Course syllabus

Course-pm

IMS080 Solid mechanics and materials lp1 HT21 (7.5 hp), offered by the department of Industrial and Materials Science.

Contact details

Course purpose

Combination of materials and shapes to achieve an optimal component, based on lightweight design or multi-functional properties, characterizes modern engineering technology. To be able to optimize the material choice while securing stiffness and strength, a basic understanding of the mechanical material behavior is necessary.

The aim of the course is to give you insight into mechanical behavior for polymers, composites and metals. The characteristics of each material class will be studied with respect to the choice of material or material combination. The course gives you both strength of materials and materials technology perspectives on stiffness and strength at different stress/temperature conditions.

Schedule

Cf. the detailed course pm above.

Course literature

  • Materials: Engineering, Science, Processing and Design, by Michael F. Ashby, Hugh Shercliff and David Cebon  
  • Mechanics of Materials, A. Bedford and K. M. Liechti, Springer 2020.
  • A course in Computational Solid Mechanics, Ragnar Larsson, Chalmers University of Technology.
  • Exempelsamling i hållfasthetslära, Peter W Möller, Chalmers.

The literature is available at the CANVAS page free of charge.

Course design

The course comprises 32 hours of lectures, H1-H8 and M1-M8 in the detailed course outline, 26 hours of exercises, E1-E13, and 18 hours of scheduled computer assignment classes, C1-C9.

The theory is outlined in the lectures. In the exercises hands-on examples of solid mechanics and material science are demonstrated. In the computer assignments, we work with COMSOL for problem solving.

The CANVAS platform is used for formal interaction between you and the teachers. All the formal material and information about the course are placed in the CANVAS course homepage. There will be no other course-pm handed out. In CANVAS, announcements about special events in the course are made, so you are advised to visit CANVAS on a daily basis during the course. In CANVAS the reports for the computer assignments are handed in electronically with due consideration to the deadlines, cf. the detailed course-pm.

Digitals tools like COMSOL are used in the course work. For the report writing, MS-office tools or equivalent softwares may be used. 

Changes made since the last occasion

This is the first time the course is carried out.

Learning objectives

Strength of materials:

  • Define and describe stress, strain and equilibrium for a solid component,
  • describe and define isotropic elastic- and thermoelastic material behavior,
  • set-up and solve the mathematical models for a uniaxial bar and a torsion loaded shaft,
  • calculate internal forces, stresses and strains for a uniaxial bar and a torsion loaded shaft from the relevant boundary conditions and loading,
  • from the relevant boundary conditions and load, numerically solve multiaxial elasticity problems using the finite element method,
  • motivate and compute principal stresses,
  • motivate and use von Mises yield condition for metallic materials.

Materials technology:

  • Describe the choice of material and shape for optimal properties of the component,
  • define and describe the most important material properties,
  • be able to group different materials into material groups; describe the most important properties of the material groups,
  • describe the most important material forming technologies for different material groups,
  • be able to perform a material selection for a component,
  • determine the mechanical properties that set the design of a component (stiffness, plasticity, fracture properties); use material indexes to optimize the material selection.
  • describe and assess the environmental impact of a material; make a sustainable choice of the material,
  • describe the most common construction materials, their properties, with pros and cons, in different applications.

Prerequisites

Before coming to the course you should have basic knowledge in:

  • mechanics. Basic balance laws of Newton.
  • mathematics. Your skills in calculus and linear algebra will be further developed.

Formally, we expect you to have taken the courses: LMA401 Calculus, MVE580 Linear algebra and differential equations, TME221 Mechanics and LMT212 Mechanics, advanced course, or equivalent.

Link to the syllabus on "Studieportalen".

Examination form

The examination of the course is based on your work done in the project and in the written exam. The detailed description is given in the module "examination" of this CANVAS homepage.  Note! Special arrangements might be needed due to possible distance learning in Q1 2021.