Overview

This solution manual accompanies my textbook on Mechanics of Materials, 2nd edition that can be printed or downloaded for free from my website madhuvable.org. Along with the free textbook there are also free slides, sample syllabus, sample exams, static and other mechanics course reviews, computerized tests, and gradebooks for instructors to record results of the computerized tests. This solution manual is designed for the instructors and may prove challenging to students. The intent was to help reduce the laborious algebra and to provide instructors with a way of checking solutions. It has been made available to students because it is next to impossible to maintain security of the manual even by large publishing companies. There are websites dedicated to obtaining a solution manuals for any course for a price. The students can use the manual as additional examples, a practice followed in many first year courses. Below is a brief description of the unique features of the textbook. There has been, and continues to be, a tremendous growth in mechanics, material science, and in new applications of mechanics of materials. Techniques such as the finite-element method and Moire interferometry were research topics in mechanics, but today these techniques are used routinely in engineering design and analysis. Wood and metal were the preferred materials in engineering design, but today machine components and structures may be made of plastics, ceramics, polymer composites, and metal-matrix composites. Mechanics of materials was primarily used for structural analysis in aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering, but today mechanics of materials is used in electronic packaging, medical implants, the explanation of geological movements, and the manufacturing of wood products to meet specific strength requirements. Though the principles in mechanics of materials have not changed in the past hundred years, the presentation of these principles must evolve to provide the students with a foundation that will permit them to readily incorporate the growing body of knowledge as an extension of the fundamental principles and not as something added on, and vaguely connected to what they already know. This has been my primary motivation for writing the textbook. Learning the course content is not an end in itself, but a part of an educational process. Some of the serendipitous development of theories in mechanics of materials, the mistakes made and the controversies that arose from these mistakes, are all part of the human drama that has many educational values, including learning from others' mistakes, the struggle in understanding difficult concepts, and the fruits of perseverance. The connection of ideas and concepts discussed in a chapter to advanced modern techniques also has educational value, including continuity and integration of subject material, a starting reference point in a literature search, an alternative perspective, and an application of the subject material. Triumphs and tragedies in engineering that arose from proper or improper applications of mechanics of materials concepts have emotive impact that helps in learning and retention of concepts according to neuroscience and education research. Incorporating educational values from history, advanced topics, and mechanics of materials in action or inaction, without distracting the student from the central ideas and concepts is an important complementary objective of the textbook.

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