Book excerpt: This accessible text provides comprehensive coverage of both plates and shells, and a unique blend of modern analytical and computer-oriented numerical methods in presenting stress analysis in a realistic setting. It is distinguished by its broad range of exceptional visual interpretations of the solutions, applications, and means by which loads are resisted in beams, plates, and shells. Combining the current-numerical, mechanics of materials, and theory of elasticity methods of analysis, Stresses in Plates and Shells, Second Edition, offers an in-depth and complete coverage of the subject for students and practicing engineers.