5003 Lectures - Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

E5003 - Ship Structures I 7
© C.G. Daley
Structural Behavior
Ship structural behavior, as with all structural behavior is essentially very simple.
Structures are an assemblage of parts. This distinguishes them from objects. A
beam or plate is a structural element, but only a collection of structural elements is
called a structure. The theory of structures builds upon the field of ‘mechanics of
materials’ (also called mechanics of solids, or strength of materials), by considering
the interactions and combined behaviors of collections of structural components. So,
much of this course will focus on techniques for understanding collections of
structural elements. We will also review and expand, somewhat, on the mechanics
of individual elements.