Energy Principles and Variational Methods in Applied Mechanics, 2nd Edition

This book has been completely revised and updated. Beginning with a review of mechanics and the concepts of work, energy, and topics from variational calculus, this book presents virtual work and energy principles, energy methods of solid and struc-tural mechanics, Hamilton's principle for dynamic systems, and classical variational methods of approximation. A unified approach, more general than that found in most solid mechanics books, is used to introduce the finite element method. Also discusse are applications to beams and plates.