Kinematics

Abstract

Kinematics represents the branch of Mechanics that studies the motion of a mechanical body or a system of such bodies without consideration given to its mass or the forces acting on it. In this chapter, we make the first few steps towards describing the geometrical features of the mathematical model for a deformable body. In contrast to the kinematics of a rigid body, here the description will be largely local in nature because the changes undergone by a deformable body under the action of external forces differ from place to place.