Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) 19106234 “Application of Mechanics of Deformable Bodies In Civil Engineering” (An Activity submitted to Luisito Dalde in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Mechanics of Deformable Bodies.) Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) Engineering-Architecture Department, Sorsogon State College Mechanics of Deformable Bodies: An Essential Cog in Civil Engineering The concept of creation is paradigmatic to the rationale which regards the human intellect as a means to its end. Since the dawn of mankind, we have been scrambling about to fulfill this immediate instinct to create, to use rationality as a medium to progress mankind’s survival and as a tool to create and henceforth use said creation to advance the horizon till we are able to glimpse through the density which is the unknown, unfathomable future. From the ashes of this great purpose did the fire of creation prospered and born out of its beaconing light is the science of engineering. Upon the shoulder of this great marvel --- fruit of the human intellect, did the gates of Troy collapsed under the might of the Trojan horse, and upon the blooming buds of peaches did the Empire of the East burst forth with the beauty of fire in the night sky, and in the mighty plains of Babylon spread wonders that proposed a paradisiacal sight; in the scorching heat of ancient Egypt laid a canvass of tombs scraping the sky as far as the eyes can reach and in this marvel’s wings gave shade to the humans, its father, its creator, founder, and delivered them to the progressive and relatively safe haven of which is the present. Rather than just a clump of intellect, a dose of knowledge, a succession of neurons firing, nor just a gathering of constructs socially agreed upon by innately socially skilled entities, the science of engineering, is so much more. It is the backbone of the industrial, modern society and the base of which the building blocks of our world is built upon on. One of the essential components of engineering and is one of its core planes of division, is civil engineering, where the study of structures that better and molds our earth, that devises methodologies on the transformation of our physical realm and our world to the utmost of its potential and use to man, takes place. The American Society of Civil Engineers (2007) defines it as an engineering discipline that delves on the design, construction and maintenance of both the natural and man-made built environments and structures; and hence as something of which is actively one of the observable branches of engineering, it is important in representing and manifestation of the ideals that the field of engineering is a part of. “Civil engineers are becoming more and more important with time …Civil engineering is one of the oldest of the engineering professions.” (Jamal, 2017, par.1), and it is indeed true the profession of Civil engineering dates 1|Page Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) 19106234 back to the times of the ancient, an era, where little to no information is available in the form of writing but, behold, these era up to this day is traceable, the cause points to the quantity of structures, that are a feat of civil engineering that they left behind and are until to this day standing where they stood, millennia ago. Not only does Civil engineering exists in the past, but it persists to this day, as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) stipulated, “Civil engineering touches us throughout our day.” (ASCE, n.d.), where they emphasized that the little things that we take for granted in life, like, turning on the tap, having safe drinking water, taking mass transit, or flying on a plane, or even being able to stay cozy in the winter and having a cool breeze in the summer, are all the sweat and bloods of civil engineers before us, and today. Now that we have elaborated on the significance and the nature of one of the compilation of the human knowledge, which is civil engineering, we can now delve deeper on the specifics and the make up of this thought provoking branch of science and engineering. Firstly, as engineering is made up and composed of core components that branches off to different contexts of study, like civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and etc., the study which is civil engineering is also composes of core components that constitutes its make-up and structure as a part of the academe and the professional society. To elucidate, generally, the simple explanation of science and math may suffice in explaining that the two are the general core ingredients of engineering, whereas as the two work in tandem the laws and the world of engineering will soon unravel to a spectator of this collaboration, however, that leaves the question of technicality and verbosity. Hence to further enlighten and shed some light to this situation we will focus solely on the main issue that permeates the essence of the paper, which is the field of mechanics, specifically pertaining to deformable solids or bodies. “Mechanics of deformable bodies is concerned with applied forces and their internal effects on bodies. One of these effects is shape change or deformation.” (Özkaya and Nordin, 2012). It emanates its capacity to the main point of the effects and the reactions of certain materials specifically of deformable bodies to a force exerted upon it. Sure and it is of note that there are in essence much more studies that are anchored on the premise of majorly affecting the entire study of Civil engineering, however and it is needed to be stridently made clear that the presence of mechanics is the lifeline of the engineering profession. In light of this revelations, let us continue to make sense this foreign of a concept, and hence arduously define each word that comprises the topic at hand to further our understanding on the background and the inner workings that makes this topic tick. “Mechanics of deformable bodies (MDB)” can be separated into two working concepts, mechanics, and deformable bodies, hence first of there is a need to extrude details on the first word, mechanics. Mechanics of deformable bodies rest upon a broader system within the sciences, which can be deduced to the study of Mechanics. Oxford Languages (n.d) etymologically defines Mechanics as a Latin word, “mēkhanikos “ meaning relating to labor and is indeed applicable to the present technical definition that deals with exertion of force much like a person 2|Page Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) 19106234 will do while doing labor or any laborious work. “Mechanics is the area of physics concerned with the motions of physical objects, more specifically the relationships among force, matter, and motion.” (Young, 1930). Young (1930) stipulated that the broad study of mechanics deals with the interaction of force and matter, specifically the reaction (motion) of matter once force is exerted upon it. Now the second part which is the phrase “deformable bodies”. Dictionary.com (n.d.) defines deformable as being able to be marred the shape of, or put out of shape, Weissten (1996) goes even deeper to define deformable bodies and stipulates that they are according to mechanics, any body that changes its shape and or volume while being acted upon by any kind of external force. As per the given definition then it is right to assume that the study of mechanics of deformable bodies, rigorously inclines on the concept of how force alters the shape and deforms any sort of bodies that are innately or by nature able to be deformed. To be more specific as earlier mentioned: Mechanics of deformable bodies is concerned with applied forces and their internal effects on bodies. One of these effects is shape change or deformation. The amount of deformation an object will undergo depends on its size, material properties, and the magnitude and duration of applied forces. (Özkaya and Nordin, 2012) Now even though we have enlightened ourselves with the basic understanding within the context of our main subject matter, still the question remains, with all the splendor that is engineering, specifically Civil Engineering, how does the study, which is Mechanics of deformable bodies really relate to it? And what are the boons that it renders to the larger discipline? And to answer the rationale of the topic at hand, what applications does it have within the field of Civil engineering? There are many but varied answers that befall such curiosity and question, however as I had assayed, there are key main points that satiate the said query. Firstly, Civil engineering, as defined earlier, deals with structures, and it is MDB that dictates how structures, specifically the materials constituting the structures to behave and react as they are exerted force from being used and being exposed to the natural worlds. Why is this important? The mere essence of knowing and predicting the result of how the structure will stand the test of the outer world and time, is essential to a civil engineer, to know how it will behave and as such remedy any shortcoming that the structure or the project will pose in the time of its running or being used. In an analogy, an engineer wants to be able to predict if a metal bridge is sufficient to withstand the weight of the people and the load of the people acting on the bridge and if said wood would deform or break at a certain level of load, or how the wood will react to the presence of wind and other external forces that may cause it to deform. If such deformations are negligible and are permissible then the project continues, however if the outcome as predicted and as stated by the knowledge of mechanics fails to meet the standards and deforms a lot, then the engineer is 3|Page Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) 19106234 able to substitute the material to be used or alter the design so that the material will e able to contain the weight or load without it deforming. Secondly, for the security and safety of the structures as well as the people who will be using the structure. Another application of MDB in Civil engineering is that it can be used in the design process of a structure to ensure that the structure yields no potential harm or damage to the users of the structure and to human life near said project or structure. Potential threats can be mitigated and the chance of causing injury decreased. As defined above that MDB deals with forces and reaction of material, their deformation to force, then the force capacity of a structure can be calculated, and the appropriate amount of people, for example in a bridge may be accommodated and a maximum number can be set as to avoid overloading. Again, unmitigated stress to certain materials are always preset especially if the environment is not properly surveyed and as such an unknown factor that wasn’t seen may in fact cause damage to both life and property. Last but certainly not the least is the efficiency and effectivity of work that MDB introduces to an engineer. With proper use of the knowledge contained within this field of study and subject, and engineer is able to come up with the most effective and efficient design that a project need. What does that entail particularly? It entails reduced cost and wasted time whilst designing and testing. With proper knowledge on how materials bend and how it reacts to stress, one can come up with the most cost-effective plan and blueprint or design, with minimal materials wasted. When an engineer knows what material is needed time spent is reduced. This also includes the reduced cost in the potential danger and financial problems that any accident may incur the firm or the engineer. Not to mention the high regards and praise an effective and efficient engineer whose knowledgeable in MDB will have, all of the above stated are without a doubt compilations on the boons that the application of MDB within Civil Engineering yields. Although they are not specific and technical, they are still bold manifestations of the significance of the study to the field and that will forever be the case. The applicability of MDB in engineering is massive and vast, the effects of it plays a major role in the fast advancement and progression of the human race to its goal. As with everything, there are always small constituting the large, and it is the dynamic interaction of these small, that affects and determines the disposition of the large. With the future seemingly at the grasp in the hands of mankind, and with the continuous exponential development that the world is experiencing, our collective drive towards the attainment of knowledge through incremental steps are always a bliss to see, like a journey following the individual footpaths and footsteps of the one before us and slowly cruising through the immense world that the omnipotent has given us. Engineering will indeed take us there, as James A. Michener once said “Scientists dream about doing great things, engineers do them.” 4|Page Jarilla, Paul Allen (BSCE-2B) 19106234 References "History and Heritage of Civil Engineering". ASCE. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2021. Asce.org. n.d. About Civil Engineering | ASCE. [online] Available at: <https://www.asce.org/about_civil_engineering/> [Accessed 27 February 2021]. Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Deformable. In Dictionary.com dictionary. Retrieved February 27, 2021 from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deformable Ice.org.uk. n.d. What is civil engineering? | Institution of Civil Engineers. [online] Available at: <https://www.ice.org.uk/careers-and-professional-development/what-is-civilengineering> [Accessed 27 February 2021]. Jamal, H., 2017. Importance of Civil Engineering and Application of Civil Engg. in the World. [online] Aboutcivil.org. Available at: <https://www.aboutcivil.org/importance-andapplications-of-civil-engineering.html> [Accessed 27 February 2021]. Özkaya, N. and Nordin, M., 2012. Fundamentals of biomechanics. New York: Springer. Weisstein, E., 1996. Deformable Body -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics. [online] Scienceworld.wolfram.com. Available at: <https://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/DeformableBody.html> [Accessed 27 February 2021]. Young, Hugh D., 1930. Sears and Zemansky's university physics : with modern physics. Freedman, Roger A., Ford, A. Lewis (Albert Lewis), Estrugo, Katarzyna Zulteta (Fifteenth edition in SI units ed.). Harlow. p. 62. ISBN 1-292-31473-7. OCLC 1104689918. 5|Page
