Teacher

prof. aggr. Igino Pitacco

Credits

6 CFU

Objectives

To give students a clear understanding of theory and design of most common structural elements used in
modeling complex structures.

Acquired skills

Know how to design most common structural elements: suspended cables, strongly curved beams, thin
walled beams under non uniform torsion, bending plates, plane stress-strain structures.

Program

Cables: equation of the catenary for inextensible and deformable cables. Numerical evaluation of the
integration constants. Exercises. (8 hours)
Curved beams: formulation and solution of the equations of curved beams. Exercises on arches and hooks.
(8 hours)
Non uniform torsion: kinematic and mechanical hypothesis, derivation of the governing equations.
Uncoupling of torsion and bending. Design of longitudinal ribs, cross stiffening brackets and diaphragms .
Calculation examples. (18 hours)
Bending plates: Mindlin-Reissner and Kirchhoff-Love models. Boundary conditions. Solution of the
governing equations by Fourier series and Galerkin method. Closed form solutions for axis-symmetric plates.
(14 hours)
Plane elasticity: plane stress, plane strain and axis-symmetric problems. Solution methods for classical
problems. Examples. (12 hours)

References

– Davini C., Lezioni di Teoria delle Strutture, 2009 (lecture notes available in pdf format (italian))
– Timoshenko S. and Woinowsky-Krieger S., Theory of plates and shells, 2nd edition, Mc Graw-Hill,
1970
– Boresi A., Schmidt R., Sidebottom O., Advanced mechanics of materials, 5th edition, Wiley 1993,

Exam

To access the final oral exam, students are required to complete assigned homework