2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work in Progress: Integrating Basic Stress Analysis Concepts into Statics

Presented at MECH - Technical Session 1: Foundations of Engineering Education

The paper describes how basic stress analysis concepts can be integrated into a sophomore-level engineering statics course using pinned frames. The course covers pin connections and supports, which are typically separate from a statics course, through a hoist frame project. The project focuses on the concepts of pin shear stresses, member pull-out shear stress, bearing stresses, and axial uniform normal stress in a centrically loaded member. The pin connection is examined as both a tight fit and a loose fit, and a general structured procedure is provided to conduct the analysis. All statics and stress equations are formulated symbolically, allowing for the repetitive analysis and design of similar structures using an engineering tool. The hoist frame project is also utilized in a follow-up mechanics of materials course, where advanced stress topics are introduced just-in-time throughout the term and include design. A qualitative assessment by students was carried out at the end of the course to provide guidance for the instructors in the future.

Authors

Dr. Joseph J. Rencis P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3207-7446 University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Dr. Rencis holds a B.S. in architectural and building construction engineering technology from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from Northwestern University and Case Western Reserve University. He has served as a tenured mechanical engineering professor and engineering mechanics director at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He was the department head of mechanical engineering at the University of Arkansas and dean of engineering at Tennessee Tech University and Cal Poly Pomona. He has also served as interim dean of engineering at the University at Albany, SUNY, and the University of Texas Permian Basin. He serves as interim department head of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Rencis has served as chair of the ASME mechanical engineering department heads committee, chair of the ASEE mechanics division, ASEE mechanical engineering division, ASEE PIC III Chair, and president of the ASEE. He is a fellow of ASME and ASEE, and his research work is in computational solid mechanics and engineering education. Dr. Rencis has won several awards, including the ASEE Hall of Fame, ASEE Mechanical Engineering Division Ralph Coats Roe Award, ASEE Isadore T. Davis Award for Excellence in Collaboration of Engineering Education and Industry, ASEE Mechanics Division Archie Higdon Distinguished Educator Award, and ASEE Northeastern Section Outstanding Teaching Award. Additionally, Dr. Rencis is a professional engineer in Massachusetts.
Dr. Hartley T. Grandin Jr. Worcester Polytechnic Institute [biography]

Hartley T. Grandin, Jr. is a Professor Emeritus of Engineering Mechanics and Design in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He has authored the textbook Fundamentals of the Finite Element Method, published by Macmillan. Grandin received the WPI Board of Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Teaching. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from WPI. His Ph.D. was in Engineering Mechanics from the Department of Metallurgy, Mechanics, and Materials Science at Michigan State University. Dr. Grandin is deceased.

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