Mechanics of Materials

Mechanics of materials synthesizes the empirical relationships of materials into the logical and deduced framework of mechanics to produce formulas for use in the design of structures and other solid bodies. The field has seen incredible growth in the last twenty-five years. A few years ago, today's routine industry techniques and practices were merely research topics; studies that applied only to civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineering now apply to such common place things as electronic packaging, medical implants, geological movements, and wood products that meet specific strength requirements. It is into this rapidly changing world, that Madhukar Vable's book Introduction to Mechanics of Materials takes its place as a standard text in mandatory courses for civil engineering majors and most mechanical and aerospace engineering majors. Vable's distinct pedagogical theory translates into exceptional features within the book that enhance the reader's participation in learning. It assumes a complimentary connection between intuition, experimental observation, and mathematical generalization: intuitive development and understanding need not be at odds with mathematical logic, rigor, and generalization allowing the text to emphasize general educational values without distracting the reader from the main point of the text.

Introduction to Mechanics of Materials promises to provide the skills and principles that will help students organize and make sense of the flood of information emerging in modern engineering.

About the Author

Madhukar Vable is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Technological University (MTU). He was given the MTU Distinguished Teacher Award (1998) and the Distinguished Faculty Member Award from the Michigan Association of Governing Boards of State Universities (1999). His research interests are in the field of computational mechanics and include the boundary element method, finite method, and finite difference method as applied to problems in solid mechanics.