STRUTTURA DIDATTICA SPECIALE DI ARCHITETTURA, SEDE DECENTRATA DI SIRACUSAArchitectureAcademic Year 2022/2023
9795412 - INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURAL MECHANICS
Module MECHANICS
Teacher: SILVIO CHERUBINI
Expected Learning Outcomes
Allow students to understand the scientific basis of modern technologies commonly used in professional practice and research.
Course Structure
Classes and tutoring activities. Lessons will take place in physical presence or in blended teaching mode, depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Required Prerequisites
A knowledge of basic maths, calculus and geometry is required.
Attendance of Lessons
The participation, in presence or on-line in real time, is strongly recommended. In spite of the availibility of slides notes and recordings of the lectures (these are personal intellectual property of the teacher, hence protected by the intellectual property copyright law, must not be distributed in any way and by any means: they can only be used by the students of the Università di Catania) the participation in real time to the lectures is the only way to take real profit from the presence of a teacher in front of you (though, maybe, kilometers away).
Detailed Course Content
Physics will be presented to the students not as a collection of abstract formulas and ideas, as it is often perceived by students like those that are graduating in "Architecture", but as a tool for understanding the world around us and as a cultural basis for mastering and properly use modern advanced technologies now in daily use.
Textbook Information
Any book is accepted, provided it is a university level one. The concepts developped in this course are indeed indipendent from the Author views or research as we are dealing with well established classical physics subjects.
Anyway, the course will more closely follow these textbooks:
- Physics, Alonso-Finn, English and Spanish edition available at Addison-Wesley
- Physics2000, HR Huggins, Moose Mountain Digital Press, available at www.physics2000.com
- Fisica, P. Mazzoldi, M. Nigro, C. Voci, SES (in italian)
- Problemi di Fisica Generale, Rosati- Casali, CEA (Italian)
Lecture slides and notes in case distributed. Please note the previous comments concerning the intellectual property copyright mentioned above.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physical quantities, System of units of measure | Any of the suggested textbooks |
| 2 | Vector algebra | Any of the suggested textbooks |
| 3 | Kinematics of a point mass as an approximation of a real body motion | Any of the suggested textbooks |
| 4 | Dynamics: from point mass to many body systems. Forces, momentum, energy and work as unifying concepts of Physics | Any of the suggested textbooks |
| 5 | Conservation laws and their application to simple problems and to complex systems: fluids, rigid bodies, thermodynamics | Any of the suggested textbooks |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Written and/or oral exams. In any case the solution of simple problems will be required. Examination procedures can be changed at any time should the pandemic situation change during the academic year.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Energy and momentum conservation. Forces. Vector algebra. kinematics. Mechanics of fluids.
Versione in italiano