This textbook is designed to help engineering students acquire a precise understanding of the matrix development methods and its underlying concepts and principles, and to acquire experience in developing well-structured programs. A distinguishing feature of this class-tested textbook is its integrated instruction of structured programming and the matrix development method. Focusing on principles taught in sophomore and junior level courses, the book is intended for structural engineering students in civil engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanics, and related disciplines.

This book is concerned with the static and dynamic analysis of structures. Specifi cally, it uses the stiffness formulated matrix methods for use on computers to tackle some of the fundamental problems facing engineers in structural mechanics. This is done by covering the Mechanics of Structures, its rephrasing in terms of the Matrix Methods, and then their Computational implementation, all within a cohesivesetting. Although this book is designed primarily as a text for use at the upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate level, many practicing structural engineers will find it useful as a reference and self-study guide. Several dozen books on structural mechanics and as many on matrix methods are currently available. A natural question to ask is why another text? An odd devel opment has occurred in engineering in recent years that can serve as a backdrop to why this book was written. With the widespread availability and use of comput ers, today's engineers have on their desk tops an analysis capability undreamt of by previous generations. However, the ever increasing quality and range of capabilities of commercially available software packages has divided the engineering profession into two groups: a small group of specialist program writers that know the ins and outs of the coding, algorithms, and solution strategies; and a much larger group of practicing engineers who use the programs. It is possible for this latter group to use this enormous power without really knowing anything of its source.

Analysis of Structures offers an original way of introducing engineering students to the subject of stress and deformation analysis of solid objects, and helps them become more familiar with how numerical methods such as the finite element method are used in industry. Eisley and Waas secure for the reader a thorough understanding of the basic numerical skills and insight into interpreting the results these methods can generate. Throughout the text, they include analytical development alongside the computational equivalent, providing the student with the understanding that is necessary to interpret and use the solutions that are obtained using software based on the finite element method. They then extend these methods to the analysis of solid and structural components that are used in modern aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering applications. Analysis of Structures is accompanied by a book companion website www.wiley.com/go/waas housing exercises and examples that use modern software which generates color contour plots of deformation and internal stress.It offers invaluable guidance and understanding to senior level and graduate students studying courses in stress and deformation analysis as part of aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering degrees as well as to practicing engineers who want to re-train or re-engineer their set of analysis tools for contemporary stress and deformation analysis of solids and structures. Provides a fresh, practical perspective to the teaching of structural analysis using numerical methods for obtaining answers to real engineering applications Proposes a new way of introducing students to the subject of stress and deformation analysis of solid objects that are used in a wide variety of contemporary engineering applications Casts axial, torsional and bending deformations of thin walled objects in a framework that is closely amenable to the methods by which modern stress analysis software operates.

"Summarizes the theoretical development of the finite elements and numerical methods used in the latest versions of the SAP and ETABS programs. Although only a minimum mathematical and programming background is required to completely understand the book, a thorough understanding of the physical behavior of real structures is essential"--Provided by publisher.

Proper treatment of structural behavior under severe loading - such as the performance of a high-rise building during an earthquake - relies heavily on the use of probability-based analysis and decision-making tools. Proper application of these tools is significantly enhanced by a thorough understanding of the underlying theoretical and computation

Optimal analysis is defined as an analysis that creates and uses sparse, well-structured and well-conditioned matrices. The focus is on efficient methods for eigensolution of matrices involved in static, dynamic and stability analyses of symmetric and regular structures, or those general structures containing such components. Powerful tools are also developed for configuration processing, which is an important issue in the analysis and design of space structures and finite element models. Different mathematical concepts are combined to make the optimal analysis of structures feasible. Canonical forms from matrix algebra, product graphs from graph theory and symmetry groups from group theory are some of the concepts involved in the variety of efficient methods and algorithms presented. The algorithms elucidated in this book enable analysts to handle large-scale structural systems by lowering their computational cost, thus fulfilling the requirement for faster analysis and design of future complex systems. The value of the presented methods becomes all the more evident in cases where the analysis needs to be repeated hundreds or even thousands of times, as for the optimal design of structures by different metaheuristic algorithms. The book is of interest to anyone engaged in computer-aided analysis and design and software developers in this field. Though the methods are demonstrated mainly through skeletal structures, continuum models have also been added to show the generality of the methods. The concepts presented are not only applicable to different types of structures but can also be used for the analysis of other systems such as hydraulic and electrical networks.