Strength of material Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strength of material - Essay Example Yet another factor that impacts the nature of loading is the stresses, deflections and strains that the structure is subjected to. One engineering component may be subjected to strains, stresses and/or torsion at the same time, forces acting at different points according to Melchers and Hough (364). When a system is subjected a myraid of loads of this nature, the system is said to be subjected to complex loads. Some systems that commonly experience complex loading include bridges, building roof structures, differential units and shafts, just to mention a few. Figure 1: showing the structure of a bridge; different components of the bridge subjected to tension, compression, strains and stresses Courtesy http://www.300thcombatengineersinwwii.com/bridges.html Engineers have always communicated through drawings to convey messages relating to the nature and design of components and structures. In the analysis of engineering structures and components, care is usually taken to avoid failure that results due to several factors including loading and corrossion. The analysis of the forces that act on engineering structures began with the use of drawings, lines and arrows representing forces that were resolved somehow to come up with solutions or results. Superpositioning as a method of analysis has also been employed in analysing engineering components and normally involves the overlapping of forces (Courses.washington p1).