NMT Course Syllabus 1

COURSE SYLLABUS
COURSE NUMBER: EM 589
COURSE TITLE: Advanced Strength of Materials
DATE: August 25, 2004

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to New Mexico Tech Advanced Strength of Materials Course. Hopefully, this semester will be a
profitable learning experience for all of us. In addition to the classroom, we will be using the WebCT for
additional communication in the course. If you have any questions outside of the classroom, please send me an
email on WebCT or post your questions in the discussion link located in your WebCT class. (Click on the
Discussion icon located on the WebCT homepage to access the Discussion threads).
REQUIRED TEXT
1) Boresi, Arthur P. and Schmidt, Richard J., Advanced Mechanics of Materials, 6th Ed., John Wiley & Sons,
2003, ISBN: 0471438812.

REFERENCE TEXTS
1) Young, Warren C. and Budynas, Richard G., Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, 7th Ed., McGraw-Hill,
2002, ISBN:007072542X.
2) Beer, Ferdinand P., Johnston, E. Russell and DeWolf, John T., Mechanics of Materials, 3rd Ed., McGrawHill, 2002, ISBN: 0073659355.
3) Solecki, Roman and Conant, R. Jay, Advanced Mechanics of Materials, Oxford University Press, 2003,
ISBN: 0195143728.

NMT Course Syllabus 2

INSTRUCTORS NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Instructor: Warren J. Ostergren
Course Email: WebCT
NMT Email: warreno@nmt.edu
Office Hours: Speare 134 (TBD)
In case of an emergency, please leave a message on WebCT or the above NMT E-mail address.
For course administration support please contact Wendi Carrillo at: wcarrillo@admin.nmt.edu
For WebCT support or server questions please contact Jeff Tull at: destudio@nmt.edu

Instructor Bio:
Work Summary
Technical, leadership, and project management experience at GE (General Electric) Company in jet engines, gas
turbines and steam turbines. Managed a range of production and advanced engineering development programs
including the F404/F414 engines for the Navy F/A-18 attack/fighter aircraft. Also managed functional
technology work in mechanics of materials, structures, stress and vibration. Specific areas of expertise include
engineering and program management, structural analysis and design life prediction.
Teaching Summary
Courses in Advanced Strength Of Materials, Applied Engineering Statistics, Managing Technology Resources,
Production and Operation Management, and Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics.
Education
PhD degree in Mechanics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MS in Engineering from Brown University
and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

NMT Course Syllabus 3

COURSE DESRCIPTION
The Advanced Strength of Materials Course will focus on advanced strength of materials principles and
techniques for use in mechanical engineering design and problem solving. Mechanical engineering designs are
increasingly complex and require a range of mechanics skills including, predicting material failure under steady
and cyclic loading, determining the stresses and deflections due to unsymmetrical loading, understanding
nonlinear structural deflections and resulting residual stresses, computing shear stresses in thin-walled
structures, analyzing for stresses in axisymmetric thin-walled shells and thick cylinders and predicting the
stability of elastic beams and shells. All of these important mechanics skills must be utilized by a mechanical
engineer to make informed design decisions and to solve many engineering problems.
This course will be taught in nine major modules, representing important advanced strength of materials skills a
mechanical engineer should master. Homework problems will be assigned for analysis and class discussion.
The homework problems will use examples that will assist in understanding the principles involved and their
application.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course is designed with the following objectives in mind:
1. Students should gain a thorough overview of the advanced strength of materials skills required for
today's mechanical engineers.
2. Students should obtain an understanding of advanced strength of materials principles and practices
that should assist them in making informed design decisions and solving complex problems.
3. Students should develop the framework for understanding how advanced strength of materials
complements other mechanics technologies used in engineering organizations.

GENERAL OUTLINE
The following major topics will be covered by the course. Copies of notes for each lecture will be posted on the
WebCT class page. This will be done prior to the lecture so that students can make hard copies for taking notes
during class. Reading will be assigned on each topic from the formal text. It is expected that the reading will
be done on a subject after it is covered in the classroom lecture. Exercises from the text will be assigned as
homework at the end of each class. This should be completed and submitted to the instructor prior to the next
class. Students will be expected to be prepared to discuss their analysis of the exercises during the class. The
class will discuss the results and provide additional recommendations or feedback on the analysis.
Introduction (1 session)
Topics covered include potential applications of strength of materials, methods of analysis and a review
of some first principles in strength of materials.

NMT Course Syllabus 4

Stress-Strain and Material Behavior(3 sessions)
Topics include principle stresses and strains, stress-strain relationships, material yielding, elastic-plastic
behavior, stress fields in nonlinear bending, and residual stresses.
Torsion (1 session)
Topics include torsion in circular and rectangular cross sections, torsion in thin-wall sections and design
considerations for torsion.
Unsymmetrical Bending (4 sessions)
Topics include bending of beams with arbitrary cross sections, beam displacements, beams with thin
sections, shear centers, curved beams and beams on elastic foundations.
Thick Walled Cylinders and Disks (1 session)
Topics include stresses and displacements in thick walled cylinders, centrifugal stresses in disks, shrink
fits, membrane stresses in thin cylinders and spheres, and strains and displacements in thin walled shells.
Elastic Stability (1 session)
Topics include buckling and stability of columns.
Local Stresses and Material Failure Behavior (3 sessions)
Topics include stress concentration factors and material failure under static and cyclic loading.
COURSE DELIVERABLES
Homework problems - Students will be assigned textbook reading and exercises as part of a weekly homework
assignment. Students should be prepared to discuss their findings using the discussion link of WebCT and
during the next class.
Quizzes - A short quiz will be conducted via WebCT during the week following a lecture. The quiz will
emphasize major themes of the prior week's lecture and will assist the instructor in verifying that key course
material is being adequately conveyed.
Interim Exam - An interim exams will be conducted for the class. It will emphasize the major content of the
course sessions to that point and will indicate the student's assimilation of the course material covered.
Final Exam - A final exam will be conducted for the class. It will emphasize the entire contents of the course
and will indicate the student's assimilation of the entire course material covered.
COURSE GRADING
The course grade will be computed from the following components:
1. Homework Problems
2. Quizzes
3. Interim Exam
4. Final Exam

25%
25%
25%
25%

NMT Course Syllabus 5

STATEMENT OF POLICY
New Mexico Techs primary purpose is education, which includes teaching, research, discussion, learning, and
service. The atmosphere of free and open inquiry is essential to the pursuit of education. New Mexico Tech
seeks to protect academic freedom and build on individual responsibility to create and maintain an academic
atmosphere that is purposeful, just, open, disciplined, and caring(Boyer 1990, NMT Student Handbook).
COURSE DATES
The weeks that make this course:

The Weeks That Make This Course:

WEEK 1: 8/27

WEEK 9: 10/22 (No Class)

WEEK 2: 9/3

WEEK 10: 10/29

WEEK 3: 9/10

WEEK 11: 11/5

WEEK 4: 9/17

WEEK 12: 11/12

WEEK 5: 9/24

WEEK 13: 11/19

WEEK 6: 10/1

WEEK 14: 11/26 (No Class)

WEEK 7: 10/8

WEEK 15: 12/3

WEEK 8: 10/15

WEEK 16: 12/10

WEEK 17: FINALS WEEK (12/13)

NMT Course Syllabus 6

WEB ACCESS TO CLASS
You can get to class through the Web Access system via To Sign up for an Account

Go to http://webct.nmt.edu If you already have a WebCT ID and password, click on the Log onto
WebCT button on the right side of the screen. Enter your ID and password and then proceed to Adding a
WebCT Course below. If you need a WebCT ID and password go to the next step.
Click on Create My WebCT (Left selection)
Enter your name as prompted and e-mail address. Your e-mail address is important in order to contact
you for important updates and information.
Select a WebCT ID. This can be anything you want, however, it is recommended that you use the same
ID as your NMT account.
Enter and confirm your password. You will be able to change your password at any time. Password and
ID are case sensitive.
Finish filling out the questionnaire and click on continue at the bottom of the page.
Enter your ID and password.

ADDING A WEBCT COURSE

Once you have entered your ID and password you will be taken to your MyWebCT. Under the header,
Courses, (upper left portion of screen) you will see you either have classes listed (if you have taken
WebCT courses from Tech before) or you see a message saying you have not added any courses yet. To
add a course, click on Add Course. To remove any classes that you have finished and do not want listed,
click on Remove Course.
When you click on Add Course, you will be taken to a listing of courses. Make sure you are in the
distance education listing. Look on the left side of the screen under Category and highlight Distance
Education. Scroll down the list until you find the class you are registered for.
Click on the class. You will self register for the class. Click on Register. This will add the class to your
MyWebCT. If you are prompted for an ID and password, use the ID and password you just created.
To start the class go back to MyWebCT and click on the class. This will take you to the first page of the
course.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
Academic honesty is highly valued at New Mexico Tech. A student must always submit work that represents his
or her original words or ideas. If any words or ideas are used that do not represent the student's original words
or ideas, the student must cite all relevant sources. The student should also make clear the extent to which such
sources were used. Words or ideas that require citations include, but are not limited to, all hardcopy or
electronic publications, whether copyrighted or not, and all verbal or visual communication when the content of
such communication clearly originates from an identifiable source. Academic dishonesty could involve:
1. Having a tutor or friend complete a portion of your assignments,
2. Reusing assignments from other classes in this course,
3. Having a reviewer make extensive revisions to an assignment

NMT Course Syllabus 7

Where To Go To Class
You can navigate through the classroom by clicking on the icons located on the Home Page in your WebCt
classroom.

Mail: Email is internal to WebCt only. Communication is expected to be within WebCt. This is
the major means of communication for the course when not in the classroom. It should be used
for communication with the instructor and other students.

Syllabus: The syllabus will be posted within this link.

Instructor Notes: This is where the notes of the upcoming lecture will be posted.
Students should print out hard copies of the notes prior to the lecture. This will prevent the need for copying
notes during the lecture and will permit time for recording other pertinent thoughts. Summaries of classroom
discussion and past quizzes will also be posted under this icon.

Assignments: Here is where all the assignments/homework will be posted.

Discussion: This is where discussions will be conducted that complement and

supplement the classroom discussion. It will be a valuable assist for all students.
Student Homepage: Each student should follow the instructions to create their own homepage. This is
a great location for posting your personal bio for the benefit of the instructor and other students. A
personal bio should be posted within this link by the first week of class.

NMT Course Syllabus 8

Assignments
Assignments are typically due by the class following the assignment.
Grading Policies
Grading is based on an absolute scale - you are not competing with anyone else, but you will be challenging
yourself. There are no distributions of grades; all of you can earn an A in this course. Your final grade will be
based on both individual and learning team performance.
Your final grade will be based on the percentage of available points that you earn during the course. I will use
the following grading scale to calculate your letter grade.
Grading Descriptions
Number of %
Points

Letter
Grade

Description

4.00

95+

3.67

90-94 A-

Clearly stands out as an excellent performance. Has unusually sharp insight into
material and initiates thoughtful questions. Sees many sides of an issue. Writes
logically and clearly. Integrates ideas previously learned from this and other
disciplines; anticipates next steps in the progression of ideas. Example: "A" work
should be of such a nature that it could be put on reserve for all students to review
and emulate. The "A" student is, in fact, an example for others to follow.

3.33

87-89 B+

3.00

84-86 B

2.67

80-83 B-

2.33

77-79 C+

2.00

74-76 C

1.67

70-73 C-

1.33

67-69 D+

1.00

64-66 D

<59

Grasps subject matter at a level considered to be good to very good. Is an active

listener and participant in the workshop discussions. Writes well. Accomplishes
more than the minimum requirements. Work in and out of the workshop is of high
quality. Example: "B" work indicates a high quality performance and is given in
recognition for solid work; a "B: should be considered a high grade.
Demonstrates a satisfactory comprehension of the subject matter. Accomplishes
the minimum requirements, and displays little or no initiative. Communicates
orally and in writing at an acceptable level for a college student. Has a generally
acceptable understanding of all basic concepts. Example: "C" work represents
average work. A student receiving a "C" has met the requirements, including
deadlines, of the course.
Quality and quantity of work in and out of the workshop is below average and
barely acceptable. Example: "D" work is passing by a narrow margin.

Quality and quantity of work in and out of the workshop is unacceptable.

Example: "F" work does not qualify the student to progress to a more advanced
level of course work.

Course Weekly Schedule and Individual Assignments

NMT Course Syllabus 9

SESSION 1 (8/27/04) Introduction and Review of Strength of Materials
Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 1 Lecture found in <Instructor Notes>.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 1.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercises TBD.

Familiarize yourself with WebCT.

Create a <Student Homepage> Post your biography in it. Take the time to see who is in the class.

Print the Course Syllabus. You will be using the syllabus throughout the course, so its a good idea to have
a printed copy available. The weekly schedule will be periodically updated, but the remainder should
remain fairly constant.

SESSION 2 (9/3/04) Theories Of Stress and Strain

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 2 Lecture found in <Instructor Notes>.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 2.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 3 (9/10/04) Stress-Strain Relations

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 3 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 3.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 4 (9/17/04) Inelastic Material Behavior

NMT Course Syllabus 10

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 4 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 4.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 5 (9/24/04) Torsion

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 5 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 6.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 6 (10/1/04) Bending Of Straight Beams

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 6 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 7.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 7 (10/8/04) Shear Center For Thin-Wall Beams

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 7 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 8.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

NMT Course Syllabus 11

SESSION 8 (10/15/04) Curved Beams
Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 8 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 9.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

(10/22/04) No Class

SESSION 9 (10/29/04) Beams On Elastic Foundations

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 9 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 10.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 10 (11/5/04) Thick-Wall Cylinders

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 10 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 11.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 11 (11/12/04) Stability Of Columns

Prior to Classroom Lecture

NMT Course Syllabus 12

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 11 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 12.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 12 (11/19/04) Stress Concentrations

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 12 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 14.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

(11/26/04) No Class

SESSION 13 (12/3/04) Fracture Mechanics

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 13 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 15.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

SESSION 14 (12/10/04) Fatigue

Prior to Classroom Lecture

Printout a hardcopy of the Session 14 Lecture found in < Instructor Notes >.

After Classroom Lecture

Read Chapter 16.0 in Boresi and Schmidt.

Complete exercise TBD.

NMT Course Syllabus 13

FINALS WEEK (12/13/04) Final Exam