Applied Strength of Materials SI Units Version 6th Edition

Book Preface

Objectives of the Book Applied Strength of Materials, Sixth Edition: SI Units Version provides comprehensive coverage of the important topics in strength of materials with an emphasis on applications, problem solving, and design of structural members, mechanical devices, and systems. The book is written for students studying Strength of Materials, Mechanics of Materials, or Solid Mechanics in an engineering technology program at the baccalaureate or associate degree level or in an applied engineering program. This book provides good readability for the student, appropriate coverage of the principles of strength of materials for the faculty member teaching the subject, and a problem-solving and design approach that is useful for the practicing designer or engineer. Educational programs in the mechanical, civil, construction, architectural, industrial, and manufacturing fields will find the book suitable for an introductory course in strength of materials.
New “SI Units” Version This newly available “SI units” version is an adaptation of Applied Strength of Materials, now in its sixth edition. That original text uses both SI/metric and U.S. customary units, and given its international popularity, there was great demand for a version that uses exclusively SI/metric units. This version is the first available with all calculations, examples, and problems using only the SI/metric system of units and components. It is intended for use in areas that do not interact with the U.S. market and therefore do not need to work with the U.S. customary system of units. This version is not interchangeable with the original; readers in the United States, surrounding areas, and others who directly interact with U.S. markets should use the original version of this text that includes both unit systems, also available from CRC Press. For more on the use of units, see Section 1–4.
Style This text emphasizes the applications of the principles of strength of materials to mechanical, manufacturing, structural, and construction problems while providing a firm understanding of those principles. At the same time, the limitations to the use of analysis techniques are emphasized to ensure that they are applied properly. Both analysis and design approaches are used in the book.
Prerequisites Students should be able to apply the principles of statics prior to using this book. For review, there is a summary in Chapter 1 of the main techniques from a course in statics, emphasizing the analysis of forces and moments. Several example problems are included that use the principles of statics to solve practice problems in this book. While not essential, it is recommended that students have an introductory knowledge in calculus. As called for by accrediting agencies, calculus is used to develop the key principles and formulas used in this book. The application of the formulas and most problemsolving and design techniques can be accomplished without the use of calculus.
Features of the Book The Big Picture. Students should see the relevance of the material they study. They should be able to visualize where devices and systems that they are familiar with depend on the principles of strength of materials. For this reason, each chapter starts with a section called “The Big Picture.” Here, the basic concepts developed in the chapter are identified, and students are asked to think about examples from their own experience where these concepts are used. A new, full-color photograph is included in a special color image section for “The Big Picture” section for each chapter with an introduction that describes the relationship between the picture and the principles to be learned in that chapter. Sometimes students are asked to explore new things on their own to discover how a product works or how it can fail. They are coached to make observations about the behavior of common mechanical devices, vehicles, industrial machinery, consumer products, and structures. Educational philosophy indicates that students learn better and retain more when such methods are employed.
Activity-Based Learning. Activity-based learning methods are integrated into the popular “The Big Picture” section, a successful feature in all previous editions. The activity can be used independently by the students, by the instructor as a classroom demonstration, or a combination of these approaches. These activities allow the instructor and the students to extend “The Big Picture” dialog into hands-on experiences that give an enhanced appreciation and greater physical feel for the phenomena involved. Activities can help students from different disciplines work together and learn from each other. The activities are generally simple and can be completed in a short amount of time with inexpensive materials and quick setups. The emphasis is on qualitative appreciation of the physical phenomena with a modest amount of measurement involved. Educational research has shown that students learn better when they are personally involved in activities as opposed to listening to lectures. Furthermore, retention of abilities learned is improved along with greater ability to transfer learning to new and different applications.
Problem-Solving Techniques. Students must be able to solve real problems, complete the necessary calculations, manipulate units in equations, seek appropriate data, and make good design decisions. The numerous example problems in this book are designed to help students master these processes. In addition, students must learn to communicate the results of their work to others in the field. One important means of communication is the presentation of the problem solutions in an orderly, well-documented manner using established methods. Example problems are set off with a distinctive graphic design and type font. Readers are guided in the process of formulating an approach to problem solving that includes the following:
a. Statement of the objective of the problem b. Summary of the given information c. Definition of the analysis technique to be used d. Detailed development of the results with all of the equations used and unit manipulations e. At times, comments on the solution to remind the reader of the important concepts involved and to judge the appropriateness of the solution f. At times, comments present alternate approaches or improvements to the machine element or structural member being analyzed or designed
The reader’s thought process is carried beyond the requested answer into a critical review of the result. With this process, designers gain good habits of organization when solving their own problems. Comments from many students and instructors have listed these effective example problems as a major strength of the book.

Design Approaches. This text provides extensive information about guidelines for the design of mechanical devices and structural members, more than in most books on this subject. The design approaches are based on another book by Professor Mott, Machine Elements in Mechanical Design, Sixth Edition, 2018, from Pearson/Prentice Hall. Learning about design in addition to analysis increases the usefulness of the book to students and professional users. There are some students who will not go on to a subsequent course that emphasizes design. They should familiarize themselves with the principles of design in the introductory course in strength of materials. For those who do proceed to a design course, they should enter that course with a higher level of design knowledge and capability.
Design Properties of Materials. Chapter 2 includes extensive information and discussion on the proper application of engineering materials of many types, both metallic and nonmetallic. There is an extensive introduction to the nature of composite materials given along with commentary throughout the book on the application of composites to various kinds of load-carrying members. Information about the advantages of composites relative to traditional structural materials such as metals, wood, concrete, and plastics are given. The reader is encouraged to seek more education and experience to learn the unique analysis and design techniques required for the proper application of composite materials. Such materials are, in fact, tailored to a specific application, and general tables of material properties are not readily available. Chapter 2 also includes a section on materials selection based on the landmark publication Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th ed., by Michael F. Ashby, published by Elsevier Science (2010).
End-of-Chapter Problems. In addition to many fully solved example problems, there is an extensive set of problems for student practice at the end of each chapter. Answers for the odd-numbered problems are listed in the back of the text. The problems are typically organized around the main topics in the chapter. In general, they are presented in a graded manner with simpler problems followed by more comprehensive problems. There are many additional problems at the end of most chapters for practice, review, and design.

All problems are stated either in pure U.S. customary units or pure SI/metric units, including the types and sizes of structural members, listed in the appendix.
Extensive Appendix. To complement the use of design approaches, the appendix provides additional information on material properties, geometry of common areas and commercially available structural shapes, stress concentration factors, formulas for beam deflection, conversion factors, and many others. This allows for a wider variety of problems in the book and for creating tests and projects. It adds to the realism of the book and gives the students practice in looking for the necessary information to solve a problem or to complete a design. All calculations, examples, and problems in this “SI units” version use SI/metric data. The appendix does, however, include data from the U.S. customary system simply as reference. Twelve entirely new tables have been added to the appendix on property data for wood boards, angles, channels, I shapes, hollow square and rectangular tubing, and steel mechanical tubing to supplement, and in some cases replace, those included in the previous edition. This offers designers of mechanical devices or manufacturing applications a wider variety of sizes of structural shapes, particularly for pure SI sizes and for the smaller part of the size spectrum