Lecture

Structural Mechanics Fundamentals

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture introduces the fundamental concepts of structural mechanics, focusing on the prediction of how objects respond to loads and the analysis and design of mechanical systems. Topics covered include basic mechanics vocabulary, materials properties, stress and strain, equilibrium of forces and moments, and elementary structures like bars, cables, trusses, and beams. The history of mechanics, from point particle mechanics to 3D continuum mechanics and linear elasticity, is also discussed. Additionally, the lecture explores concepts such as hyperelasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, and fracture in materials. Practical applications and examples, such as the Eiffel Tower's design principles, are used to illustrate key concepts.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Chemical engineering

Materials science: Deformation of materials

Related concepts (32)

Elasticity (physics)

In physics and materials science, elasticity is the ability of a body to resist a distorting influence and to return to its original size and shape when that influence or force is removed. Solid objects will deform when adequate loads are applied to them; if the material is elastic, the object will return to its initial shape and size after removal. This is in contrast to plasticity, in which the object fails to do so and instead remains in its deformed state. The physical reasons for elastic behavior can be quite different for different materials.

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.

Stress–strain curve

In engineering and materials science, a stress–strain curve for a material gives the relationship between stress and strain. It is obtained by gradually applying load to a test coupon and measuring the deformation, from which the stress and strain can be determined (see tensile testing). These curves reveal many of the properties of a material, such as the Young's modulus, the yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength. Generally speaking, curves representing the relationship between stress and strain in any form of deformation can be regarded as stress–strain curves.

Linear elasticity

Linear elasticity is a mathematical model of how solid objects deform and become internally stressed due to prescribed loading conditions. It is a simplification of the more general nonlinear theory of elasticity and a branch of continuum mechanics. The fundamental "linearizing" assumptions of linear elasticity are: infinitesimal strains or "small" deformations (or strains) and linear relationships between the components of stress and strain. In addition linear elasticity is valid only for stress states that do not produce yielding.

Materials science

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials science stem from the Age of Enlightenment, when researchers began to use analytical thinking from chemistry, physics, and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy. Materials science still incorporates elements of physics, chemistry, and engineering.

Related lectures (64)

Flexible Probes: Mechanics and Design

Explores critical strain, bending mechanics, and strain calculation in flexible probes.

Macromechanics of Orthotropic Composites

Explores the behavior of orthotropic composites under plane stresses and the elasticity of anisotropic materials.

Internal Equilibrium of Solids

Covers the theory of elasticity, internal equilibrium, stress, and strain in deformable solid bodies.

Elasticity and Deformation

Covers stress, strain, modulus of elasticity, and material behavior under different loads.

Properties of Materials and Structural Design