COBEM99

S16 O Ensino de Engenharia Mecânica

Title:

A CONTINUOUS MECHANIC APPROACH TO TEACH SOLID MECHANICS

Summary :

GENERALLY, ENGINEERING STUDENTS HAVE BEEN TAUGHT MECHANICS OF SOLIDS AND STRENGTH OF MATERIALS THROUGH A TECHNICAL THEORY BASED ON ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS OF BARS AND BEAMS. BASIC CONCEPTS SUCH AS STRAIN AND STRESS ARE DEFINED FOR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS WITH NO RELATION TO THE GENERAL CASE. THEREFORE, STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN HOW TO APPLY THOSE CONCEPTS TO MODELS THAT ARE COMMON IN REAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS PLANE STRESS, ELASTIC SOLIDS, PLATES, AND SHELLS. STUDENTS ARE NOT ALSO ABLE TO LINK RELATED CONCEPTS IN SOLID AND FLUID MECHANICS. IT CAN BE SAID THAT STUDENTS HAVE MISSED A GOOD BACKGROUND IN BASIC CONCEPTS OF MECHANICS. CONSEQUENTLY, THEY WILL NOT BE PREPARED TO USE ENGINEERING SOFTWARE CONFIDENTLY. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THIS LIMITATION, STUDENTS SHOULD BE TAUGHT STARTING FROM THE BASICS CONCEPTS OF MECHANICS TO ACQUIRE A STRONG BACKGROUND. MOREOVER, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TEACH SPECIFIC CONCEPTS WHILE THE APPLICATIONS OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING HAVE DEMANDED BACKGROUND IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY AREAS. SOME EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO ACHIEVE AN INTERACTIVE COURSE IN FORMULATION AND NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF MECHANICAL PROBLEMS. FOR THIS PURPOSE TWO BOOKS HAVE BEEN PREPARED BASED ON A CONTINUUM MECHANICS AND VARIATIONAL FORMULATION APPROACH. INTERNET HOMEPAGES, JAVA PROGRAMS, AND MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS HAVE ALSO BEEN DEVELOPED. THE GENERAL OBJECTIVE IS TO PRESENT ENGINEERING STUDENTS THE BASIC MECHANICAL CONCEPTS USING MULTIMEDIA AND SOFTWARE RESOURCES TO SIMPLIFY UNDERSTANDING AND ASSIMILATION OF KNOWLEDGE. THIS PAPER PRESENTS A REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF THOSE EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS. KEYWORDS: CONTINUOUS MECHANICS, VARIATIONAL FORMULATION, JAVA, MULTIMEDIA, INTERNET.

Author :

Bittencourt, Marco Lucio
Feijoo, Raul Antonino
Gomes, Sabine Sirimarco

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