MECHANICS I Statics ++

The Textbook of MECHANICS consists of two parts

1. MECHANICS I – STATICS++

2. MECHANICS II – MECHANICS OF MATERIALS +

Hopefully, the integration of the topics of these two closely related courses will make learning experience for students easier and more meaningful.  The Statics ++ and Mechanics of Materials + textbooks indicates some of the changes in the philosophy adopted by the faculty, when presenting the subject matter traditionally offered in introductory mechanics courses.

The changes in the philosophy were based on five premises:

~ Present the fundamental concepts in a more interesting manner:

* Change the approach to make it more realistic and less abstract.

* Couple the mechanics contents tightly to design.

~ Provide a smooth transition from Introduction to Engineering course to Design Analysis  of Structural Components that encompasses both Mechanics I: Statics and Mechanics II: Mechanics of Materials.

* Incorporate a hands-on experience including design, construction and testing of a model of construction project.

* Provide the analysis methods and the scaling relations for verifying the safety of the design of this model.

~ Emphasize modeling structural components by stressing throughout the text the importance of preparing a complete free body diagram (FBD).

* Show the method for constructing complete FBDs.

* Integrate the FBD with the application of the equilibrium equations.

* Approach the solution of equilibrium problems with equilibrium relations based on force and moment components.

~ Integrate the content of Statics with that of Mechanics of Materials.

* The concepts of normal and shearing stresses are introduced early in Statics.

* Topics associated with Statics and with Mechanics of Materials are merged in whenever possible in the Statics ++ Textbook.