Computational mechanics
The digital computer revolutionized the practice of many areas of engineering and science, and solid mechanics was among the first fields to benefit from its impact. Many computational techniques have…
Viscoelasticity
The German physicist Wilhelm Weber noticed in 1835 that a load applied to a silk thread produced not only an immediate extension but also a continuing elongation of the thread…
Dislocations
The Italian elastician and mathematician Vito Volterra introduced in 1905 the theory of the elastostatic stress and displacement fields created by dislocating solids. This involves making a cut in a…
Stress concentrations and fracture
In 1898 G. Kirsch derived the solution for the stress distribution around a circular hole in a much larger plate under remotely uniform tensile stress. The same solution can be…
The general theory of elasticity
Linear elasticity as a general three-dimensional theory began to be developed in the early 1820s based on Cauchy’s work. Simultaneously, Navier had developed an elasticity theory based on a simple…
Beams, columns, plates, and shells
The 1700s and early 1800s were a productive period during which the mechanics of simple elastic structural elements were developed—well before the beginnings in the 1820s of the general three-dimensional…
Concepts of stress, strain, and elasticity
The English scientist Robert Hooke discovered in 1660, but published only in 1678, that for many materials the displacement under a load was proportional to force, thus establishing the notion…
Mechanics of solids
Mechanics of solids, science concerned with the stressing, deformation, and failure of solid materials and structures. What, then, is a solid? Any material, fluid or solid, can support normal forces.…
Mean Heat Capacity & Pressure Effect
The use of mean heat capacities often facilitates the calculation of sensible-heat changes; mean heat capacity over the temperature range t1 to t2 is defined by the following equation:Mean specific heat values are tabulated in various handbooks. If the…
The Heat Capacities of Solids
The heat capacity of a substance is related to the question of how much energy does it take to raise the temperature of that substance by one unit. That would…
