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“An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids” by S. H. Crandall, N.C. Dahl, and T. J. Lardner

Submitted by Namiko Yamamoto on

“An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids” by S. H. Crandall, N.C. Dahl, and T. J. Lardner

As the title explains, this book shows very basics of the solid mechanics. The book has a good coverage of the concepts of primary elements of mechanics, the three equations, some environmental effect, and examples of torsion, bending, and buckling. This book elaborately explains/proofs several important equations, whose procedures tend to be skipped in many courses due to time limitation. Various case studies/problems accompanied with suitable figures have always helped me to get better senses. It is also easy to find what I am looking for in the book with neatly sorted tables and index. And most importantly, I like this book since the book discusses engineering applications and the limitations of these models.

The materials given in ES240 exceed the range that this book can cover, but this book still is a good resource to go back to when I forget the basics since my sophomore year when I used as our textbook for the materials and structures.

Faculty Positions in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University

Submitted by Hanqing Jiang on

Open Faculty Positons:

Open Faculty Position in Computational Mechanics

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University seeks applicants for a tenure-track faculty position in the area of computational mechanics. The appointment will be commensurate with the candidate’s experience and accomplishments and can be at the assistant, associate or full professor rank, beginning August 2007. At the time of appointment, candidates must have an earned doctorate in engineering or a related field.

Symposium: Mechanics of micro/nano structures on soft substrates: applications for flexible and stretchable electronics

Submitted by Teng Li on

The SES 2007 Conference, Oct. 21-24, 2007, Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas, home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

Call for abstract

Symposium: Mechanics of micro/nano structures on soft substrates: applications for flexible and stretchable electronics

Faculty position in computational mechanics engineering science and mechanics department, Penn State University

Submitted by Wei Hong on

The Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in computational mechanics at the assistant professor level. Exceptional candidates at the associate or full professor level will also be considered. Candidates are sought with a foundation and research interests in mechanics across all scales from the molecular to the macroscopic, including expertise in: efficient massive and nonlinear computations; molecular and multiscale simulations; innovative and efficient approaches to nonlinear FEM for large deformations, inhomogeneities, and/or inclusions; problems with evolving microstructure such as phase transitions and damage evolution; massively parallel simulations of large systems of equations; novel numerical/empirical approaches to modeling multiscale constitutive behavior of composite, biological or otherwise novel material systems.

Textbook Recommendation

Submitted by Adrian Podpirka on

So besides using Timoshenko (which is basically the bible of solid mechanics), I have been using Slaughter's The Linearized Theory of Elasticity which I came across in the Gordon McKay Library.

Unlike some of the other textbooks, there is a big focus put on the theory and the idea behind the examples while still having many worked out problems. The first few chapters give a big refresher course on mathematics and lay the groundwork for what is to be taught later on.

I came across this book in particular for the in depth coverage of Airy Stress Functions.

The book is broken into 11 chapters:

Review of Mechanics of Materials
Mathematical Preliminaries
Kinematics
Forces and Stress
Constitutive Equations
Linearized Elasticity Problems
2D Problems
Torsion of Noncircular Cylinders
3D Problems
Variational Methods
Complex Variable Methods

Second Symposium on Piezoelectricity, Acoustic Waves, and Device Applications (Spawda 2006)

Submitted by Ji Wang on

Advances in the research of the theory of Piezoelectricity and Acoustic Waves have provided essential foundation and new opportunities to device technology and have been fostering academic exchanges and interaction in the piezoelectric device industry.With the increased research activities in piezoelectricity and acoustic waves and recent fast growth in piezoelectric devices, we are also facing many technological challenges from real engineering applications and product design and manufacturing.Following the successful SPAWDA 2004 in Ningbo, Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, IEEE UFFC and the Acoustical Society of China have decided, also with industrial support, to hold the SPAWDA 2006 at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China from December 14-17.The conference topics include, but not limited to,

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Faculty Positions

Submitted by Yongqiang Li on

The Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech seeks applications for two tenured or tenure-track faculty colleagues. The ideal candidates are expected to interface mechanics with the domain of biology (cellular mechanics, soft tissue biomechanics, macro-molecular biology, biodynamics, biofluids); the domains of nanotechnology or nanobiotechnology (mechanics of self-assembly, nanocomposites, functional nanodevices, biological and biomedical applications); or the domain of energy, with an emphasis on nanoscale and microscale problems or biological principles (fuel cells, renewable energy, energy conversion, clean energy, energy storage). However, intellectual depth is more important than the specific area of specialization, since ESM faculty members are expected to have a broad scholarly interest in engineering with a special emphasis on the fundamental mechanics.