The role of Structural Mechanics for civil engineers is like the backbone of trees and the soul of human beings. In this course, you will learn the basic mechanical characteristics and deformation characteristics of common structures in engineering, master the basic principles and methods of internal force and displacement calculation of structures. It will provide a strong background for your future work and study in the planning, design, construction and other fields of civil engineering structures. 

Structural Mechanics I is the first part of a series of structural mechanics courses at Beijing Jiaotong University. It is a required course for undergraduate students majoring in civil engineering (including road and railway, urban rail transit, architecture and urban planning, water supply and drainage, building materials, etc.), with dual characteristics of basic theory and engineering application. It is an important course for students to lay the foundation of mechanical knowledge and engineering skills.

This MOOC course of Structural Mechanics I is elaborately constructed by the teaching group of Structural Mechanics at Beijing Jiaotong University, including Profs. Zhifei Shi, Guilan Yu, Ying Jia, Hongjun Xiang, Yanqiu Xu, Yanmei Cao, and An Chen. It is taught by Profs. An Chen and Yanmei Cao. The main contents of the course include: analysis of geometric composition of plane system, internal force calculation and analysis of statically indeterminate structure, displacement calculation of structure, force method to solve statically indeterminate structure, displacement method to solve statically indeterminate structure, and moment distribution method. These contents will be presented to you through a number of mini videos, each of which is about 5-10 minutes in length, so that you can grasp the essence and core of each knowledge point in a short time. The teaching process mainly includes video teaching, practices, discussions, Q&As, unit tests and final examination. Adequate exercises and test questions are another feature of this course, so that you can improve the understanding and consolidation of knowledge through multiple exercises.

This course is a pre-requisite course for other design courses in Civil Engineering, such as the Reinforced Concrete Design, Steel Design, etc.

Through this course, you will achieve the following learning objectives:

1) Be able to identify and draw computing models of common planar structures.

2) Have a deep understanding of the composition rules of the plane geometry invariant system, and be able to apply them to skillfully analyze the geometry composition of the system.

3) Master the principle and method to find internal forces of statically determinate structure, including accurately calculate the internal force of statically determinate multi-span beam, rigid frame, truss and composite structure, draw their internal force diagrams, master the internal force calculation method of statically determinate arch, understand the concept and application of rational arch axis, summarize the stress characteristics of statically determinate structure, and make qualitative judgment on the reasonable performance of internal force distribution.

4) Be familiar with the inherent meaning of the principle of virtual work, and be able to use the principle of virtual work to skillfully solve the displacement of the structure under the load, and grasp the calculation method of the structural displacement caused by the temperature change and the bearing movement.

5) Master the methods and principles of statically indeterminate structure (force method, displacement method and moment distribution method), be able to combine theory with practice, and apply the knowledge learned to find, analyze and solve practical problems in engineering.

The prerequisite course of this course is engineering mechanics (including Theoretical Mechanics and Material Mechanics). Students need to master some basic knowledge of mechanics, such as the equilibrium conditions of the system of converging force and plane force, and the mechanical properties of a single elastic member. 

[1] Bao Shihua, Gong Yaoqing. Structural Mechanics (in English), Wuhan University of Technology Press, 2008. 

[2] Li Liankun. Structural Mechanics (in Chinese), 6th edidtion, Higher Education Press, China. 

[3] Leet et al. Fundamentals of Structural Analysis, 5th edition, McGraw Hill 

[4] R.C. Hibbeler. Structural Analysis, 8th edtion.

Q1: Is this course useful for postgraduate entrance examination?

A1: Learning this course is helpful for preparing entrance examination for graduate school. For most universities, "Structural Mechanics" is a required subject in the entrance exam. This MOOC course can provide you with video lectures of knowledge points. What is more helpful for you is a large number of exercises (including unit test following each chapter, mid-term exam, final exam, etc.), which will help you to understand more about the course. When you encounter difficult problems, you can ask questions online at any time. We have teachers who will timely answer your questions.

Q2: What are the components of the final score for this course?

A2: The components of the final score is as follows:

(1) The unit test of each chapter accounts for 40% of the total score. There are a total of six unit tests, and the average score is considered;

(2) The final exam accounts for 60% of the total score. It is comprehensive, covering all materials in this course.

Q3: Structural Mechanics I has long been regarded as one of the most difficult courses. How can we learn it effectively?

A3: Structural Mechanics is a pain for many beginners and students who are reviewing it to take the postgraduate entrance examination. The reason is that, although there are only a few types of structures and loads, the specific form of structure and the location of load are changeable. For example, the change of the position of a member or the change of the form of a node in the structure is enough to cause the change of the structure type and redistribution of the internal forces of the structure.

However, although the subject of Structural Mechanics is ever-changing, there is always a rule to follow, which is the equilibrium of structure. Therefore, how to understand the equilibrium of the structure (including the global equilibrium and local equilibrium), how to find these equilibriums and correctly draw the internal force diagram of the structure so as to correctly solve the displacement of statically determinate structure, is the key to learn this course. Unfortunately, at the beginning of learning this course, the internal force analysis part of statically indeterminate structure brings the students the illusion of deja vu, so they do not pay attention to it. When they start to learn statically indeterminate structure later, the debt of statically indeterminate part is reflected. At this time, the students mistakenly think that the statically indeterminate part is not learned well, and they put most of their energy on learning to solve statically indeterminate structure above. This is a typical misunderstanding of learning Structural Mechanics. The correct understanding is that, it is highly necessary to pay enough attention to the internal force analysis and displacement calculation of statically determinate structures, for both beginners and students preparing for postgraduate entrance examination.

The contents of the chapters at the beginning and the end of Structural Mechanics are highly coherent. In the course, you should master the basic concepts and principles, deeply understand the physical meaning of formulas and symbols, and draw inferences from one instance. When watching videos and listening to lectures, you should grasp the main line, the key points and the difficult points, grasp the analysis ideas and methods. You should not be greedy for more and faster, but pay attention to accumulation.

Q4: When will the teaching videos, electronic teaching materials, units tests and final exam of this course be updated?

A4: In order to meet different needs of different students, the teaching videos, in-class tests and electronic teaching materials will be uploaded to MOOC within two weeks of the beginning of the course. You can learn it based on your own schedule.

As both the unit tests and the final exam will be included in the final score, they will be released within the specified date based on the progress of the course. They need to be submitted before the specified deadline.

Q5: What is the teaching calendar?

A5: The teaching calendar is as follows. There are a total of 16 weeks, with 2 lectures (4 hours) for each week.