| Flexure: | (english) Bending deformation, i.e., deformation by increasing curvature. |
| Force: | (english) A directed interaction between two objects that tends to change the momentum of both.Since a force has both direction and magnitude, it can be expressed as a vector |
| Funicular: | (english) A funicular shape is one similar to that taken by a suspended chain or string subjected to a particular loading. |
| Gravity: | (english) An attractive force between two objects; each object accelerates at a rate equal to the attractive force divided by the object's mass. Objects near the surface of the earth tend to accelerate toward the earth's center at a rate of ; this value is often called the gravitational constant and denoted as g. |
| Inertia: | (english) The tendency of an object at rest to remain at rest, and of an object in motion to remain in motion. |
| Line of Action: | (english) The line of action of a force is the infinite line defined by extending along the direction of the force from the point where the force acts. |
| Normal stress: | (english) Stress acting perpendicular to an imaginary plane cutting through an object. Normal stress has two senses: compression and tension. Normal stress is often simply called stress. |
| Section Modulus: | (english) A property of a cross sectional shape, which depends on shape, and orientation. Section modulus is usually denoted S, and S = I/c, where I = moment of inertia about an axis through the centroid, and c is the distance from the centroid to the extreme edge of the section. |
| Shear: | (english) An system of internal forces whose resultant is a force acting perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of a structural member or assembly: sometimes called shear force. |
| Statically equivalent: | (english) Two force systems are statically equivalent when their resultants are equal. Physically, this means that the force systems tend to impart the same motion when applied to an object; note that the distribution of resulting internal forces in the object may be different. |