Simple Tensile and Shear
Structures
In this and subsequent modules, we seek to apply the concepts of
materials response outlined in our discussion of Simple Tensile
Response to actual structures of the sort encountered in engineering
design. We will restrict ourselves initially to situations still
having relatively simple geometries, specifically trusses, pressure
vessels, and shafts loaded in torsion. This is done partly to
introduce new concepts without excessive detail, but these structural
types are far from being of academic interest only. As it is very
often true that the best design is the simplest design, these simple
structures make up a large part of modern construction.