Structural A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

mechanics or mechanics of structures is the computation of deformations,

deflection Deflection or deflexion may refer to: Board games * Deflection (chess), a tactic that forces an opposing chess piece to leave a square * Khet (game), formerly ''Deflexion'', an Egyptian-themed chess-like game using lasers Mechanics * Deflection ...

s, and internal

force In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...

s or stresses (''stress equivalents'') within structures, either for design or for performance evaluation of existing structures. It is one subset of

structural analysis Structural analysis is a branch of solid mechanics which uses simplified models for solids like bars, beams and shells for engineering decision making. Its main objective is to determine the effect of loads on physical structures and their c ...

. Structural mechanics analysis needs input data such as

structural load A structural load or structural action is a mechanical load (more generally a force) applied to Structural engineering#Structural elements, structural elements. A load causes stress (physics), stress, deformation (engineering), deformation, displa ...

s, the structure's geometric representation and support conditions, and the materials' properties. Output quantities may include support reactions, stresses and displacements. Advanced structural mechanics may include the effects of stability and non-linear behaviors. Mechanics of structures is a field of study within applied mechanics that investigates the behavior of structures under mechanical loads, such as bending of a beam, buckling of a column, torsion of a shaft, deflection of a thin shell, and vibration of a bridge. There are three approaches to the analysis: the energy methods,

flexibility method In structural engineering, the flexibility method, also called the method of consistent deformations, is the traditional method for computing member forces and displacements in structural systems. Its modern version formulated in terms of the mem ...

or direct stiffness method which later developed into

finite element method Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat tran ...

and the plastic analysis approach.

Energy method

* Energy principles in structural mechanics

Flexibility method

Flexibility method In structural engineering, the flexibility method, also called the method of consistent deformations, is the traditional method for computing member forces and displacements in structural systems. Its modern version formulated in terms of the mem ...

Stiffness methods

* Direct stiffness method *

Finite element method in structural mechanics The finite element method (FEM) is a powerful technique originally developed for the numerical solution of complex problems in structural mechanics, and it remains the method of choice for analyzing complex systems. In FEM, the structural system is ...

Plastic analysis approach

* Plastic analysis

Major topics

Beam theory Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam * Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles ** Charged particle beam, a spatially ...

Buckling In structural engineering, buckling is the sudden change in shape (Deformation (engineering), deformation) of a structural component under Structural load, load, such as the bowing of a column under Compression (physics), compression or the wrin ...

* Earthquake engineering *

* Plates and shells * Torsion * Trusses *

Stiffening Stiffening is any process that increases the rigidity and structural integrity of objects. Stiffening is used in crafts, art, industry, architecture, sports, aerospace, object construction, bookbinding, etc. Mechanics In mechanics, "stiffenin ...

* Structural dynamics * Structural instability

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Structural Mechanics Building engineering Structural engineering Solid mechanics Mechanics Earthquake engineering