STRUCTURAL DESIGN ANALYSIS

In this chapter, simple analysis techniques are presented that will assist the designer in developing new products to handle the anticipated loading, while keeping stress and deflection within acceptable limits. These techniques will also be useful in product improvement, cost reduction, and the failure analysis of existing parts. The application of simplified, classic stress and deflection equations to plastic parts are presented here. As the complexity of a part increases or when particularly accurate results are required, more exact traditional methods or computerized finite element analysis (FEA) may be required [1, 2, 7-14, 33, 40-45, 62-76, 93, 270, 278, 390-417]. 

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In this book, attention will first be focused on macromechanics because it is the most readily appreciated of the two and the more important topic in structural design analysis. Subsequently, micromechanics will be investigated in order to gain an appreciation for how the constituents of composite materials can be proportioned and arranged to achieve certain specified strengths and stiffnesses. 

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