# Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

## Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 2.080J Structural Mechanics as it was taught by Prof. Tomasz Wierzbicki in Fall 2013.

This course teaches students fundamental concepts of structural mechanics with applications to marine, civil, and mechanical structures.

## Course Outcomes

### Course Goals for Students

- Use the one-dimensional and two-dimensional structural idealizations of beams, columns, columns, rods, and shell beams to determine stress and deformation states
- Apply such structural idealizations to model general structural configurations under specified loading in order to determine the stress and deformation states
- Assess the applicability of such structural idealizations and judge the errors introduced in their use

## Curriculum Information

### Prerequisites

2.002 Mechanics and Materials II

### Requirements Satisfied

This course is designed to provide substantial coverage of material required for the doctoral qualifying exam in structures.

### Offered

Every fall semester

## The Classroom

- ### Lecture & Recitation

  Lecture and recitation took place in this classroom, which can accommodate 57 students.

## Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

25% Problem sets
20% Quiz 1
20% Quiz 2
35% Quiz 3

## Student Information

### Breakdown by Year

This is a graduate-level course, but advanced undergraduates may also enroll.

### Breakdown by Major

Students from the mechanical engineering and the civil engineering departments took this course.

## How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

## Lecture

3 hours per week

- Met twice per week for 1.5 hours per session; 24 sessions total
- Prof. Wierzbicki introduced new material to the class

## Recitation

1 hours per week

- Met once per week for one hour per session; 12 sessions total
- Teaching assistants reviewed lecture material

## Out of Class

8 hours per week

- Work on the problem sets
- Study for the quizzes

## Semester Breakdown

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No classes throughout MIT
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No class session scheduled
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