| Inertial Force: | (english) A fictitious force used for convenience in visualizing the effects of forces on bodies in motion. For an accelerating body, the inertial force is considered as a body force whose resultant acts at the object's center of gravity in a direction opposite the acceleration. The magnitude of the force is the mass of the object times the magnitude of the acceleration. |
| Kinetic Energy: | (english) The energy of a moving mass; equal to (mv^2)2. Where m is mass and v is the magnitude of the velocity. |
| Linear: | (english) A structure is said to behave linearly when its the deformation response is directly proportional to the loading (i.e. doubling the load doubles the displacement response). For a material, linear means that the stress is directly proportional to the strain. |
| Load: | (english) An external force. The term load is sometimes used to describe more general actions such as temperature differentials or movements such as foundation settlements. |
| Magnitude: | (english) A scalar value having physical units. |
| Modulus of elasticity: | (english) The proportional constant between stress and strain for material with linear elastic behavior: calculated as stress divided by strain. Modulus of elasticity can be interpreted as the slope of the stress-strain graph. It is usually denoted as E, sometimes known as Young's Modulus Y, or E-Modulus. |
| Moment of inertia (I): | (english) Moment of inertia has two distinct but related meanings: 1) it is a property of a an object relating to the magnitude of the moment required to rotate the object and overcome its inertia. 2) A property of a two dimensional cross section shape with respect to an axis, usually an axis through the centroid of the shape. |
| Normal strain: | (english) Strain measuring the intensity of deformation along an axis. Normal strain is usually denoted by . Average normal strain between two points is calculated as (Delta L / L), where L is the original distance between the points, and L is the change in that distance. Normal strain is often simply called strain. |
| Pin support: | (english) In two dimensions, a pin support restrains two translation degrees of freedom but does not restrain rotation. When considering reaction forces, a pin support is usually considered to have two force components: one each about the x and y axes respectively. |
| Potential Energy: | (english) The energy stored in a raised object (e.g. the weights in a grandfather clock). Potential energy equals mgh, where m is mass, g is the acceleration of gravity, and h is the vertical distance from a reference location. It is called potential energy because the energy can be regained when the object is lowered. This type of potential energy is sometimes called gravitational potential energy in order to distinguish it from elastic potential energy: see elastic energy. |