STRENGTH OF MATERIALS

Class Hours: Tue & Fri: 10:00 - 11:50 pm (Section 2) Room: Low 4050
Tue & Fri: 12:00 - 1:50 pm (Section 3) Room: Darrin 318
Tue & Fri: 2:00 - 3:50 pm (Section 4) Room: Darrin 318

Instructors: Kristen Mills (Section 3)

Office: 2044 JEC
Office Hours: Tue & Fri 3:00 – 4:30 pm or by appointment
E-mail: millsk2@rpi.edu

Teaching Assistants:

Course Website: http://lms.rpi.edu (Rensselaer Learning Management System)

NOTE: Since LMS can become unavailable unexpectedly, students are
encouraged to download all course materials as they become available.

Textbook: Mechanics of Materials, 7th Edition, Ferdinand P. Beer, E. Russell

Johnson, Jr. and John T. DeWolf, David F. Mazurek, McGraw Hill, 2015.

Course Description: Concept of stress and strain, generalized Hooke’s Law, axial load, torsion,
(from Catalog) pure bending, transverse loading, transformation of stress and strain
components in 2D, design of beams and shafts for strength, deflection of
beams, work and energy, columns.
Prerequisite: ENGR 1100 (Introduction to Engineering Analysis)
Credit Hours: 4
Instructor Learning The objective of this course is to develop a working knowledge of the
Objectives: basic principles of strength of materials. Students will do this by building
on the knowledge gained through statics (ENGR 1100). Upon successful
completion of the course, students will have a basic understanding of the
behavior of materials under loading as well as specific structural analysis
tools for design including strength and deflection calculations. Having
successfully completed this course, students will have the necessary skills to
proceed in Mechanical and Civil Engineering courses in structural design
and analysis.
Course Outcomes: After successfully completing this course students will be able to:
1) Evaluate normal and shear stress, strain, principal stress’ and directions
for simple problems.
2) Apply basic mechanics of materials concepts and properties, such as yield
strength, ultimate strength, and failure criteria.
3) Predict the expected magnitude and location of maximum stresses in
beam structures subjected to simple loads (axial, torsion, bending).
4) Calculate simple beam deflections.
5) Apply course material in the solution of short, well-defined problems in a
professional manner.
Required Background: Statics (equilibrium)

1
 TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (Mon-Thu Classes) (Sections:1 & 2)
N Date Topic(s) Reading Assignment
1 1/27 Brief review of Statics, definition of stress 1.1-1.2
2 1/30 Concept of stress and strain, factor of safety 1.3-1.5
3 2/03 Axial loading 2.1 HW1 Due
4 2/06 Axial loading (Cont’d) 2.2.-2.3
5 2/10 Axial loading (Cont’d) 2.4-2.8 HW2 Due
6 2/13 Axial loading (Cont’d) 2.9-2.12
2/17 President’s Day
7 2/20 Centroid and Moment of Inertia App. A1-A4 HW3 Due
8 2/24 Torsion 3.1-3.2
9 2/27 Torsion (Cont’d) 3.3-3.5 HW4 Due
10 3/03 Exam Review
3/04 MIDTERM EXAM #1
11 3/06 Bending 4.1-4.2
12 3/10 Bending (Cont’d) 4.3-4.5,4.7-4.9
13 3/13 Design of Beams 5.1-5.2 HW5 Due
14 3/17 Design of Beams (Cont’d) 5.3
15 3/20 Design of Beams (Cont’d) 5.4 HW6 Due
Spring Break
16 3/31 Shearing Stress in Beams 6.1 HW7 Due
17 4/03 Shearing Stress (Cont’d) 6.3-6.4
18 4/07 Transformations of Stress 7.1-7.3 HW8 Due
19 4/10 Transformations & Pressure Vessels 7.4-7.6
20 4/14 Design of Transmission Shafts 8.1 HW9 Due
21 4/17 Design of Shafts (Cont’d) 8.2-8.3
22 4/21 Exam Review HW10 Due
4/22 MIDTERM EXAM #2
23 4/24 Deflection of Beams 9.1
24 4/28 Deflection of Beams (Cont’d) 9.2-9.4 HW11 Due
25 5/01 Columns 10.1, 10.3
26 5/05 Energy Method 11.1, 11.2 HW12 Due
27 5/08 Energy Method (Cont’d) 11.3
28 5/12 Course Review HW13 Due
No Class (Reading Period)
5/20 FINAL EXAM