Aerospace Engineering 6101
Structural Stability II

School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

Prof. Dewey H. Hodges
Office: SST Building, 200-C; Phone: 4-8201
e-mail: dhodges@gatech.edu

Location: Guggenheim 246

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.

Required Text: Foundations of Structural Stability, by George J. Simitses and Dewey H. Hodges. (Download the errata, please.) It is not required, but students may want to acquire another excellent text on stability, such as Stability of Structures by Zdenĕk P. Bažant and Luigi Cedolin, or Buckling of Bars, Plates, and Shells by Robert M. Jones. 

Conduct: The course will cover the topics outlined below in the lectures. Students’ grades will be determined by their performance on the take-home problem sets, including a take-home final exam. Collaboration within groups of no more than two is permitted on the problem sets during the semester. Collaboration is not permitted on the final exam.

Conduct: The lectures will cover theory and will include illustrative examples. Grades are based on solutions of seven problem sets. My office hours are Mondays, 8:30-10:00 a.m., and Fridays, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

  • Late work will not be accepted unless you have a bona fide excuse (illness certified by doctor’s note, death in immediate family).
  • Homework papers must use the same notation used in this course.
  • Homework must be neat and professional in appearance. Messy homework papers will not be graded. No cross outs of any kind may appear anywhere.
  • Use a straightedge to draw all lines and diagrams.
  • Use only good quality paper. Paper torn from a notebook may not be used.
  • Explain what you are doing at each step. Credit is given mainly for the method, not the answer.
  • Put a box around your final answer to help in grading.
  • Write on only the front side of each sheet of paper on all homework papers.
  • Staple pages together; “dog-ears” and paperclips will not be accepted.
  • Print your name at the upper right corner of the first sheet of paper.
  • Only conceptual collaboration is allowed. This means that you may discuss problems with another student. However, all substantive work — such as calculations, derivations, and all written work — must be your own.
  • Very similar homework solutions will be viewed as plagiarism and may be submitted as Honor Code violations.
  • Use of solutions from prior semesters or any other source (such as solution manuals and web resources) is definitely not allowed and will be treated as a breach of the Honor Code.

Lectures, reading, assignments

This information was updated 1/6/2018.