Stress Analysis — Lesson 2

Stress analysis provides great insight into the mechanics of a solid. It can help engineers determine how products will perform throughout their lifetimes.

How do we know if football helmets are sturdy enough to protect players during the game? Stress analysis can help us determine how the stress is distributed throughout the helmet during impact.

How can an automobile engineer determine whether the grade of steel chosen to manufacture the crankshaft of an engine will survive its harsh operating environment? She can perform a stress analysis to see the limits of stresses developed in the shaft during operation.

In this lesson we will introduce stress analysis, learn how is it performed and discover a few popular ways the results may be used in engineering applications.

Lecture

Alternate video link.

Handout

Here are the accompanying handout slides for this lesson.