| Resultant: | (english) The resultant of a system of forces is a single force or moment whose magnitude, direction, and location make it statically equivalent to the system of forces. |
| Roller support: | (english) In two dimensions, a roller support restrains one translation degree of freedom. |
| Rotation: | (english) Motion of an object where the path of every point is a circle or circular arc. A rotation is defined by a point and vector which determine the axis of rotation. The direction of the vector is the direction of the axis and the magnitude of the vector is the angle of rotation. |
| Scalar: | (english) A mathematical entity which has a numeric value but no direction (in contrast to a vector). |
| 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. |
| Stability: | (english) Stability is best defined as the opposite of instability, which is the occurrence of large structural deformations which are not the result of material failure. |
| Statically determinate: | (english) A statically determinate structure is one where there is only one distribution of internal forces and reactions which satisfies equilibrium. In a statically determinate structure, internal forces and reactions can be determined by considering nothing more than equations of equilibrium. |
| 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. |
| Statically indeterminate: | (english) A statically indeterminate structure is one where there is more than one distribution of internal forces and/or reactions which satisfies equilibrium. |
| Stiffness: | (english) This is a general term which may be applied to materials or structures. When a force is applied to a structure, there is a displacement in the direction of the force; stiffness is the ratio of the force divided by the displacement. High stiffness means that a large force produces a small displacement. When discussing the stiffness of a material, the concept is the same, except that stress substitutes for force, and strain substitutes for displacement; see modulus of elasticity. |