Civil Engineering / Current students / Units of Study / CIVL2201 Structural Mechanics

CIVL2201: Structural Mechanics, Semester 1, 2009

Course Coordinator: Tim Wilkinson
Email: T.Wilkinson@usyd.edu.au

General Information | Problem Sets | Assignments | In-Class Formative Problems | Lab Sessions | Exams | Quizzes | Useful Links

Welcome to Structural Mechanics: 2009

Welcome to CIVL2201 Structural Mechanics 2009.

Your first lecture will be on Tuesday 3 March, 10 am, in the PNR Lecture Theatre. There will be an assessable "assumed knowledge" quiz during the first tutorial session during Week 1. This will cover basic statics from ENGG1802, plus some basic mathematics - from 2 & 3 units maths from the HSC (see Quiz 1 from 2006, 2007 or 2008)

Over the past few years of teaching this course, I have found that many student struggle in areas of some basic mathematics - not because they cant do it, but because they are a bit "rusty" which things they did at school. Because of these difficulties, students sometimes do not then have sufficient time to appreciate the engineering aspect of questions when they struggle with the mathematic of the questions. The mathematics knowledge required in this course is not onerous - the type of skills needed were covered in HSC 2 unit and 3 unit maths. It is expected that students are competent and confident in such skills.

All students should purchase the text book "Structural Mechanics" by Tim Wilkinson, 2nd edition, which is available from the Coop Bookshop.

There will be a compulsory laboratory session for all students in their tutorial sessions of Thursday 19 or Friday 20 March.

I wish you all the best for your summer holidays and look forward to meeting you all in Structural Mechanics in 2009.

General Information

Tutorial Room Allocations (For first tutorial on Thurs 5 March, all students should first go to either PNR Drawing Office 1 or 2)

  • Surnames A - B, Civil Engineering CA Hawkins Computer Lab (next to Civil Engg Drawing Office), Ms Linda Yang, 18 (30); Type "1975" then "in" on the keypad to enter the room
  • Surnames C - D, Civil Engineering Lecture Room 4, Mr Peter Xie, 26 (30)
  • Surnames E - Ha, PNR Tutorial Room 315, Mr Binh Nguyen, 35 (40)
  • Surnames He - La, PNR Tutorial Room 316, Mr Iain Brown, 32 (40)
  • Surnames Le - Mc, Civil Engineering Lecture Room 5, Mr Peter Cafe, 33 (48)
  • Surnames Me - P, Civil Engineering Drawing Office, Mr Benoit Gilbert, 39 (120)
  • Surnames Q - S, PNR Drawing Office 1, Mr John Papangelis, 43 (100)
  • Surnames T - Z, PNR Drawing Office 2, Mr Hung Pham, 37 (100)
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Solutions to Problem Sets from the Lecture Notes

More links will become active as the semester progresses.

Bonus Questions

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Assignments

More links will become active as the semester progresses.

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In Class Formative Problems

More links will become active as the semester progresses.

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Lab Sessions

Links will become active as the semester progresses.

Lab Session General Information & Criteria - Download PDF (183 kB)

Assignment/Report Cover Sheet

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Exams

There is a 3 hour examination at the end of the semester. The questions will be of a similar format to the type 1 (basic), type 2 (intermediate), and type 3 (advanced) questions given in the problem sets. The exam questions will require both calculations and explanation-type answers, to test understanding of the subject. The content and lecturer changed in 2001, so past papers prior to 2001 may not give a true indication of the nature of the exam, but students should be capable of answering most questions prior to 2001.

The answers to past exams given below are (obviously) answers only.  When answering exam questions, students should note that suitable working, diagrams and explanations are required for each question; marks may be deducted for work that is not satisfactorily set out; and that units are important.

2009 Exam
Download PDF version of 2009 Exam
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2008 Exam
Download PDF version of 2008 Exam
1) SFD: Constant 13 kN, then linear 8 kN to 0 kN; BMD: Linear -68 kNm to -16 kNm, then parabolic to 0 kNm
2) Centroid 1057 mm from bottom; Ix = 689.8 x 10^9 mm^4; Iy = 279.5 x 10^9 mm^4
3) 0.821 kN/m; (19wL^4)/(2048EI), 0.419 mm
4) normal=-263 MPa shear=73.7 MPa, princ stresses = -282 MPa, +19.2 MPa, yields for Tresca but not von mises
5) Mmax = +105 kNm; I_trans_steel = 39.914 x 10^6 mm^4; Strain: +2472 microstrain to -1536 microstrain, stress, +24.7 MPa to -14.7 MPa for timber, -294.1 MPa to -307.2 MPa for steel
6) Steel:  625 microstrain, 125 MPa; Concrete: 625 microstrain, 25 MPa; Concrete first at 343 kN; 2.5 mm

2007 Exam
Download PDF version of 2007 Exam
1) SFD: Linear 5.33 kN to - 2.66 kN, then constant; BMD: Parabolic, 7.11 kNm (max), and then linear from 5.33 kNm
2) Centroid 1020 mm from bottom; I = 775.5 x 10^9 mm^4; M_crack = 3165 kNm; f_top = 4 MPa, f_bot = 4.16 MPa, e_top = 160 microstrain, e_bot = 166.5 microstrain
3) 0.804 kN/m; (11wL^4)/(972EI), 0.638 mm
4) normal=275 MPa shear=73.7 MPa, princ stresses = 293 MPa, -18.5 MPa, yielded for both Tresca & von mises
5) I_trans = 27.83 x 10^6 mm^4; 10.77 kNm
6) Steel:  833 microstrain, 166 MPa; Concrete: 833 microstrain, 25 MPa; Aluminium: 833 Microstrain, 58.3 MPa; 259 kN; 3.33 mm

2006 Exam:
Download PDF version of 2006 Exam
1) V_max = +8 kN (left support) & -10 kN (right support), then jumps to 6 kN on right side of the support, M_max = +10.66 kNm near midspan & - 6 kNm at right support, shape of BMD/SFD  not given in these solutions
2) Centroid location: 118.95 mm from bottom; I_x = 27.285 x 10^6 mm^4; M_yield = 64.23 kNm; f_top = 191 MPa, f_bot = 280 MPa, e_top = 2725 microstrain, e_bot = 4000 microstrain.
3) L = 8.14 m; density = 92900 kg/m^3;
4) shear = 0 MPa, hoop = 1066 MPa, longitudinal = 529 MPa; princ stresses = 1066 MPa, 529 MPa; does not yield to Tresca or von mises
5) w = 6.176 kN/m (some of you may get 6.09 kN/m)
6) e_conc = 636 microstrain; e_steel = 636 microstrain; f_steel = 127 MPa, f_conc = 25.5 MPa, shortening = 2.546 mm

2005 Exam
Download PDF version of 2005 Exam 285 kB
1) V_max = 6 kN, M_max = 12 kNm, shape of BMD/SFD not given in these solutions
2) Centroid location: 359.5 mm from bottom; I_x = 980.2 x 10^6 mm^4; M_yield = 572.6 kNm; f_top = 158 MPa, f_bot = 210 MPa, e_top = 2250 microstrain, e_bot = 3000 microstrain. 
3) L = 4.49 m; w = 3.975 kN/m;
4) shear = 181.6 MPa; P = 378 kN; princ stresses = 96.1 MPa, -342 MPa
5) I = 26.6 E6 mm^4 (steel) or 425.6 E6 mm^4 (timber); max strain = 582 microstrain, max stress = 116 MPa (steel), 7.04 MPa (timber), correct distributions required
6) e_conc = 1500 microstrain;  e_steel = 1500 microstrain; f_steel = 300 MPa, f_conc = 45 MPa, P = 758 kN, shortening = 6 mm

2004 Exam
Download PDF version of 2004 Exam 285 kB
1) V_max = +-P, M_max = -PL/3, shape of BMD/SFD  not given in these solutions
2) Centroid location: 69.5 mm from left, 320 mm from bottom; I_y = 79.62 x 10^6 mm^4
3) d) 19wL^4/2048EI, 3.11 mm
4) I = 1371 inch^4; M_yield = 1282 kNm , f_max = 450 MPa, e_max = 2250 microstrain, Nyield = 10665 kN, L = 10.28 m
5) Tresca 8.0 MPa; von Mises 9.24 MPa
6) M_leftsupport = - 20 kNm, I(transformed to timber) = 640 x 10^6 mm^4, Timber strains -427 to +322 microstrain, steel strain 330 micrsotrain, Timber stress -5.34 to +4.02 MPa, steel stress 66 MPa
7) Cant find the piece of paper.

2003 Exam
Download PDF version of 2003 Exam 181 kB
1) V_max = wL/6, M_max = -5wL^2/72, shape of BMD/SFD not given in these solutions
2) Centroid location: 353 mm from bottom; I_x = 1014 x 10^6 mm^4
3) Deflection = 28.06 mm
4) Z_y = 405.4 x 10^3 mm^3; M_yield = 113.5 kNm
5) Shear stress = 153.8 MPa; normal stress = 95.6 MPa; Principal - f_1 = 208 MPa, f_2 =-113 MPa; Tresca 321 MPa >yield; von Mises 282 MPa > no yield
6) Concrete strains at cracking 125 microstrain, concrete stress +- 5 MPa, steel stress +- 15 MPa, M_crack = 23.8 kNm.
7) e_conc = 1750 microstrain; e_steel = 1750 microstrain; P = 845 kN, shortening = 7 mm

2002 Exam
Download PDF version of 2002 Exam 407 kB
1) V_max = wL/2, M_max = -wl^2/8, shape of BMD/SFD  not given in these solutions
2) J = 119.8 x 10^6 mm^4, rotation = 0.02434 rads
3) Centroid location: 181.8 mm from bottom; I_x = 14.967 x 10^6 mm^4 = 35.96 in^4
4) Z_y = 1.571 x 10^6 mm^3; M_yield = 534 kNm, stresses are symmetric about NA ranging from 0 - 340 MPa, strains are symmetric about NA ranging from 0 to 0.0017
5) f_hoop_pressure = 1107 MPa; f_long_pressure = 553 MPa; f_comp_force = 32.05 MPa; Principal - f_1 = 1107 MPa, f_2 =521 MPa;  Tresca 1107 MPa > yield; von Mises 959 MPa > no yield
6) v = wL^4/24EI
7) Concrete strains +- 150 microstrain, steel strains +- 90 microstrain, concrete stress +- 6 MPa, steel stress +- 18 MPa, M_crack = 28.1 kNm. 
8) e_conc = 1066 microstrain;  e_steel = 1066 microstrain; f_conc = 42.66 MPa; f_steel = 213.3 MPa; P = 637 kN

2001 Exam
Download PDF version of 2001 Exam 164 kB
1) BMD/SFD  not given in these solutions
2) Refer to your lecture notes
3) Centroid location: 34.79 mm from left, 125 mm from bottom (symmetry); I_x = 38.82 x 10^6 mm^4 = 93.27 in^4
4) Z_x = 3.222 x 10^6 mm^3; M_yield = 966.7 kNm
5) f_hoop = 1033 MPa; f_long = 516 MPa; Tresca 1033 MPa > yield; von Mises 894 MPa > no yield
6) v = (wz^2)/(24EI) * (z^2 - 4zL + 6L^2); v_max = (wL^4)/(8EI)
7) Linear symmetric strain distribution with max value 323.8 microstrain, max steel stress = 64.76 MPa, max timber stress = 3.89 MPa
8) e_steel = 0.0022; f_conc = 88 MPa; f_steel = 440 MPa; P = 1337 kN; shortening = 6.6 mm

Exam Archives
I did the equivalent course U2.220 Structures 1 in 1989.  For your information, I have attached the exam I did in 1989, plus the exams from the preceding years.  Would you prefer to be doing the exams from the 1980s or the 2000s?
1989 This is my exam.
1988 (May) 1988 (August) (In 1988 & earlier, uni had 3 terms, not  semesters - and Structures 1 ran over 2 terms - hence 2 exams)
1987 (May) 1987 (August)
1986 (May) 1986 (August) 1986 (November?) (I am not sure how I managed to photocopy 3 exams - I think I have the years mixed up!)
1989 Mid semester take home quiz
1989 Trial test 1
1989 Trial test_2
1989 tutorials

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Quizzes

There will be 5 "quick quizzes" held during tutorial sessions. These will be short questions designed to ensure that you are keeping up to date with the course content.  Students who have been attending lectures and tutorials regularly and attempting tutorial problems should be adequately prepared for these quizzes.  These quizzes will be generally held in the 2nd hour of the tutorial session (ie 3.00 - 4.00 pm) on selected Thursdays during the semester.  Please be aware of this now, and arrange any other university/work/social/sporting commitments to avoid clashing with these quizzes.

 

Students should bring the following to the quiz

  • Structural mechanics lecture notes (you may write notes in it, but not stick extra pieces of paper in it)
  • Blank rough working paper
  • Calculator

 

Past Quizzes

2001 Quiz

2002 Quiz 1 | 2002 Quiz 2

2003 Quiz 1 | 2003 Quiz 2

2004 Quiz 1 | 2004 Quiz 2

2005 Quiz 1 | 2005 Quiz 2

2006 Quiz 1 | 2006 Quiz 2 | 2006 Quiz 3 | 2006 Quiz 4 | 2006 Quiz 5

2007 Quiz 1 | 2007 Quiz 2 | 2007 Quiz 3 | 2007 Quiz 4 | 2007 Quiz 5

2008 Quiz 1 | 2008 Quiz 2 | 2008 Quiz 3 | 2008 Quiz 4 | 2008 Quiz 5

2009 Quiz 1 Solution Feedback | 2009 Quiz 2 Solution Feedback | 2009 Quiz 3 Solution Feedback | 2009 Quiz 4 Solution Feedback | 2008 Quiz 5 Solution Feedback

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Useful links

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