Allan Bower is a professor of engineering at Brown University, where he teaches in the undergraduate mechanical engineering program and the graduate program in mechanics of solids. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge and spent a short period on the faculty at Cambridge before joining Brown in 1992. His research involves developing and using computer simulations to model deformation and failure in materials. Applications of interest include modeling wear, plasticity, and contact fatigue between contacting surfaces; fracture in composites and ceramics; and mechanical failure processes in microelectronic circuits.

Overview of Solid Mechanics. Governing Equations. Constitutive Equations: Relations between Stress and Strain. Simple Boundary and Initial Value Problems. Solutions for Linear Elastic Solids. Solutions for Plastic Solids. Finite Element Analysis: An Introduction . Finite Element Analysis: Theory and Implementation. Modeling Material Failure. Solutions for Rods, Beams, Membranes, Plates and Shells. Appendix A: Review of Vectors and Matrices. Appendix B: A Brief Introduction to Tensors and Their Properties. Appendix C: Index Notation for Vector and Tensor Operations. Appendix D: Vector and Tensor Operations in Polar Coordinates. Appendix E: Miscellaneous Derivations.