Welcome to week 2! We are going to look a membrane structures, such as bat’s wings and sails on junks, and then explore how structures absorb, transmit and dissipate energy.
Structures support life. Without structures, we would just have random heaps of parts. At the beginning of the design process we should ask three questions about a structure: Why do …
Introduction You should be able to perform this exercise in your kitchen using the equipment usually found there plus a block of processed cheese. Objective To estimate the critical height …
A very warm welcome to our course, ‘Understanding Super Structures.’ The course is aimed at anyone with a desire or need to learn more about the mechanics of solids and …
A brief overview of what’s coming this week including a discussion about the purpose, material and form of structures, together with a look how some structures are lazy. We will …
The End! Eann reflects on the course and the role of teachers and engineers in our lives. We have done quite a few things differently in this online course and …
We started this week by looking at the way in which many structures resemble gigantic tubes, including airliners, ships, long-span bridges and sky-scrapers; and, examined the need to reinforce them …
Last week was about bending of beams and statically indeterminate structures. This week we will look at what happens when structures experience bending, torsion and tension simultaneously and how the …
Last week was about shells and shafts – membrane stress, shear stress and energy. This week is about beams and redundancy – bending and imaginary deformations. Watch the video for …
In the next paragraph a problem is described for you to solve using the material that we have covered in the course so far. Have a go at solving this …
This week you should gained an understanding of the meaning of stress and strain – you can find a recap on the definitions in the pdf below. We looked at …