Focusing on the conceptual understanding of mechanics, this exciting new text addresses developments in the methods of analyzing mechanics problems. It fully incorporates the highly sophisticated computational software packages currently available to students. The text provides transition material to higher level courses, as well as a wealth of problems to foster understanding. All sample problems and the use of computational software (Mathcad, MATLAB, Mathematica and Maple) are presented in four separate manuals (one for each software program). Each manual explains how to use the software package to solve the example problems in the book.
Author Biography
Daniel S. Balint received his PhD in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 2003. He is currently a Lecturer on Structural Integrity for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. He is co-author to 10 textbooks and supplements on the topic of Engineering Mechanics as well as co-author of 14 journal articles. Dr. Balint is a member of The Scientific Research Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Golden Key International Honor Society. During his academic career he received 10 awards including the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching - 2001, and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship - 1998. His areas of research interest include discrete dislocation modeling, size effects in materials, failure in thermal barrier coatings and functionally graded materials, thin film delamination and fracture, multiscale modeling of elastic/plastic fracture, computational techniques in solid mechanics, and orthopedic biomechanics. Daniel J. Inman received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Mechanical Engineering in 1980 and is the Director of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures and the G.R. Goodson Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. Since 1980, he has published six books (on vibration, control, statics, and dynamics), eight software manuals, 20 book chapters, over 195 journal papers and 380 proceedings papers, given 34 keynote or plenary lectures, graduated 45 Ph.D. students and supervised more than 65 MS degrees. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics (AAM), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is currently Technical Editor of the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (1999- ), Technical Editor of the Shock and Vibration Digest (1998- ), and Technical Editor of the journal Shock and Vibration (1999- ). He has served as Technical Editor of ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics (1990-1999), and as Associate Editor of the following: ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics (1986-89), ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics (1988-94), Mechanics of Machines and Structures (1986-98), International Journal of Analytical and Experimental Modal Analysis (1986-1990) and Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (1992-1999) and Smart Materials and Structures (1991-2001). He is a founding member of the ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee and the AIAA Adaptive Structures Technical Committee. He won the ASME Adaptive Structures Award in April 2000, the ASME/AIAA SDM Best Paper Award in April 2001, the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Life Time Achievement Award in March of 2003, the ASME Best Paper in Adaptive Structures in 2007, and the ASME Den Hartog Award in 2007 Robert W. Soutas-Little received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1962 and is now a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Mechanics at Michigan State University. Author to 6 books on the topics of Elasticity, Engineering Mechanics, Statics, and Dynamics, Dr. Soutas-Little has also published over 60 journal papers and chapters in books as well as co-authoring 15 technical reports. He has Directed 22 PhD's as well as 150 M.S. Students and prior to teaching at Michigan State he held positions at Oklahoma State University, University of Wisconsin, Marquette University, Technion in Israel, and a MSU summer program at Cambridge University, England. He is a Founding Member of the American Society of Biomechanics, a Charter Member or the Society of Engineering Science, a Member of the International Society of Biomechanics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Soutas-Little has been the recipient of the Western Electric Award for Teaching Excellence in Engineering in 1970, the Goldberg Chair in 1982, the Distinguished Faculty Award - Michigan State University in 1995, named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1996, received the Withrow Teaching Excellence Award in 1997, the Withrow Distinguished Scholar Award in 1999, as well as receiving many research contracts and grants between 1962 and 1999. His research interests include Biomechanics, Dynamics, Applied Mathematics, Elasticity, and Continuum Mechanics.
