16.230 Plates and Shells
13.111 Structural Mechanics

Course Facts - Spring 1998

Instructors:  Hugh L. McManus     33-311  x3-0672  hmcmanus@mit.edu
              Tomasz Wierzbicki   5-218A  x3-2104  wierz@mit.edu
Secretaries:  Deborah Bowser      33-309  x3-3879  bowser@mit.edu
              Shiela McNary       5-222   x3-9713  mcnary@mit.edu

Prof. McManus will cover the first half of the course, and Prof. Wierzbicki the second. Their respective secretaries can answer schedule questions, handle appointments, and provide missing handouts. The web page will contain continuously updated copies of this information, Prof. McManus's problem sets, and other supplemental material.

Lectures: TR 1-2:30 Rm. 5-231

Office Hours: Office hours will be arranged by each professor during their first few class sessions.

Prerequisites: By permission of instructors

Textbooks (suggested reading, no purchase required):

1. Timoshenko and Woinowsky-Kreiger, "Theory of Plates and Shells", 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1959.
2. James Martin Whitney, "Structural Analysis of Laminated Anisotropic Plates", McGraw Hill, Lancaster PA, 1987.
3. Brush, D.O., and Almroth, "Buckling of Bars, Plates and Shells", McGraw Hill, 1975.
4. Vinson, J. R., "The Behavior of Thin Walled Structures: Beams, Plates and Shells", Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989.

These will be placed on reserve in the Aero and Engineering Libraries. There are many other good texts in this field, which approach the subject from a variety of perspectives; do not hesitate to go beyond this list.

Handouts: Prof. Wierzbicki will be giving out a complete set of handouts to supplement lectures. Prof. McManus will use handouts as a more occasional supplement; your lecture notes will be your primary resource in Prof. McManus's portion of the class

Problem Set Solutions: Prof. McManus's policy is that it is expected that student's problem set solutions will, especially after the allowed second try, approach perfection, and hence the pedagogical value of problem set solutions will be very low. Therefore, problem set solutions will in general NOT be distributed. In cases where they are deemed to be particularly useful (e.g. on questions where a large fraction of the class had trouble) exceptions will be made to this rule.

Grading: Ten problem sets and two in-class examinations will be given. Grading will be calculated as follows:

     Problem Sets (10 @ 5%)                          50%
     Exams (2 @ 25%)                                 50%
     Attendance, participation, general evaluation   ±5%

Academic Honesty: Any materials you can find in libraries, notes from other classes, etc. are OK to use to help solve problem sets, and collaboration with other students is permitted, but both must be referenced. It is expected that the final submission of each student represents the work of that and only that individual student. The in-class exams may have restrictions on allowed material; reference material that will be allowed in the in-class exams will be announced well in advance of the exams. Academic dishonesty is a severe breach of the student's and engineer's code and will be treated appropriately.

A Note on Submission of Work: The manner in which you present your work can be just as important (and in some cases more so) than the final answer. Be sure to delineate each step along the way. Show a clear and logical approach to your solution. Be sure a clear, written description of the algorithm used is included when presenting the results of computer calculations. These steps will make your problem sets a better reference for you and will make it easier for us to give you partial credit in cases of numerically incorrect answers. Conversely, incoherent or badly explained work will be assumed to be incorrect, and graded accordingly, even if the numbers are right!!