16.21 Techniques of Structural Analysis and sig Spring 2003 Unit #1 In this course we are going to focus on energy and variational methods for structural analysis. To understand the overall approach we start by con- trasting it with the alternative vector mechanics approach
We are going to consider the forces exerted on a material. These can be external or internal. External forces come in two flavors: body forces(given per unit mass or volume) and surface forces(given per unit area). If we cut a body of material in equilibrium under a set of external forces along a plane as shown in fig. 1. and consider one side of it we draw two conclusions: 1 the equilibrium provided by the loads from the side taken out is provided by a set of forces that are distributed among the material particles adjacent to
A Cauchy stress component at a given(fixed) point P of a structure in equilibrium under the action of external loads is defined when 1. the direction of the face on which the stress component acts is specified 2 the direction of the force from which the stress component is derived is specified None of the above statements
The following stress-strain curves were obtained for dif- ferent materials subjecting the specimen to the loading path(a, b, c, d ). Which one(s) of them correspond to elas- tic material(s)
