Xiangfa Wu, NDSU professor of mechanical engineering, recently published his latest book in Elsevier, “Mechanics of Bonded and Adhesively Bonded Joints,” which is the 2nd monograph Wu has written on the topic of mechanics of composite materials and structures at NDSU.
In this monograph, Wu introduced an effective semi-analytic method for high-efficiency, accurate stress and strength analysis of joined materials and structures based on his scholarly research with collaboration with his graduate students in the past decade at NDSU.
Nowadays bonded and adhesively bonded joints, as efficient load-carrying/transferring structural members, have been extensively integrated in aerospace, aeronautical, ground and marine vehicles, as well as in various microelectronic packaging, biomedical devices, precision optical lenses, etc., due to their unique compact design, efficient load transfer, high space/material saving, sound durability and low cost in manufacturing.
A structural joint typically consists of several structural members joined together through welding or adhesive at a small region, where high stress concentrations arise and structural failure, e.g., debonding, commonly first appears. Therefore, stress and strength analysis of joints is essential to their structural design and prediction of safety and lifetime in service.
Wu’s systematic approach, termed as semi-analytic stress-function variational method, is based on the fundamental physics principle of minimum potential energy of an elastic system, in which stress analysis is reduced to find the solution to a system of ordinary differential equations that can be generalized for accurate stress analysis of a variety of structural joints, layered materials, surface coatings, etc. Wu’s method for joint stress and strength analysis is highly accurate and timesaving compared to many joint models reported in the literature and those based on large-scale computational simulations.
The book is an excellent resource for students in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering to learn the fundamental principles of elasticity, viscoelasticity and fracture mechanics, strength theories of joined materials and how to establish effective joint models for strength analysis step by step with solved example problems along with compact workable Matlab® codes.
Wu has worked at NDSU for 16 years, bringing a wealth of knowledge and skills of engineering mechanics, applied mathematics, nanomaterials and composite materials, energy conversion and storage to aspiring mechanical engineering students. He has published four U.S. and international patents, 99 journal articles, two books and two book chapters, conducted and managed over 20 research projects at NDSU that were sponsored by NSF, DOE, DOD, ND EPSCoR, ND Corn Utilization Council, state and local funding agencies, and local and national industries.
Wu is the associate and guest editor of two professional journals. He is the invited article reviewer for 155 international scientific journals and served as a research proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Chile National Research and Development Agency, Reaxys PhD Prize Evaluation Committee, NDSU CRA and other foreign funding agencies in Kazakhstan, Qatar, etc.
Wu earned his bachelor’s degree in vehicle engineering at Jilin University inChina) master’s degree in applied mechanics at Beijing Institute of Technology and his doctorate degrees in applied mathematics and engineering mechanics at Beijing Institute of Technology and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, respectively.
Wu’s latest book can be purchased from www.amazon.com.
