Rods and Shells

Catalog description

This course is intended for 2nd year graduate students and introduces continuum mechanics theory of rods and shells with applications to structures and to biological systems as well as stability and buckling. The course begins with topics from differential geometry of curves and surfaces and the associated tensor analysis on Riemannian spaces. A brief introduction to variational calculus is included since variational methods are a powerful tool for formulating approximate structural mechanics theories and for numerical analysis. The structural mechanics theories of rods, plates and shells are introduced including both linear and nonlinear theories. First-year graduate-level applied mathematics for engineers (ENM 510 and 511) and a first course in continuum mechanics or elasticity or permission of instructor.