Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design

Citation

Nisbett, J. K., & Budynas, R. G. (2024). Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design (2024 release). McGraw Hill.

Chapter Summary

The book has 20 chapters in four parts, followed by two appendices ("Useful Tables" and "Answers to Selected Problems"), and runs to roughly 1,100 pages. The structure is the logic of machine design in order: first the basics of materials, loads and deflection, then the question of whether a part will fail, then the design of the individual elements, and finally two special topics. McGraw Hill describes the text as intended for students beginning the study of mechanical engineering design, and as blending the fundamental development of concepts with the practical specification of components.

Part 1, Chapters 1-4: Basics

The first part has four chapters: "Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Design", "Materials", "Load and Stress Analysis" and "Deflection and Stiffness". Together they set up the design setting, the material properties that a designer needs, and the calculation of stresses and deflections in loaded members that every later chapter takes for granted.

Part 2, Chapters 5-6: Failure Prevention

Two chapters, "Failures Resulting from Static Loading" and "Fatigue Failure Resulting from Variable Loading", turn stress results into a decision about whether a part will survive. They cover the two cases that every machine component must be checked against: steady loads and loads that vary over time.

Part 3, Chapters 7-18: Design of Mechanical Elements

The longest part, with twelve chapters, applies the first two parts to the standard elements of machines. The sequence is: "Shafts and Shaft Components"; "Screws, Fasteners, and the Design of Nonpermanent Joints"; "Welding, Bonding, and the Design of Permanent Joints"; "Mechanical Springs"; "Rolling-Contact Bearings"; "Lubrication and Journal Bearings"; then gears, in three chapters ("Gears - General", "Spur and Helical Gears", "Bevel and Worm Gears"); "Clutches, Brakes, Couplings and Flywheels"; and "Flexible Mechanical Elements". The last chapter in the part, "Power Transmission Case Study", closes the sequence of element chapters with an applied case rather than another component.

Part 4, Chapters 19-20: Special Topics

The book ends with "Finite-Element Analysis" and "Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing", the first a computational method for stress and deflection analysis and the second a language for specifying the geometry of manufactured parts.

Key Concepts

Part 1: Basics

• Load and stress analysis: finding the stresses in a component from the forces acting on it.
• Deflection and stiffness: how much a member deforms under load and how that limits a design.
• Materials: the material properties a designer draws on when sizing parts.

Part 2: Failure prevention

• Static failure: the criteria used to judge whether a steadily loaded part will yield or fracture.
• Fatigue failure: failure under variable loading, which governs most rotating and cyclically loaded parts.

Part 3: Mechanical elements

• Shafts, fasteners and joints: the design of rotating members and of non-permanent (bolted) and permanent (welded or bonded) connections.
• Springs and bearings: mechanical springs, rolling-contact bearings, and lubrication and journal bearings.
• Gearing: spur, helical, bevel and worm gears.
• Clutches, brakes, couplings, flywheels and flexible elements: the remaining components of a power train.

Part 4: Special topics

• Finite-element analysis: numerical stress and deflection analysis.
• Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing: the standard notation for specifying part geometry and permitted variation.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear logical order. The progression from stress and deflection, to static and fatigue failure, to the design of elements means each element chapter can lean on a toolkit already built. A student can see why a gear or a shaft is checked the way it is.
• Breadth of components in one book. Twelve chapters in Part 3 cover shafts, fasteners, welds, springs, bearings, lubrication, gears, clutches and brakes, and flexible elements, so one volume can serve a whole sequence of machine design courses and remain a reference afterwards. The publisher describes the aim as familiarity with both the basis for decisions and the standards of industrial components, which is why the book is kept for practice.
• A case study after the elements. Chapter 18 is a "Power Transmission Case Study", so the main sequence of element chapters ends with an applied example instead of another isolated topic.
• Established authorship and a long history. The publisher says the book has been the standard in machine design for nearly 50 years. Keith Nisbett has over 25 years of experience teaching from the text, and Richard Budynas has over 40 years of teaching and practice in mechanical engineering design and is a licensed professional engineer.
• Answers to selected problems are provided in an appendix, which allows self-checking.

Limitations

• Too much for one course. With 20 chapters and about 1,100 pages, no single course can cover all of it. The instructor or student must choose elements, and the book gives no sign in its contents list of which are core.
• Narrow on the front end of design. The overall design process appears in the first chapter only. Concept generation and design methodology are left to books such as those listed below; this one concentrates on analysing and sizing components.
• Finite elements and tolerancing get a chapter each. They are introductions, and students who need to use these methods in depth will need dedicated texts or software documentation.
• Release-based editions. McGraw Hill publishes the text through numbered releases under an "evergreen" delivery model, and the chapter list given here is that of the 2024 release. Students should confirm which release their course assumes, since content can change between releases.

Where It Fits in the Course

Shigley's is the full-scale reference text for component design in this course list. Mott, Vavrek and Wang's Machine Elements in Mechanical Design takes a step-by-step, problem-solving route through similar elements, which makes it a useful first book or companion for students who want a more guided treatment than Shigley's offers. Juvinall and Marshek's Fundamentals of Machine Component Design and Norton's Machine Design: An Integrated Approach are alternatives at a similar level: Juvinall and Marshek first develop analytical foundations (static failure theories, fatigue and surface damage) and then apply them to components, while Norton ties the topics together through recurring case studies. Any of the three can be the main text, with the others used for a second explanation of a difficult topic.

Cross's Engineering Design Methods and Pahl and Beitz's Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach address what comes before component sizing: how a design problem is clarified and a concept chosen. Shigley's gives a single introductory chapter to that stage, so a design course that includes concept design should combine it with one of them.

How to Use This Book

The book is for students of mechanical engineering after courses in statics and mechanics of materials, and an introduction to engineering materials; some dynamics helps for the chapters on clutches, brakes and flywheels. The publisher states that it is intended for students beginning the study of mechanical engineering design.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1 to 6 in order, with particular care for Chapters 5 and 6, the failure checks on which the element chapters build.
• Choose elements by course: Chapters 7 to 9 (shafts, fasteners and joints) are the usual starting point; add springs, bearings or gears according to the course. Chapter 18 shows how the pieces combine and is worth reading even when only some of the earlier element chapters were studied.
• Optional: Chapters 19 and 20 as an introduction to finite-element analysis and tolerancing, for students who will meet these in a later course or in a project.
• Practice: work problems in each chapter and check against the answers to selected problems in Appendix B; use Appendix A for the tables that the design calculations rely on.