Applied mechanics

Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short, when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and executed, general mechanics becomes applied mechanics. It is this stark difference that makes applied mechanics an essential understanding for practical everyday life. It has numerous applications in a wide variety of fields and disciplines, including but not limited to structural engineering, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology, hydraulics, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, nanotechnology, structural design, earthquake engineering, fluid dynamics, planetary sciences, and other life sciences. Connecting research between numerous disciplines, applied mechanics plays an important role in both science and engineering.

Pure mechanics describes the response of bodies (solids and fluids) or systems of bodies to external behavior of a body, in either a beginning state of rest or of motion, subjected to the action of forces. Applied mechanics bridges the gap between physical theory and its application to technology.

Applied mechanics can be split into particle mechanics (mechanics of macroscopic objects modeled as point particles), rigid body mechanics (mechanics of non-deformable macroscopic bodies with a definite shape), solid mechanics (mechanics of deformable macroscopic solids, including both elastic and plastic deformation), and fluid mechanics (mechanics of macroscopic fluids). Each branch of applied mechanics is further divided into statics (the study of bodies that have zero resultant force and torque acted upon them), and dynamics (the study of bodies that have non-zero resultant force and torque acted upon them).

Within the practical sciences, applied mechanics is useful in formulating new ideas and theories, discovering and interpreting phenomena, and developing experimental and computational tools. In the application of the natural sciences, mechanics was said to be complemented by thermodynamics, the study of heat and more generally energy, and electromechanics, the study of electricity and magnetism.

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