This book Strength of Materials: Fundamentals and Applications is brought to the readers with an aim to provide suffi cient information and point out ways this information can be applied to practical problems in the domain of mechanics, as is done by design engineers in real life situations. It is structured in the form of a text book for undergraduates pursuing civil engineering, mechanical engineering and metallurgical engineering. Our experience in teaching ‘strength of materials’ over the past 30 years fi nds its place in this book. Many questions frequently raised by our students, and are also common problems faced by a lot of other students, while attempting to understand the subjects ‘strength of materials’ or ‘mechanics of solids’ are addressed in this book in the form of worked out examples and in the detailed treatment of the theoretical aspects.

Each chapter is provided with objectives and these objectives are mapped to the worked-out example problems and the exercise problems. This mapping strategy will also help the teaching faculty in deciding the course objectives and in evaluating the course objectives.

At the end of every chapter, previous GATE examination and UPSC competitive examination objective-type questions are provided with solutions. This book is useful for students preparing for competitive examinations.

The fi rst ten chapters are devoted to understanding the effects of basic structural actions, which would be suffi cient for an elementary treatment of the ‘strength of materials’ course. The remaining seven chapters focus on advanced topics wherein combined structural actions are considered.

Care is exercised so that mistakes or typographical errors are minimized. All the same we request the readers to comment and provide suggestions for improving the next edition of this book.