ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
http://isihighlycited.com/
http://www.tamu.edu/acml

Dr. JN Reddy is a Distinguished Professor and inaugural holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. He is the author of numerous journal papers and text books on theoretical formulations and finite-element analysis of problems in solid and structural mechanics (plates and shells), composite materials, computational fluid dynamics, numerical heat transfer, and applied mathematics. The books authored by Dr. Reddy include: An Introduction to Continuum Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, 2008); An Introduction to Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis, Oxford University Press, 2004; An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, McGraw-Hill, 1984 (3rd ed., 2006); Energy Principles and Variational Methods in Applied Mechanics, John Wiley, l984 (2nd ed., 2002); Applied Functional Analysis and Variational Methods in Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1986; Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plates and Shells: Theory and Analysis, CRC Press, 1997 (2nd ed., 2004); and Theory and Analysis of Elastic Plates and Shells, Taylor & Francis, 2007 (2nd edition).  

Dr. Reddy’s research credentials have earned him wide national and international acclaim in the form of numerous awards, citations, and keynote and plenary lecture invitations at international conferences. Dr. Reddy’s research centers on theoretical formulations and numerical simulations of problems in solid and structural mechanics, composite materials, computational fluid dynamics, numerical heat transfer, geology and geophysics, and computational biology. Dr. Reddy’s research provides the cutting edge advances that enable others to adapt his accomplishments into sophisticated computer software used by design engineers world-wide. His novel theories and finite element models have been implemented into commercial finite element commercial softwares like ABAQUS, NISA and HyperForm. Such an eminent record of research has earned Dr. Reddy numerous national and international awards, including the 1998 Nathan M. Newmark Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers; Award for Excellence in the Field of Composites and Distinguished Research Award from the American Society for Composites; and the 2003 Computational Solid Mechanics award from US Association for Computational Mechanics. He also won the AFS Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research, the Texas A&M Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in International Research, and Distinguished Research Award of the Sigma Xi. Dr. Reddy is one of the few researchers in engineering around the world (only one at TAMU) who is recognized by ISI Highly Cited Researchers with over 10,000 citations and H-index of over 46.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The major problem facing the analyst contemplating the use of the finite element technique (as a user of a commercial code or a developer interested in writing a customized subroutine to a commercial code) lies in acquiring appropriate knowledge to provide assurance that the finite element model produced gives a reasonably reliable representation of the "real life" system being analyzed. The present course is designed to bridge the gap between the theoretical finite element knowledge and its industrial applications by providing physical insights into the theory of the method and relationship between the physical model and data (e.g., loads, boundary conditions, constitutive behavior, etc) and the finite element model of a physical problem. The instructor will share his knowledge and experience to address some of the issues such as physical characteristics of elements, element selection, mesh design, convergence, boundary conditions, load representation, and response characteristics.

This course is intended to provide engineers working in aerospace, automotive, civil, and mechanical engineering industries as well as numerical analysts and materials scientists with the theory and applications of the linear and nonlinear finite element analysis of problems from solid and structural mechanics, with special focus on composite materials and laminated composite plates and shells. At the end of the course one would have acquired knowledge of finite-element analysis linear and nonlinear analysis of structural problems and composite materials. Every attempt will be made to make the course as self-contained as possible overview as applied to linear problems will be included in the course.