Statics: Engineering Mechanics 1

by Ralf Müller, Dietmar Gross, Wolfgang Ehlers

This collection of problems results from the demand of students for supplementary problems and support in the preparation for examina- tions. With the present collection “Statics - Formulas and Problems, Engineering Mechanics 1” we provide additional exercise material.

The subject “Statics” is commonly taught in the basic course of Engineering Mechanics classes at universities. The problems analyzed within these courses use equilibrium conditions and the principle of virtual work to analyze static problems and to compute reaction forces and stress resultants. These concepts are the basis of many structural analyzes of components used in civil and mechanical engineering.

Experience has shown that Engineering Mechanics usually causes problems for beginners. Here the student should learn how to map an engineering problem onto a mathematical model, to analyze this model and evaluate the results in view of engineering applications. Experience teaches that this can only be achieved through independent work on suitable examples, Therefore we would like to make the reader aware that pure reading and trying to comprehend the presented solutions will not provide a deeper understanding of mechanics. Neither does it improve the problem solving skills. Using this collection wisely, one has to try to solve the problems independently. The proposed solution should only be considered when experiencing major problems in solving an exercise.

Obviously this collection cannot substitute a full-scale textbook. If not familiar with the formulae, explanations, or technical terms the rea- der has to consider his or her course material or additional textbooks on Statics. A short selection is provided on page IX.

Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2023

About the author

Ralf Müller is Professor of Project Management at BI Norwegian Business School. In parallel he is the managing director of PM Concepts, a Sweden based Management Consultancy, which advises larger enterprises in project, program and portfolio management. He lectures project management, project leadership, project governance and research methodology. His research focuses on project, program and portfolio management improvement from an organization-wide and leadership perspective. His research studies have appeared in more than 120 publications and he is frequent speaker at global researcher and practitioner conferences. As a consultant he worked in 47 different countries, for the improvement of project related practices in large organizations. He also managed national, international and global IT projects and consulting organizations. Dr Müller is a member of the Editorial Review Board of several international academic journals. He is a member of the Consortium for Research in Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, and a co-founder of PMI's Frankfurt and Munich Chapters, as well as contributor to the PMI Standards for Organizational Project Management Maturity (OPM3), Program Management, and Portfolio Management.