ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a review of a number of fundamental concepts relevant to the statics of structures. After introducing the coordinate systems that we will use throughout the book, we revisit the concepts of forces and moments, and how these are specified in a twodimensional plane and a three-dimensional space. We then describe the typical supports used to restrain the movements of structures and present the use of free-body diagrams to identify all forces acting on a structure. On the basis of equilibrium considerations, we then show the procedures required to calculate the reactions. This chapter deals with structural systems whose reactions (and internal actions as outlined in the following chapters) are determined using only the principles of statics. This class of structures is referred to as statically determinate and the analysis of such structures is independent of the deformation of the structure and the properties of the materials from which the structure is made. This will become clearer in subsequent chapters when we will be dealing with structures that require consideration of the structural deformations and material properties, as well as statics, to evaluate the reactions.
