Course info

The purpose of this course is to provide mechanical engineering students with a fundamental understanding of the physical mechanisms associated with design-limiting mechanical properties of engineering materials, including stiffness, strength, and toughness. Students will develop quantitative skills in continuum mechanics of solids to address materials-limited problems in engineering design, applying continuum mechanics principles while relating material microstructure to macroscopic mechanical response. Throughout, concrete examples will be provided across a wide range of engineering applications, giving students an introduction to the analytical tools needed to select materials and predict their performance in real-world engineering scenarios. The course may cover, but not exclusively, the following topics: [1] 3D Continuum Mechanics: stress, strain, constitutive law (linear elasticity), stress concentration, limits of elasticity; [2] Rubber elasticity; [3] Viscoelasticity; [4] Plasticity; and [5] Fracture.