is a translation.

If a point has coordinates (x1, x2) and (x′1, x′2) with respect to O – x1 x2 and O′ – x′1 x′2
respectively and (C1, C2) are the coordinates of with respect to O – x1 x2, then
or briefly
(2.7.1)

If the origin remains fixed, and the new axes Ox′1 , Ox′2 are obtained by rotating Ox1
and Ox2 through an angle in the counter-clockwise direction, then

the transformation of axes is a rotation. Let the point have coordinates (x1, x2) and
(x′1,x′2) and relative to O – x1 x2 and O′ – x′1 x′2 respectively. Then,

We can write (x′1, x′2) in terms of (x1, x2) as

(2.7.2)

Using the index notation, the set of eqns. (2.7.2) can be written as
(2.7.3)
where aij are elements of the matrix [aij ] ;
Before we generalize (2.7.1) and (2.7.2) to three dimensions we give below an alternate
method of arriving at (2.7.2). Let denote e′1 and e′2 unit vectors along x′1 and x′2 axes
and e1 and e2 unit vectors along x1and x2 axes. Then

Also

Therefore,

This latter approach can more easily be adopted to the 3-dimensional case. If the primed
axes O - x′1x′2 x′3 are obtained from the unprimed axes O - x1x2 x3 just by a translation,
then the coordinates of a point with respect to the two sets of axes are related by (2.7.1)
wherein the index ranges from to . Now let us assume that the primed axes are
obtained from the unprimed axes by a rotation only. Let us denote unit vectors along –
x1, x2, x3 by e1, e2 and e3 respectively and those along - x′1, x′2, x′3 by e′1, e′2 and e′3
respectively. If

cosine of the angle between and

then a11 , a12 and a13 are the direction cosines of e′1 with respect to the unprimed axes.
We can write

Similarly,

Or
 (2.7.4)
Note that the matrix aij is 3 x 3. Since
(2.7.5)
therefore,

(2.7.6)
Equations (2.7.6) are equivalent to the following six equations.

(2.7.7)

The first three equations are equivalent to the statement that e′1, e′2 and e′3 are unit
vectors; the last three equations are equivalent to the statement that e′1, e′2 and e′3 are
mutually orthogonal. Of course, we can write ei 's in terms of e′i's. Since

cosine of the angle between and

therefore,
(2.7.8)
or
From the point of view of the solution of a set of simultaneous linear equations, the
matrix aij in (2.7.8) must be identified as the inverse of the matrix aji:
(2.7.9)
Here [aij]T is the transpose of the matrix [aij]. A matrix [aij], which satisfies eqn. (2.7.9) is
called an orthogonal matrix. That is, the transpose of an orthogonal matrix equals its
inverse. A transformation is said to be orthogonal if the associated matrix is orthogonal.
The matrix [aij] in (2.7.4) defining a rotation of coordinate axes is orthogonal.

For an orthogonal matrix we have

Therefore

or
 or
and thus

An orthogonal matrix whose determinant equals + 1is called proper orthogonal and the
one whose determinant equals – 1 is called improper orthogonal. A proper orthogonal
matrix transforms a right-handed triad of axes into a right-handed set of axes whereas an
improper orthogonal matrix transforms a right-handed set of axes into a left-handed set of
axes or vice-versa.

Exercise: Consider a cube formed by the orthonormal vectors e′1, e′2 and e′3 By setting
the volume of this cube equal to 1, show that det [aij] = 1.

Consider a vector emanating from the origin and ending at a point . With respect
to the primed and unprimed axes,

Similarly,

Example: The components of a vector with respect to unprimed axes are Ai = (0,1,1).
Consider a set of primed coordinate axes obtained by rotating the unprimed axes through
an angle of about the x3 -axis (see Fig. ). What are the components, Ai΄, of this vector
with respect to the primed set of axes?
Solution:

Therefore

Now

can be written as

Hence

Summarizing our discussion of the transformation of coordinate axes, we note that a

general transformation from unprimed to primed axes combines both a translation and a
rotation of the axes. This can be written as

(2.7.10)
where aij is an orthogonal matrix and ci is a constant. Under this transformation, the
components of a vector in the two sets of axes are related as
(2.7.11)